MeldaProduction MTurboComp

Melda’s new lagship dynamics plugin,
MTurboComp (VST/AU/AAX) is, at heart, a
full-on compressor/limiter construction kit.
However, for most, its main draw is probably
going to be the collection of classic and vintage
compressor emulations that have been made
for us by the developers using its inbuilt tools.
These emulations are called Active presets,
and there are 14 of them, plus four totally original
creations including a gate and expander. You
can’t save your own custom devices into the
panel as Active presets, it’s worth noting – they’re
just stored as regular presets.
Turbo kid
Each emulation features all the controls of the
original hardware informing it, and a standard
set of further common parameters, found in the
Globals, Detector and Detector EQ sections.
The Globals section hosts knobs for In and
Out Gain, Dry/Wet mix, and Compression and
Saturation amounts. Compression increases the
amount of gain reduction applied without
signiicantly changing the inal volume level, by
simultaneously raising the input gain and
lowering the output gain. Saturation dials in
analogue-style distortion of various types, as
chosen in the Editor, including soft and hard
clipping, and foldback.
The Detector and Detector EQ sections handle
internal and external sidechain iltering and peak
EQing, for emphasising or reducing the detector
response to particular frequency ranges.
The model-speciic parameters are housed in
the Compressor section, each set drawing on
the expected pool of options – Threshold, Ratio,
Knee, Attack, Release, Look-Ahead, etc.
Although the available parameters vary
between Active presets, they all essentially
share the same drab, uninspiring (albeit
customisable to an extent) interface. It’s a shame
– we’d really like to have seen a bit more efort
made in capturing the looks of the emulated
boxes to go with the sounds. Also, while all the
common controls can be locked of, the
Compressor section doesn’t hold its settings
when you switch between Active presets,
resetting to the defaults every time. The AH
snapshots make comparison of up to eight
setups easy enough, but we’d rather the Active
presets retained their settings nonetheless.
We’re also not fans of using percentages to
indicate compression ratios and envelope times.
Still, the sound is what it’s really all about, of
course, and on that front, MTurboComp is
magniicent. There are multiple specialists here
for every production situation, from vocals and
instrumentation of all kinds to bus and
mastering compression, taking in a wide variety
of characters and transparency levels along the
way. While we can’t in all honesty comment on
the precise accuracy of all 14 emulations (and
Melda themselves say “they don’t sound exactly
the same” anyway), all of them behaved largely
as expected based on memory, the few bits of
hardware we did have available for comparison,
and equivalent plugins from other developers.
While the more ‘scientiic’ music technologist
will ind plenty to get their teeth into with Edit
mode, for the vast majority, MTurboComp
simply stands as a comprehensive library of
superb classic compressors and limiters that
sound phenomenal from top to bottom, even if
they don’t also look it.
Web www.meldaproduction.com
MeldaProduction
MTurboComp €199
Fancy getting 14 classic compressor emulations in one plugin? And
how about using the tools they were made with to build alternatives?
Verdict
For 14 excellent and diverse dynamics
processors in one
Wide range of characters and sounds
Edit mode for making your own
Endlessly conigurable
Superb metering
Against Visually dull and uninspiring
Active preset’s Compressor sections
reset to default when switched
MTurboComp’s Edit mode makes for a
compelling headline, but it’s the versatile
library of pre-made classic dynamics
processors that takes centre stage
8 / 1 0
Alternatively
DMG Audio Compassion
166 » 10/10 » £150
Incredible compressor
construction system
u-he Presswerk
216 » 10/10 » $155
Very tweakable dynamics and
saturation based on analogue gear
Although the Easy mode, with its 14 classic
emulations, will be all most users want or
need from MTurboComp, clicking the Edit
button switches to Edit mode, where you can
create the custom compressor of your
dreams – or nightmares – using the very same
building blocks employed by Melda to make
the Active presets. These comprise four
parallel envelope Followers, four dynamics
Processors, a dynamic Equalizer and two
Saturators. You can activate as many or few
of them as you like, and each one ofers a
staggering amount of customisation,
including adjustable Attack and Release
response curves, RMS windows, distortion
types, harmonic levels and more. It’s head-
spinning stuf, but thankfully everything is
explained through the use of tooltips and
built-in help screens.
As you’d expect, the best way to get
started with Edit mode is to peruse and
reverse engineer the 14 Active presets.
Roll your own
2
MINUTES
WITH…
VIDEO
May 2017 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 99
meldaproduction mturbocomp / reviews <
CMU242.rev_mturbocomp.indd 99 02/03/2017 17:16