MusicRadar

• Review

Summary

Dynamics 3 has a lot going on, but once you get going with some basic compression, it's obvious that the underlying engine is spot on. Unsurprisingly, the VCA and Peak combination yields the most brutal results, with a very swift response – with super-fast attack and release settings (both go down to 0ms) moving the plug-in into waveshaper territory.

Moving to more subtle compression with the Opto and RMS settings proved great for bass, and the dual curve settings allow for further flexibility.

All told, Blue Cat Dynamics 3 is an excellent plug-in for a reasonable price. However, it's quite complex, and to get the best from it, you'll need a good knowledge of dynamics processing.

Take a listen to our Dynamics 3 audio demo:

Drum Kit: starting flat then onto VCA compression with Peak envelope and some fast settings. Next, moving through the various stereo-linking options. Move to RMS setting and Opto compression, then onto gating and then some expansion. Finishing with some upward compression.

Bass guitar: starting flat then adding compression using RMS style envelope and Opto compression, trying various RMS envelope timings. Moving to VCA then back again for comparison. Moving to Peak envelope and trying various peak settings. Trying the input filters.