United Plugins offer the FirePresser compressor plugin as a FREE download until April 16th, 2023.
Who doesn’t love a free compressor?
Before you answer that, who doesn’t love a free compressor that people usually pay for? Rather than pondering the universe’s metaphysical functions, let’s acknowledge the excellent FirePresser by United Plugins being free for a limited time.
For the uninitiated, FirePresser is four compressors in one, with a handy interface.
The four compressors featured in FirePresser are the Distressor, 1176, a Vari-Mu of some sort, and the dbx 160. For many plugin fiends, you no doubt have some of these flavors in your own toolboxes, but the way FirePresser combines them is fairly novel.
The center of the interface has a multicolored X/Y slider. Here is where the proverbial magic happens, where you can get some of the characteristics of each compressor depending on the slider’s position. This is coupled with the detector, which acts as the traditional set of controls on a compressor.
The only real complaint to level at FirePresser is a real lack of ratio control, as the STRESS and 76 can be a little extreme for some materials. Sound-wise, FirePresser is quite nice in action and features a pleasing saturation you can introduce through the detector section.
FirePresser isn’t reinventing the wheel for compression. Instead, it takes some of the aspects of serial and parallel compression that you might introduce to a mix and streamlines the process.
It’s also worth pointing out that FirePresser’s interface is soaked in visual feedback, with individual gain reduction meters telling you how much compression each compressor applies.
A little more granular control for each compressor module would be great. However, for the price, it’s hard to aim too many criticisms at the software itself.
FirePresser is free for a limited time and requires no special coupon codes to snag. You will need a United Plugins or Plugin Boutique account to grab it, but updates are free for life, and the company isn’t considering a subscription-based service anytime soon.
If you need more vintage-style compressors for mixing music, check out our free BPB Dirty LA and the excellent Xtressor by Kiive Audio.
FirePresser is available for Windows and Mac computers. Supported plugin formats are VST, VST3, AU, and AAX. There are binaries for Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.
The free download offer expires on April 16th, 2023.
Get FirePresser FREE: United Plugins / Plugin Boutique
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10 Comments
Tomislav Zlatic
onApologies for this article being a bit late! It’s my fault, I had a very busy weekend and Monday, but it’s all sorted now. BPB will return to its regular posting schedule starting tomorrow.
Thank you for reading BPB! :)
Jorge
onYou rock man, and your website rules, thank you for the time you give us to get this great articles and plugins
Darryl Lim
onSeconded, nuff said! :)
Sir Otter
onOoh, a Brauerizer-in-a-box, nice. ^_^
GY!CESR
onObrigado por mais um plugin essencial para o meu catálogo de produtos oficiais!
gyserquerpau
ono quê carálho?
PureFire
onThank you William, BPB, much appreciated news, Thank you United Plugins / FireSonic, an awesome plugin and kind givaway.
I also like the way that you can chose which area of frequency to compress using the high & low filters, thats really handy, and then use the mix to control the sound, awesome.
(copy & paste): Just a heads up… if you see the message on the United Plugins website: “you already own FirePresser” it’s because you just purchased the free licence… You can just download the actual FirePresser plugin normally and activate it online with your account details / or if you download your licence, you can activate FirePresser offline… Store the licence in a permanent place, then when you open your DAW & FirePresser, you can just drag your licence straight onto the plugin GUI to activate it.
Dee
onThis is a top level freebie. Subtle for mixing…extreme for sound design. Easy to use but like any compressor takes a little longer to master. The interface is like a KaossPad and instantly tweakable and brings results in seconds. I managed to coax out some subtle fret noises to liven up an acoustic guitar and give a synth pluck some in your face OTT style compression. Great plugin!
Patrik Bane Wiking
onAlways a fan of what United Plugins creates.
au child
onfirst time for united plugins hope i love your stuff