FabFilter Pro-C 3 – versatile stereo compressor

FabFilter is introducing an updated version of its popular software compressor with an expanded feature set. The product supports Windows Vista or later (64/32-bit) and macOS 10.13 or later in VST, VST3, AU, CLAP, AAX and AudioSuite formats.

Photo: official website fabfilter

The new version adds six compression algorithms: Versatile Style for a wide range of material; Smooth for compression that helps sounds blend together; Upward for more extreme compression; TTM, combining downward and upward compression across several bands; and Op-El and Vari-Mu, emulating vintage optical and variable-gain hardware amplifiers. Alongside internal, external and MIDI triggers, the Side Chain section now includes Host Sync with adjustable synchronization, offset and pulse duration.

Photo: official website fabfilter

A new Character panel offers Tube, Diode and Bright saturation, a Drive control and pre/post-compression routing. Pro-C 3 supports all major surround formats up to Dolby Atmos 9.6.1. Routing automatically adapts to the host project's multichannel format without manual setup. In surround mode, stereo linking works independently for each channel pair (L/R, Lc/Rc, Ls/Rs and so on), and the output meter displays all channels.

Photo: official website fabfilter

Other additions and improvements include Auto Threshold, which dynamically adjusts the threshold to produce the same amount of compression at different input levels; integration with the instance list introduced in the recently released Pro-Q 4); six-band Side Chain EQ with Brickwall and All-Pass filters, plus Mid-Only or Side-Only processing for each band; up to 32× oversampling; and a redesigned preset browser with search, tags and metadata. Showing or hiding the Side Chain section no longer turns sidechain processing on or off.

Photo: official website fabfilter

FabFilter Pro-C 3 will be available for about $160.