ThrillseekerLA – digital stereo leveling amplifier with truly analog qualities.
At a glance
- Sophisticated and deep gain riding full of musical character and attitude but with virtually no inter-modulation (IM) distortion artifacts
- Feedback compression design w/o any samplerate based delay in the loop
- Classic input level driven two knob design with additional manual attack and release time interventions
- Highly program dependent envelope timing adoption offering attack times ranging from “instantaneously” up to around 100ms and release times from 30ms up to several seconds
- Mix level switch to adopt the plug-ins internal gain staging to mixing levels at around -18dBFS
- Custom SC filter option to attenuate the SC bass response while slightly boosting the HF spectrum
- Additional one pole (6dB per octave) SC low-cut filter adjustable from 20 to 500Hz
- External sidechain support
- Switchable Input/GR/Output metering display
- Variable compression range control from 0 to 100%
I’m bringing sexy back
ThrillseekerLA not only introduces way smooth gain riding capabilities but first and foremost features a non-linear amplifier stage which is based on a non-linearity with memory yielding creamy signal coloration duties:
- Custom algorithms based on a true stateful non-linear saturation model
- Compression and load dependent 2nd order harmonic distortion generation
- Controllable odd order total harmonic distortion generation
- Six individual preset distortion profiles offering different tonal qualities like warmth and top-end sheen or simply improved depth perception
- Authentic audio transformer simulation including typical LF distortions as well as frequency and load dependent analog circuit effects
Specification
- Requires Win32 compatible system with SSE2 (or higher) instruction set support
- Tested and known to work in many VST compatible hosts
- Advanced DSP processing
- Assembler optimized audio engine
Release info
- ThrillseekerLA is a Win32 freeware release for VST compatible applications
- To download, refer to the downloads section
- If you like, follow me on Facebook
- If you wish to donate just click here
Related
Variety Of Sound 
Sweet!
Wow, very good Compressor.
This is an XXXL LA2a with very good features!
Great Sound!
Nice! I’d really like a wet/dry control though.
Super sweet!
Weeee!! :hyper:
Holy diver!
Thank you very much downloading now. You never cease to amaze in what you bring to the game and all for free.
Can only hope and imagine the wealth of appreciation out here beyond your world 🙂
Superb work…can’t wait to test.
Thank you, sincerley thanks.
Awesome! Thanks again!
I can’t wait to try it 🙂
Yeah !! gonna try it and let you know what i think !!
great thanks again for all the work done and give to us for free !!
The graphic is great and the meter moves smoothly!
I predict that the range control will get quite some use from me. 😀
The THD + spectrum colors the sound quite noticeably .. the character of the color really depends on the spectrum control.
Didn’t test it that much atm, but I feel a bit like I’m missing a “boost” or “calibrate” control or something when “interstage” is on …to get a bit more sizzle if I’ll set the spectrum to “2.5Hz” or “HF” for example , otherwise it seems a bit to muffled with those settings if the THD control gets pushed harder.
Of course, I’m not complaining! 🙂 Thank You very much Herbert, once again!
…Also checked the manual and tested some more. Not really missing anything actually, but I’m a bit confused about the saturation THD+spectrum that is boosting or attenuating the selected spectrum area, depending on the Input level. So, I’m usually safe with the “full” spectrum setting if I want to push the compressor a bit harder and not attenuate certain frequency ranges.
Anyway, great work, thanks again! + thanks to Patrick for the lovely graphic interface also! 🙂
Really beautiful work, guys, thank you for yet another wonderful gift to the music-making community!
Much appreciated; can’t wait to try it!
Hi Herbert, been playing around with TsLA for about half an hour now and I really like it thus far.
One thing that I think could be improved is the VU metering. Here are a few things about it that I noticed:
The VU metering seems to be a bit inaccurate. When running a signal (sine) through TsLA, the VU meter (IN position) is hovering a little lower than the actual value should be.
When MIX-LEVEL is set to 0dB and you run a steady 0dBFS signal (sine wave), the needle (IN) is between -1 and 0.
The same thing also applies when MIX-LEVEL is set to -18 and you run a -18dbFS signal and meter the input; it shoud be at 0 VU but the needle is a little lower.
The VU meter’s OUT position metering is not compensated when running TsLA with MIX-LEVEL set to -18.
When running a -18dbFS signal without appling any compression, saturation etc. – meaning without any level change by TsLA – the displayed VU level drops to -18 VU when switching the metering mode from the IN to the OUT position.
It should still show 0 VU.
Cheers and thanks for another gem!
YAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!! 😀 Finally.
G R A N D E !! muchas gracias !!
Herbert,
You have outdone yourself! This thing is smooth! Full testing tomorrow. Thanks for another great plug!
Stateful Job Herbert and Patrick, Thank you guys.
Great job guys!
Really Aswome plugin!
This vst is also a great tool for broadcasters, I have a questtion with the baxter eq would this make for a better combo? just wondering.
Ron
muchas gracias
Thanks for yet another superb plugin!
CHEERS ONCE AGAIN
Finally the high-end Bootsie track compressor people have been asking about for ages, and what a beautiful beast it is, much more than meets the eye at first glance.
The hidden saturation parameters go a long way towards making it intuitive after a while by clearly separating the two functional blocks, and of course they are a cool little UI detail. More of these concepts in the future, please !
I won’t say more about the sonic performance other than that, once again, it is exceptional and unique, try for yourself !
Many many thanks to both Bootsie and Patrick for another fantastic present … 🙂
It will see an awful lot of use here for sure.
Many, many thanks, susiwong! And especially for your support regarding my poor attempts in writing in English language 🙂 In my next user manual you won’t find any issue anymore – fo’shizzle …
to quote an old German saying :
Hauptsach’ kluggschiss’n is … 😉
Btw, did anybody notice that, being a great track compressor among many other applications, ThrillseekerLA fills the last major gap in Bootsie’s & Patrick’s repertoire of HQ plugins ?
Now it’s perfectly possible to do a complete mainstream mix on a very high level using nothing but VoS FX – not even talking about all those unique tricks you won’t find anywhere else …
Truly incredible times for musicians/audio people, and this is meant regardless of price, however generous it might be. 😉
And that was the secret plan, hehehe …
Thank you very much!
This is plain sick!! Never thought it would bring back so much sexyness. I got the feeling this thing can do all kinds of compression/coloring.
Will take a while to get all the juice from it for sure. Maybe we could start some kind of thread with seettings/applications and upload audio examples. If not here in the blog maybe somewhere else..just saying..
Bootsie and Patrick: YOU DO ROCK IT!!
one word: T E X T U R E
(finally)
is that the answer you were looking for?
(if the about screen had aliased text nobody would think it’s free)
Woohoo! I’ve been looking forward to this so much.. It sounds really amazing so far!
What I’ve been especially looking forward to is the 0 ms attack time option, something that I love about Waves’ Renaissance Axx compressor and use all the time for leveling (kind of soft-knee limiting I suppose) without emphasizing the attack at all, even at extreme settings.
ThrillseekerLA, although having extremely fast attack times, doesn’t seem te be able to do this with the knob set at 0 ms, a ticking sound at every attack (at extreme settings ofcourse) is still audible. Is there any way you could really make it zero, like a limiter for instance? Maybe implement a toggle switch for true zero attack? That would make this my single greatest compressor!
Other than that it is totally awesome with all its versatility and colors, thank you so much Bootsy and also Patrick ofcourse! The GUI is so important for the workflow and feel of a plugin, and you nailed it again!
Humbly,
G-Funk
Hi,
Vielen Dank für das Plugin genau die richtige beschäftigung fürs Wochenende. Habs mal kurz gestestet zum Klang muss ich wohl nichts sagen. Top. Was ich nur immer wieder ein wenig nervig finde ist bei allen VST Entwicklern das es immer noch keine einheitliche Grösse gibt wie bei Hardware Racks. Auch hier der Baxter, NastyVCS da ist der Grössenunterschied am extremsten. Nur so als Anmerkung vielleicht mal eine Norm entwickeln das die GUIS/Regler alle in etwa die gleiche Grösse haben. Kenne mich aber mit GUI programierung nicht auf und wie leicht sowas umzusetzen ist.
BIG TANK YOU !!! you are the best freeware developer, u know that? 😉 !
Comparing on a drum loop (real drums) and it tottaly killed two (good) software and one hardware compressor by far. Can´t wait to try it on a mix and as a master buss.
Just had a little play around. I love it! Thanks so much for this great plugin!
Thanks a lot! Great work!
Спасибо 🙂
Fantastic work. You keep getting deeper and deeper, not just with doodads and fads but with truly useful mixing features. Thank you VERY much for this.
Really GREAT work.
Cheers and peace.
Thats what I call a fine feedback – thank you!
I think the next plugin will be some kind of limiter 🙂
Just finished a mix with it… this thing is super awesome. No matter what settings you use, it simply sounds natural. But better than natural. Loved it on the kick, bass, everything! Especially when used gently on the two bus!
I was already impressed by FerricTDS, a big step in the tape direction, with unique “neutrality” : no simulation of a SPECIFIC real gear
I even think it started the tape simulation war, like Nebula started the virtual console war 😀
And now this compressor that will probably kick some Waves, Softube… a**** 😉
Again, not the usual “emulation of famous gear”, but more a big step to recreate the best parts of most of them.I prefer that, and you are not running the stupid “i will do a better X gear simulation than you !”
Thanks !
I will try it soon, and i already feel impressed 😀
Thank you once again Bootsie.. It performs brilliantly..
WOW…!!
Wow, this sounds terrific. Almost every setting I tried was just a different flavor of fabulous. Big, phat, plumped up, saturated kudos: you’ve raised the bar. Thank you!
Thank you!
INSTANTLY cool. It sounds expensive and does things with a minimum of fuss. Great comp!
I was wondering if you guys would consider doing a console plug. I would love to hear your take on that!
Thanx
Respect.
Wow, you’ve raised the bar!! and for free.. :O
2012 is really the year of changes!!
Thanks alot for this magic plugin 🙂
Stop….please stop…. every time there’s a new release I start re-mixing and re-mastering everything.
Fantastic stuff…
i haven’t been so turned on by a plugin in a long while as i am with ThrillseekerLA. I put it to use immediately to parallel compress the drums on my latest mix. I will find other uses. than you so much!
Finally got around within my insanely busy schedule to try this plug out. Used it a couple days ago on a lead vocal, and today on a lead synth. I found the release timing a bit tricky/finicky… I’m sure I’ll get used to it, because…. the distortion feature is freakin’ AMAZING. I have previously only really been able to get this exact effect by going out to a piece of hardware with a big transformer in it and smalling it and then coming back into the DAW. I’ve NEVER heard a plugin accomplish this. Until now. Very very impressed. I shudder to think what else could be done with this same process in other plugins. I don’t understand the science behind stateful saturation, but I know it sounds damn skippy good!
Hey Chris, thanks for chiming in and please watch out this place to hear “what else could be done ” with this stuff which I’m already preparing!
WAUWWWWWWWWWWW
64-bit anytime soon? ^_^
Thrillseeker is amazing! but sometimes several instances of it can cause muting sound and (rarely) crash (I work in Reaper x64).
I’ve been getting this a lot lately. I’ve stopped using it completely as it does exactly what you have described. I know this is an old comment, but did you find a solution?
IIt seems to me the majority of the best commercial processors are geared towards making an immediate impact, an O.T.T.gloss that in isolation makes you go ‘Wow’ must buy that,but they do tend to become fatiguing i.m.o.
Unfortunately too many people judge quality by price alone and thus such genuinely superior products as here presented attract such facile comments as,’sounds good for freeware’,or ‘comparable even with some payware’.When will people learn to judge with their ears,and not value things only if they leave a large hole in their pockets.People never cease to amaze me.
Peace,
Mark
If you’re gong to make a plugin, make it both VST and AU version. You’re missing out on a lot of interested users.
Indeed !
Audio Units version in the works???? I would love to try it out, but I use logic 😦
oooo yes this looks good
No MAC?? I have to die!!
Can I use it on Macintosh ?
This compressor is totally incredible. It sounds fantastic. I apply it on guitars, vocals, keyboards, everything….It makes each sound smooth, open and silky, I love it. Thanks a lot for this.
Hey! Why so little praise for this beast lately?
It’s really great and really comes to save the day in lots of situations! Thank you very much:)
Nicу job, and God (or whatever you believe exists) bless and save you:)
nice____
Now that it’s 2016 i’ve finally gotten around to checking out your 32 bit plugins, due to implementing a workflow accommodating both 64- and 32-bit plugs.
What.
So. Freaking. Good.
It’s insane that these are free.
Incredible audio quality and usefulness.
Is this one on the roadmap for 64 bit conversion? Such a beauty of a compressor!
surething 🙂
x64 Version Please*64
Great! Looking forward to give this a good round in my ongoing mix! I posted a link at KVR btw! Thanks Bootsie – Christmas came early this year 😀
Thank you!