Mercurial Tones has released Vanguard, a bus compression, saturation and clipping plugin.
Bus compressors have been chasing the same fixed-curve formula for 50 years. Vanguard scraps it.
The saturation listens. RSX — the Reactive Spectral Saturation Engine — analyzes your source in real time and reshapes its harmonic curve to match: pulling mud out of bass-heavy material, taming harshness on bright sources, never imprinting the same color twice.
Three compressor modes, a tube stage with transient-aware SMACK drive, and a final clipper sit around the core but the real breakthrough is that the saturation is paying attention. It’s how bus compression should have always worked.
What’s inside:
- RSX – Reactive Spectral Engine: The thing nobody else has. RSX listens to your source in real time and reshapes the saturation curve to match it, pulling muddiness out of bass-heavy material, softening harshness on bright sources, never imprinting the same color twice. Manual override if you want to lock the response.
- Three compressor modes: Vintage for classic glue and warmth, Modern for fast and transparent control, Bass tuned for the low end. Auto-release breathes with the track instead of fighting it.
- Tube saturation stage: Three voicings – Tight, Hot, and Cal – sitting in front of the compressor, with SMACK: a transient-aware drive that lets the punch through instead of smearing it. Parallel mix to dial in exactly how much tube you want.
- Smart detection & sidechain: Sweepable high-pass, adjustable lookahead, 0–100% stereo link, automatic makeup gain. One pass to set it, then it just sits right.
- Output stage with clipper: Soft, hard, and shaped clipping modes after the compressor, with a delta-listen solo so you can hear exactly what’s being removed. Parallel mix on the clipper, too.
Pricing & Availability
Vanguard Bus Compressor is available for the introductory price of €39 (Reg. €49) for macOS and Windows in VST3 and AU plugin formats.
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