Abbey Road Plug-ins RS124 Compressor

This plugin has performed flawlessly on a macbook pro i7 core and Logic 9. The great thing about plugins like these is that if you have ever used hardware, then you should have no issues using these guys. No need for a manual, this only has a couple parameters to tweak. The configuration couldn't be simpler. It looks like the real thing and is very simple to use so most people should be able to dive right in. Yes, all the functions are very easily accessible and can be automated very easily with Logic 9.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

So far the plugin has been perfectly stable. I have never had any issues with lost presets or crashes.
The performance of this unit is amazing. The sound is awesome and quite realistic. Although I have never had the privilege to use one of these actual hardware units but in comparison to other hardware compressors this one holds it's own. What's really nice is the plugin uses almost no CPU. Instead of having to use it on an Aux channel I can have one of these on every track I need one on. That's huge in the Virtual world. I have been using this unit for about a month.


OVERALL OPINION

What I like most about this plugin is a combination of the sound and the fact that it is a plugin that I can instantiate as many times as I need and not suffer loads of CPU pressure. Combine all that with that fact that I can automate all the parameters and it's hard to look at some of the hardware units I have lying around. What don't I like? I guess nothing so far. I have to say I am impressed with the warmth of this plugin. Digital audio is really getting impressive. $165 is not a bad price to pay for this caliber of sound quality and flexibility. I have used several compression plugins including waves (generally my favorite), schaak audio transient shaper, built in Logic and Ableton compressors, etc.... and this one has gone right to the top with my Waves.
Yes, I would buy this unit again. I would recommend getting a Waves package first for the diversity but this is a great add on to the arsenal.

The Abbey Road Plug-ins RS124 Compressor is a plug-in emulator of a 1960's valve compressor used at Abbey Road. I haven't used a hardware compressor that looks like this ever, and I'm not sure what model specifically it would be modeled after. As far as getting the plug-in up and running goes, it should be pretty simple to install it on any given system, but I haven't done it myself since the one I've used is on the studio's system where I work. The interface of the RS124 Compressor plug-in is really simple, whether you've used a compressor with this kind of make up or not. The main parameters are knobs for input control, output, and recovery. It has a couple of other things in the interface, but mostly just to make it look like a vintage piece of gear. I haven't had a need to look at a manual for this plug-in...

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

I don't own this plug-in at home, but I've used the Abbey Road Plug-ins RS124 Compressor at the studio where I work. We're running it in a Pro Tools HD system that runs with on an Apple Mac Pro desk top consisting of a 2.66 dual Intel Xeon processor and 10 GB of RAM. We never have performance issues on this system, so it's hard to say how it might run on a lesser system...

OVERALL OPINION

The Abbey Road Plug-ins RS124 Compressor isn't my favorite of the Abbey Road plug-ins, but it's still useful and has a sound of it's own. It isn't the cleanest compressor, but if you're looking to add a bit of body to your sound via a compressor, this will work. It seems like you need to crank it pretty high to get a full sound out of, although I guess this will depend from application to application. This is a really simple plug-in, so it's nice that it doesn't take much to get a good sound. If you're interested in getting a unique compressor for your system, definitely check out all of the Abbey Road Plug-ins and specifically the RS124.