If you shift click the light on the black stereo version before you move any other parameters you get a LAVA or Laura mode (I'm not sure the lettering is weird in cursive) and it basically makes increases the punch or makes the knee harder like the mono version and gives you a more aggressive compression. Also grabbing the screws next to balance will increase harmonics. On Mac if you control click the EQ on the Black Stereo model it will make the EQ mid/side or stereo for each band. Not sure what the windows key would be. I think a ton of developers will be switching away from linear phase oversampling (they should just give use the choice) because more and more live audio engineers are using plugins and they need the latency to be as low as possible. My band switched from a digital console 2 years ago to using Apple's Mainstage and thunderbolt interface to achieve latency lower than 90% of the most popular digital mixers. We have Motu interfaces for a total of 24 inputs and outputs at 96K with less than 2.6 milliseconds of latency from microphone to in-ear monitor. We mostly use the SSL, Fabfilter, Waves, Fuse Audio labs plugins. But I have been using the DDMF Channel Strip and I bought the Magic death eye last year.

DDMF ... If you are reading this, please take note, that I myself, as well as thousands of others like me, listen to every word uttered by Dan Worrall, and highly value those words. Just lettin' you know.

I have one complaint, which isn't aimed specifically at this plugin, but at plugin companies in general... They should not hide the price. It's become almost the norm among many plugin companies, to hide the price until you click "buy" and are asked to fill in payment info. I'm sure the idea is that "if you make them click buy, the threshold for ACTUALLY buying become lower" as you have "overcome a barrier" or whatnot. But personally... If they hide the price from me until that point, the threshold for actually buying become higher. If they make me click a purchase link in order to simply get to know what it costs, then the chances of my buying is almost 0%.

The "sexy lady punch option" may be one of the weirder interface decisions I've ever seen on a plugin.

"Don't get me wrong... but can we assume that I've got those urges covered in a different way?" fuckin crying dude

"I don't need any extra help making silly mistakes, I'm pretty good at it already" lol and thank goodness it's not just me. Thanks again Dan. Hope you are feeling well!

13:25 LITERALLY SPAT OUT MY DRINK AND LAUGHED SO HARD THE CAT SCRATCHED ME

14:18 LMAO this could not have been more perfectly worded. Legend, Dan.

These sound so good! Thanks for the videos Dan, you always show exactly where these plugins shine and where they fall short.

Good to see that your health has improved! Thank you for every of your great videos!

Love Dan's music. Absolutely love it.

It is funny, I was one of the earlier adopters of these compressors (the "mono" version came first) and I instantly fell in love. Everytime when there was a review on youtube I was scared that my love would get ridiculed by the reviewer's conclusion that it weren't THAT great. That never happened, though. And now that this compressors have been knighted by Dan I can rest assured it is not just me loving them - They really are that good😅

Good to hear your voice, may blessings come your way for you and your family.

I feel for you! A fresh install on a new computer! Something I always dread. Good luck!!!👍

Dan!! Welcome back with good heath!!!🎉

Great work as always, Dan.

Dan as always, surprising me with his videos! I love them, keep it up like that dan!!! :3

"... which is super annoying because it means I will, in fact, be forced to turn it on and look at this tacky graphic...". Exactly my feeling, too! Please, DDMF, lose the "tacky graphic," or at least let us turn it off. The other (modest) criticisms were also on-target. I love the sound of it, but it's a bit annoying to use.

Oh dear lord! Haven’t even started the video yet! Will be watching right just pressing the enter, my subconscious is going crazy, thank you dear lord ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

Learned something for 23 years in mixing and mastering. It takes little to create much, either what you have and it sounds good as far as EQ, compression or what have you, if you can make it sound good, it's great. When I see more things doing much the same I wonder "Do I really need that too" I'd like to think it creates a simpler life for me.

Glad to be this early. Love all the work you do, Dan

Thanks very much Dan. I’ve been thinking about this product for some time.

I so appreciate your sense of humor.

Your videos are pure quality, I don't quite know what it all means yet but you explain it all really well! 😅

...hahaha, its always a real pleasure to watch your tutorials Dan,....RESPECT AND THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, new video from Dan! Let's watch now...

That graphic literally covering the numbers is bonkers. What on earth made them think that was a good idea from a UI / UX point of view lol?

YESSS NEW DAN WORALL VIDEOOOO

Besides the compressors: Great music as always! 👍👍👍👍

It's awesome to see someone I look up to put into words everything I always thought about those plugins. They live in my sessions for years, and I can't seem to find a replacement for them, but the UI and some of the other oddities cited in the video are terrible, and DDMF doesn't seem to care about changing it or adding new features. For such a high price, I'm now used to expect more from plugins, and I wish DDMF delivered on that. That said, though, I can't get enough of how good they sound. Just quick to set up and straight out amazing sound that I can't really explain when comparing to other vari-mu plugins.

Ha, I appear to have maybe been the guy questioning the "musical" description of the Rockenspiel Compressor in a prior video ;) To be clear, it wasn't meant to be a criticism. I was just [legitimately] surprised to hear you use it, as you are clearly a 'dances by the beat of his own drum' type of chap, which I believe many of us really appreciate! With this said, your use of the term in context for this plugin has helped clarify what this rather ubiquitous term means for me. Thanks and great demo here. You have piqued my interest in this to be sure! 👍👍

Absolutely LOVE these compressors for buses. I have the “mono” version and demoed the Stereo… I actually think I like mono more. The stereo would be useful for certain situations though so it’s been on my “pick up” list for some time. But really flexible compression, I don’t think I’ve encountered a situation where I couldn’t nudge the music into a more flattering position with it.

First of all: Thank you Dan for all of the great videos. It's fun, nerdy and always informative, and I really like your style :) We have have both compressors since about 2 years. And as Dan mentioned Christian the developer ddmf is a great developer. His plugins are along with tdr and fabfilter plugins my basic setup. Two things I would like to mention: first of all you missed a feature: When you click with the mouse on the "LED" with the word balance, you can set the distortion level. 50% means distortion as on the original hardware. the second is that the low band eq turns into a shelf eq when set to 100 Hz. There is another little trick: when you hold the option key while adjusting the input, the master out control does some gain compensation - nice :-) HoweverI'm with you Dan, all those things could have been made more "obvious" I have a different view on the EQ. Dan mentioned that the EQ is not much worth because it has to less bands and because there are other EQs with color etc as well. While the later is true I find, that the EQ on this compressor sounds exceptionally good. Really, really smooth. I like to use when it sits on my master bus. So as always ...:) I come to the same conclusion. This thing sounds fantastic and I use it very often. It would be great if ddmd could enhance the little design quirks. It would be great, if the developer could reply on the minimal phase filters for oversampling...I heard somewhere that this keeps the signal more "crisp". BTW: There is one more thing I would love in any plugin test. Controller operation. This ones work ok with Mackie control and Mackie C4. (But not great...)

Hope you’re feeling well, sending you healing vibes, sir. 🎶

... Seems Dan got hacked? I'm not sure where to report this? EDIT: It got resolved.

I never had a chance to comment on your videos, simply because I tend to agree with you or at least believe it face-value. But I'm here just to be sure you're back on rack, healthy and enriching us with wisdom for years to come.

Using these for about 2 months and loving it! The hidden features are cute haha

It's not just that the sexy/sexism viewing option is handled by users in other ways... but it's the PUNCH setting? I have other compressors that don't revel in domestic violence, thanks. I mean, DDMF is free to design it like they have, but I am likewise free to judge that choice through the lens of what I saw as a kid (hint: it isn't good, and never will be). Say, when there's such fidelity to visual design with the tiny balance knob, did the original machine feature a sexy lady?

Dan, thanks for doing this.

Mr. Worrall, your account has been taken over...

To all the plug-in developers, this is a global declaration, @Dan Worrall is the authority on the kind of business you’re involved in! Follow the wisdom, yeah, it’s for your sake, not anybody else’s! I repeat, Mr. Dan Worrall is the authority! Period!

Horray!! Love these units

Hey Dan! Thanks so much for the knowledge sharing, let me share some from my area of expertise, when you have that really cool logo lighting up like in your previous 2 videos, the logo has aliasing on the edges (just like audio does in a way). a quick gaussian blur of very small radius will make those edges slightly smoother in all screen resolutions (between 0.5 to 2 pixels nothing more). Hope this helps and thank you for the goldmine of knowledge, it's much much appreciated!

Great to have you back Dan! While we're in vibey vari-mu land I'd love you to look at Wavegrove's HCL Islander sometime.

Dear Dan, thank you for the big contribution, it means a lot to many of us. It would be great if you could test compressors (or other plugs) on a drum bus made of acoustic drums, not samples (or similarly, on a raw bass track, or synth, or guitar) It would be very useful for some of us(less expert). It's still a bit complicated for me to grasp the gist of some of the plugins you analyze. I know this is not really the point you want to make and who you want to be, but all the same 😅... Take care, R

Cant wait for a video on your PC setup and Reaper!

I’ve used both of these for mastering, pretty much daily, for the last 3 years - couldn’t live without them. On the waiting list for a stereo MDE hardware, but it’s a slow, long list.

your videos are so entertaining. Like some sort of audio adventures.

Yeay can’t wait to watch! (I have the first MDE).

i own both.. some of my fave compressors.. i use the black one like 90% of the time.

Excellent point regarding hiss demos. I've always thought the same. But as I understand it it's much easier to hack time limited demos. I wonder what the best compromise would be.

Great sounding compressor.

Dear Dan, thanks for your sharing your vast experience. Dr Gundry & one of his books “the plant paradox” is very likely to be the answer to many questions & life quality issues you face. Love your work. Cheers pb.

Good points, Dan. Though I prefer digital eq, I also like their DDMF 6144 EQ, as well as Analog Obsession Fiver, both of which turned out to be modeled after the Neve Portico 5033. But I much prefer clear UI of the latter one with separate Drive knob and optional oversampling.

Somehow Ddmf stayed under radar for long time, but everything he does/i hear is great. Ddmf please do us a favor and hire Dan as project consultant!

DDMF plugins are made by a guy with a PHD in nuclear physics. He knows his stuff as much as anyone in the industry.

I have and use both since they came out. I agree with your assessment and recommendations. Some of the issues you highlighted also concerned me. However it's been a long time and I have a feeling these won't be updated with refined features.

13:25 "It's a 1970s sexism option!?" 😂😂😭

6:45 I have NEVER understood that even old plugins like the waves CLA-2A had to keep the "adjustment screw" parameter looking like a tiny 10px object. I mean, a Moust is not a screwdriver and you have no haptic feedback... with large screens they are incredibly hard to read, plus there is no "tip" - so at a glance they can mean 2 different values, e.g. 2 o'clock or 7 o'clock. Even lovingly rendered 2d "turn-knobs" often spend a lot of time on the "photo-realism" while making the dial point / tip very hard to see. I mean if you hire a graphic designer for your User Interface then why not tell them "make sure the user can see where the dial points without leaning forward and squinting at the screen". I am sure both could be achieved at the same time. Having screws that do nothing and adding labels, that's a new low and definitely worth an entry for the interface hall of shame.

I would vote Dan for President in a heartbeat

Hi Dan, thanks for the vid, always educational. Given the price for the Magic Eye bundle, would Melda's Turbo Comp be a better option ? I know you've given a nod to Melda previously, but I've not seen you use any.

Hope you are well Dan.

Arturia's Intensity Reverb has the perfect interface for fairly complicated intuitive tricks

I think you could probably get a rough idea of the side chain filters if you sweep a sine wave up both compressors and look at the momentarily corresponding gain reduction.

One thing, having used it for a long time, is the option for continuous input/output gain, or at least something 0.1db steps. Also, the MDE stereo registers a wet/dry parameter that, for the life of me, I cannot find… nearly 3 years on. Also, a stereo unlink for MDE would be great.

The comment about having his urges covered in other ways was hilarious…

I'd love to know your thoughts on El Rey 2, especially now having reviewed this. It sounds like it's got a very similar characteristic to MDE and has become my new favourite mix buss compressor, especially with the ability to dial back the 'box tone' preamp section with a variable knob.

that background guitar got me

Thanks dan

Dan, love your videos! You mentioned once that you have an x32. I would be very interested in hearing how you would squeeze out as much as possible from this console. I’m sure that many would like to see/hear such a video. Especially since Dave Rat showcased the x32 in several of his videos.

Nice bass design!

Great Video as always!! I did find myself searching for the Mid Side mode in the Demo as well and when I read the manual, saw the option to toggle M/S mode for the low frequency band, when CTRL clicking the LF knob. I really don´t get, why they would not include the same feature for high frequencies and the compression. Keep it up and best wishes for your health!

I remember DDMF making affordable plugins. Now this one is at almost 180 euros. Not saying its not good but , damn thats a jump

I never thought a plugin review would get so steamy 😂

I suppose one way to not really check what the sidechain is doing would be to just run sine waves underneath it until it starts compressing. Obviously it’s not going to be bang on but might give an idea.

"Six, you muppet!" 😂

I don't know what resolution you have used for your displays but I'm in love with 1440p and 27 inches if you don't have more stuff in between you and the monitor just a keyboard and a mouse. I highly recommend that.

I've seen through magic eyes, at least a thousand times. I lost my sanity somewhere far out, but reformed it with a stronger epistemology.

O was waiting for this. Next do Claro Sonnox, Acustica Diamond Compander 3x and True Dynanics Kazrog

I too thought the MDE was dead-set magical-sounding from the moment it turned on. BUUUUTTTT the usability, from time switches to the skewed-morphology & babe, that is just, well you said it, broke it for me. On memory, this MDE vs the UVI Capitol still felt like made sense esp on price. Still, direct A-B of the UVI to existing mix/masters using my usual suspects of Reason stock & cheapies was a dead rubber. Or dead even in any practical sense so my ~$400 is totally safe in my pocketses. :-)

the only other vari mu i really like compared to this one (and i've basically tried them all at this point) is the Fuse Audio VCL-25A (which is super fun)

Dan, have you tested P11 from Pulsar Modular. I would like to hear your opinion

Hissing also doesnt work, because if you know the periodic timing of the hiss, you can just render a track with the plugin active, and then rerender it delayed a few seconds later so the hiss falls in a different place, and repeat, and splice the finals together afteg cutting out the hiss. Like the hiss was never there. It's inconvenient, but it is free...

As a product manager for +20 years 'because: Marketing!' makes a lot sense to me.

Great video as always. Any chance you've tried out the Tukan Studios JS plugins?

youve missed the LAVA-Feature on the stereo version. With the rest I agree to a 100%, and also soundwhise its really good.

I find your music so creatively liberating and inspiring. So you ever do session guitar work for potential clients?

i zoned out for a bit and 14:04 caught me SO off guard what the hell 😭

One of the STL Tones Control Hub expansions that have these modeled... I wonder how they compare. Cheers!

We need a dan Worrall video on ableton stock compressor and saturator

Stereo version has Punch mode too, hidden in UI section

Great vid Could you try out the overtone graphyc eq I would like to see your opinion Thx

Great video as always! This is a bit off topic but do you have an opinion about Dolby Atmos for Music?

Dyna-mu from IK next please 🙏🏼 I'd love to see your analysis of it.

DW makes the only audio production videos that actually have good music on them

At last! I've been wondering for a while why you hadn't done a review on these, and I concur wholeheartedly...they are gorgeous. Would love to know if you or anyone else has managed to uninstall the demos with any success. I've had one reply from Christian and I'm awaiting a second, but it seems the uninstallers are rather problematic. I have every intention of buying the full versions, but I want the PC clean of all traces before installing the new ones. Thoughts? I hope this finds you in better health Dan.

Did you ever tried the Softube Weiss EQ and Compressor?

These two along with their NYCompressor are my favorites on iPad right after Pro-C. FF usually preferred for precision and utility with a tiny footprint, but I also love slamming stuff through the mono and nyc with the wet-dry around 20-30%. Sure someone can tell me why that’s a horrible idea but idc it sounds too good.

How is your health dude? Cheers!

I’m voting against the Punchy switch on the not mono not stereo version and want it be remain as it is now, the developer could even provide two meters, as we have seen, the dev provided two button to bypass. So. ❤❤❤❤