Intro

ALT-436C is our software recreation of the great-sounding late 1950s single-channel Vari-MU compressor loved by pop producers for its ability to enhance vocals and bass guitars like no other unit.

Description

ALT-436C is a relic from the Beatles era. With its all-analog components and ground-breaking vari-MU design, both precisely measured, captured, and recreated in the native domain, this legendary unit offers a very musical and distinctive sound. ALT-436C is suprisingly versatile and useful with a variety of instruments. It is most known for its ability to make bass guitars and vocals truly stand out in the mix but is also cable of adding its warm all-tube polish to brass, strings, or synth tracks. When used on a mix bus, ALT-436C can add just the right amount of glue to make your mix tight and cohesive without adding too much vintage color to it. Rediscover the true sound of this all-tube compressor classic with any DAW and interface you might be using.

History

The hardware inspiration of ALT-436 was first introduced in the late 1950s and while its design and sound would later inspire iconic vari-MU units like the Fairchild, it still remains somewhat of a hidden gem. We modeled our plugin after the third revision of the 436, which introduced the Threshold and Release Time controls. This compressor was generally less expensive than its contemporaries and engineers would often modify their units in order to better adapt them to the instruments they would be used on. Pop music production from this era wasn’t so cold and sterile and without a doubt, the 436 was one of the reasons why.

Included versions

Native Plugin: Runs on your Mac or PC without any additional hardware needed.

Synergy Core Real-Time: Runs in real time with no perceptible latency on compatible Synergy Core devices.

Features

• Up to 30 dB of thump-free gain reduction
• Maintains a uniform level of reproduced sound
• Preserves optimum dynamic range
• Does not cause overmodulation

Tech Specs