The great Edmund Hillary, who, in 1953, became the first man to reach the summit of Mount Everest, had this to say about his resultant fame:

"True, why make a fuss over something that's done anyway? I was never one to obsess about the past. Too much to do in the future!"

Well Sir Hillary and Blue Cat Audio Dynamics plugin have more in common than you might think, for neither is satisfied with past accomplishments. hat' my Blue Cat Dynamics has just been upgraded to version 3.0, with some major functional improvements and additions.

For starters, 3.0 includes full Mac VST and AudioUnits support. OSX users now get to enjoy the same new features as PC people, which new features include

• Mac VST support.
• Mac Audio Unit support.
• Mid/Side processing capability.
• New stereo linking options.
• Enable/disable processing on each channel.
• Customize the range of the meters and zoom/navigate in the display.
• Automation output can now be disabled for hosts that do not propose automated parameters choice.
• Improved accuracy of MIDI output.
• New Presets.
• New installer (much faster install, improved upgrades).
• Best of all: brand new documentation (woo hoo!)

These new features add to an already versatile dynamics processor. The Blue Cat Dynamics plugin can be used as a compressor, limiter, gate, expander or waveshaper for distortion effects, with a two-threshold dynamics curve that makes it a more sophisticated processor than most software or hardware units. There's an input and side-chain filter for band-specific processing, and with the inclusion of MIDI CC automation output support, the side-chain can be used to trigger external hardware. You can also use Blue Cat dynamics to trigger other plugins to build dynamics-controlled effects à la modular-synthesis.

These suggestions merely scratch the surface of the wide range of applications for which Blue Cat Audio Dynamics is suitable. The plugin is available as an instant download for $127.20 US.