Called the "Cirque du Soleil" of compression by such websites as Gearwire.com, de la Mancha releases sidearm. It's a compressor that's renowned for its flexibility. It performs downwards, upwards and parallel compression and limiting in either peak or RMS with optional lookahead.

That's all well and good, but the proverbial eye of this tiger is its sidechain control. In addition to offering a choice between internal sidechaining and external audio sourcery, you can affect the sidechain audio with a multi-mode adjustable-slope filter and adjust the mid/side, stereo balance and gain. This plugin even lets you gate the control signal to activate only above your desired level.

You control the when with frequency isolation, stereo positioning and volume levels as potential triggers. Hear how it all sounds with a sidechain listen option that lets you hear what the compressor hears in the side chain -- just like an episode of the Magic School Bus.

Fast Features

• Multi-function compressor with tweakable sidechain and comprehensive metering
• Flexible controls allow use as a compressor, limiter or maximizer
• Sidechain signal can be filtered, adjusted for mid/side, stereo balance and gain for precise triggering
• Internal or external sidechain routing
• Six mode filter (LP, HP, BP, notch, peak a & b) adjustable from 12 to 96 dB/Octave to isolate frequencies in the sidechain
• Sidechain listen option -- you hear what the compressor detects in the sidechain
• Wet/Dry mix control allows blending of dry uncompressed signal for NY style parallel compression
• Dirt knob adds saturation for subtle flavor or full-on filth
• Attack / Release curve can be linear or non-linear
• Stereo input detection can be linked or unlinked, with max or average level detection
• Distortion ‘cleaning’ option for very short release times
• Input detection can be Peak or RMS level with adjustable window
• Optional limiting on final output
• Look-ahead defined by user in ms
• Metering for each band and combined output, covers stereo input, output and gain reduction with adjustable sensitivity. All meters show actual and peak levels
• Presets covering all functions and many configurations