elysia plugins review

by Daniel Sherratt
DV Magazine (UK) – February 2011

It’s not often I get hold of something that completely changes the way I work, and so I wanted to bring a company to your attention. elysia make very special, very expensive hardware compressors and an EQ that are industry benchmarks in elegant, high quality analogue dynamic processing. And so it came to my attention that the audio boffins over at Brainworx had been given the task of coding these beauties into software plugins, and had already done so. This definitely pricked my ears as Brainworx are about as good as it gets in the land of software processing.

The plugins come in two purchasable forms; the alpha mastering compressor, the mpressor creative compressor, and not forgetting the free niveau filter EQ which we’ll come onto in a bit. The alpha mastering compressor also has a mix version which is a lighter stereo linked version of the full model. All features are direct mirrors of their hardware counterparts with a stunningly smooth GUI that replicates the front panels in all their majestic glory... as well as being light on the old CPU to boot.

Billed as the ‘creative compressor’, the mpressor in use is good on pretty much anything you wish to throw at it and can go from gentle dynamic control with subtle tonal colouring through to squishy destruction. I’ve found this to be most at home on individual channels for intricate sculpting and because of the tone it imparts which is very smooth and buttery (for want of a better word), but it also works very well on the 2 bus when used transparently... or not if thats your flavour!

Acoustic instruments absolutely shine as the subtle details are levelled out and natural room ambiences are bought forward in a way I've never heard before in a software compressor. It is also side-chainable to achieve the best ‘modern dance pumping’ mix effect I’ve heard to date! A very cool feature is the negative compression ratios which lend themselves perfectly to this compressors creative nature, by bringing the compression curve back down once the threshold has been reached resulting in some very interesting compression effects – especially in conjunction with the side chain.

Alongside the compression section is a handy little EQ tool called the Niveau Filter (also available on the alpha) that is essentially a frequency booster/ attenuator, but with a twist. The two controls change the proportion of high and low frequencies depending on how much gain is added or subtracted around a variable centre frequency, and the result means that as the treble is boosted the lows become attenuated and vice versa. For so few knobs the range of this feature is nothing short of amazing and there wasn’t a single point during demoing the plugin that this feature wasn’t used in some way. The fact they give away the Niveau Filter on its own for free is pretty sweet and definitely worth the 12 second download time...

Now, onto the alpha mastering compressor where we have a more fully featured processor which is ultimately transparent but with something distinctly ‘elysian’ in the tone. This plugin see’s its most use on the master bus largely down to its incredibly transparent gain reduction even at larger compression ratios - although if you want it to this unit can really squish and pump, and is certainly one of the best drum bus compressors I’ve heard. One of the main highlights of this plugin is the mid/side matrix which allows different compression characteristics between the centre and sides of the mix, which I found extremely effective at balancing the centre image without damaging the mono mix or bringing the kick and snare forward in a drum stem with wide splashy cymbals.

Alongside your usual compression features you also have the feed forward mode, which feeds the side chain in front of the compressor which serves to make a harder style of compression. This if for if you’d want higher ratios that could act as peak limiters (or even negative ratios are possible) which lends itself to a more obvious compression sound and more ‘character’, whilst also having a relative effect on your your attack parameters too. In addition to the compressor you also have a soft clip limiter which is fantastic at catching shaper transients and levelling out the peaks without hard brick wall limiting. A little goes a long way with this function, as the louder signals are rounded out and gently saturated as they approach the threshold setting with a very pleasing sound that still retains punch and natural dynamics characteristic of analogue tape.

You’ll be pleased to know there is also a mix parameter allowing parallel processing. alpha really is the ultimate mastering tool as the combination of its features make this an extremely versatile and vital tool not only for mastering but for mixing too; something they have addressed with the mix version of the plugin, with less features and one set of controls for both sides of the stereo image.

It’s been impossible to find any fault with these plugins as their heritage is arguably one of the finest in the industry. I know we’re spoiled for choice at them moment in terms of software compressors, but they really stand apart from the usual roster of vintage ‘clones’, are so versatile and its very refreshing to see something truly different and groundbreaking come along.

I’m not fortunate enough to own the hardware, but the word on the street is that they are as close as it gets to the real thing with a very impressive roster of users to boot... and if you think about it, the fact that you can use as many of them as you like in a session makes these incredible value for money. But don’t just take my word for it, you can download the trial versions (as well as the completely free niveau filter plugin) directly from elysia’s website.

Now, when can we expect the EQ?