Intro

VP BRAINIAC II is your plugin of choice for fast transient grabbing of drums, vocals, and various other acoustic and percussive instruments. Inspired by a legendary VCA Compressor/Limiter, its ability to apply massive amounts of gain reduction without deforming the sound source makes it a must-have tool for any recording or mixing setup.

Description

Thanks to its carefully modeled VCA circuitry design, VP BRAINIAC II is ideal for handling transient-heavy and highly dynamic sound sources. Vari-Mu units are usually considered the ultimate tube compressors for their ability to apply massive amounts of gain reduction and yet remain musical and undetectable. However, in the realm of VCA units, attack, and release times are faster than those of any tube compressor.

Accurately recreated in the plugin is the unique Release Mode switch, which changes the Release response from Linear to Logarithmic allowing for even more musical results. Another key feature of VP BRAINIAC II, coming straight from the bag of tricks of the hardware original, is its peak reversion correction circuitry, which compensates for the loss of low-end during heavy compression.

History

First introduced in 1971 by Allison Research, the Gain Brain is the hardware legend that inspired us to create VP BRAINIAC II. A revolutionary piece of broadcasting gear, featuring FET variable-ratio-limiter technologies, this unit was later revised around the Valley TA101 VCA, which resulted in the Valley People Gain Brain II model.

The Gain Brain II provided a solution to a common problem in dynamic processing at the time of its creation – applying enormous fast-grabbing compression but remaining musical. This was achieved by a proprietary gain reduction design for a program-dependent response. Using the principles of linear integration to analyze the complexity of incoming waveforms and varying the response of its gain reduction, this unique piece of studio hardware is controlled by a very simple and standard control set featuring Gain, Ratio, Attack, Release, and Threshold knobs. VP BRAINIAC II follows this example which allows it to be easily integrated into any modern-day recording or post-production setup.

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

• Faithfully modeled after a rare and iconic VCA-design unit
• Apply lots of gain reduction without sacrificing the low-end
• Aggressive limiting/compression suited for transient-heavy sounds
• Faster attack and release times than any tube design

Tech Specs