Presswerk is a brand new dynamics processing plugin (VST/AU) from the very highly regarded u-he, combining compression and saturation in a single, visually appealing interface.
u-he claims that its sound is heavily influenced by a number of classic hardware compressors (none of which are named), and that their primary development goal was to make it as 'analogue' sounding as possible.
For:
- Sounds fantastic.
- Unusual but welcome flexibility.
- Easy one-screen layout.
- Excellent vintage emulation presets.
- Reasonably CPU-efficient.
Against:
- Not for compression novices.
- Would benefit from more vintage presets.
Our Verdict
Presswerk is a veritable playground of analogue-style compression, with a fabulous sound and insane attention to detail.
u-he have clearly designed Presswerk to deliver as wide a range of classic analogue flavours as possible, but in the process they've also laid bare and given access to many of the parametric subtleties that contribute to some of history's most beloved hardware units.
Boasting deeply impressive flexibility and a stellar sound, this is a dazzling dynamics processor that no producer or engineer could fail to fall in love with.
