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Acustica Audio Offers FREE Grey Compressor Plugin Until January 7th

By 38 Comments2 Mins Read
Acustica Audio Grey

Acustica Audio offers the new Grey compressor plugin as a free download until January 7th, 2024.

Grey is an audio compression plugin that uses Acustica Audio’s Hyper 3 technology to replicate the sound of a classic VCA compressor.

Acustica Audio uses a unique type of dynamic impulse response technology to capture the sound of analog hardware. Instead of emulating hardware using DSP, they record how it responds to the audio signal and then recreate its behavior as a plugin.

Their plugins had performance issues on less powerful CPUs back in the day. However, with CPU advancements and Acustica Audio’s work on improving its technology, the performance is now silky smooth on most modern computers.

I highly recommend Acustica Audio’s plugins if you want to replicate analog studio hardware in your DAW as closely as possible.

The new freeware compressor called Grey is the perfect opportunity to do so. However, keep in mind that this is a limited-time offer. You should claim your free copy of Grey before the offer expires on January 7th.

Grey is an intuitive and easy-to-use compressor plugin designed for simplicity and efficiency. It is perfect for music producers who want instant compression results with minimal effort.

The plugin excels in processing vocals and tight, impactful percussive sounds, channeling the essence of 1970s drum compression. It’s particularly effective with aggressive transient sources, producing the legendary “thwack” effect that has become a hallmark of classic tracks.

To download Grey for free, visit Acustica Audio’s website (linked below) and spin the virtual wheel to win one of the available prizes. I was afraid that the wheel would make me do 50 pushups, but luckily, the wheel always stops spinning so that it gives Grey as the prize.

After spinning the wheel, you’ll be asked to enter your name and email address. The plugin will then be delivered to the email address you provided when signing up.

Grey is available in VST2, VST3, AAX, and AU plugin formats for digital audio workstations on Windows and macOS.

Acustica Audio also launched the Xmas Sale, offering 50% off select plugins when you spend €129 or more in a single order.

Download: Grey (FREE until January 7th, 2024)

More:

Tomislav is a music producer and sound designer from Belgrade, Serbia. He is also the founder and editor-in-chief at Bedroom Producers Blog.

38 Comments

  2. crinoceronte

     on

    I’m loving Acustica Audio’s plugins more and more. They keep improving their hardware sampling technology almost on a monthly basis. And this 165A emulation is really something, specially if you consider it’s given as a gift. Life is good

    Reply

    • Noodler

       on

      The manager, Aquarius, is a lightweight program and downloads are stored in the Stage Area below.
      User/AppData/Roaming/Acustica/Aquarius/Stagearea

      I’ve had no issues, these downloads can then be transferred to a backup or another Stage Area on another machine. It could be improved with multiple product select, hide legacy, etc. The usual Shift and Ctrl modifier keys that we’re used to.

      Now, UAD’s UA Connect is a nightmare in comparison.

      Reply

  5. Basilis

     on

    I’m loving Acustica Audio’s plugins more and more. They keep improving their hardware sampling technology almost on a monthly basis. And this 165A emulation is really something, specially if you consider it’s given as a gift. Life is good

    Reply

    • Noodler

       on

      That’s what I thought, I revisited Mjuc and others. I compared these to Acustica Pink 4 compressor, it was night and day. Pink sound pleasing when pushed really hard taking nothing away and adding pleasing, almost sweet, harmonics.

      The newer iterations from Acustica have greatly improved their performance. Audio Gridder could also be used as a slave machine to offload resources.

      All in all, Acustica’s offerings are more authentic than most algorithmic emulations. As for UAD, I find Analog Obsession’s Comper on par with UAD’S 1176

      Reply

  7. Michal Ochedowski

     on

    Fantastic piece of gear. Very easy to use. I didn’t have to fine tune anything. Some compressors require additional time to get them just right. Not this one. The phrase comes to mind: this plugin almost feels like cheating.

    Reply

  9. Tree of Life

     on

    The characteristic snap of Dbx is definitely there. With this plug I think I can safely say that nobody needs the 165A hardware any more. And it’s free!

    Reply

  10. Leon

     on

    I’m loving Acustica Audio’s plugins more and more. They keep improving their hardware sampling technology almost on a monthly basis. And this 165A emulation is really something, specially if you consider it’s given as a gift. Life is good

    Reply

  11. JEP1928

     on

    Analog emulation of Acustica Audio seems great, fine or a “hit or miss”, but the real problem is on the DRM itself which I avoiding it because of potential of HDD/SSD wearing due to strange bug of the DRM itself, and also CPU was hugely wasteful.

    In fact I measured with Celeron N4000 laptop, using JET Dynamic EQ on FL Studio, with no background apps running

    Which hits on 50-75% average mark…

    theoretically old i3 can be 25-55% mark, predecessing i5-i7 in 19%-40% mark (I assume that this is 5th gen and below)

    I’d rather suggest Analog Obession, Brainworx, and UAD plugins if you want to save CPU or don’t want to use AA at all due to QoL or DRM issues.

    If you want to choose AA plugins for emulation, why not?

    Reply

  14. James

     on

    Man is it the most faithful DBX165A emulation to date, can’t believe it’s free. Just equalise, add a clipper and you’re good to go.

    Reply

  15. EVO

     on

    When I compare Acustica Audio to UAD, Brainworx or Waves, the difference is obvious: No other companies can provide the same analog feel. This is due to the fold-back harmonics you get when saturating, you know that Nyquist–Shannon sampling theorem. And now with their new Hyper3 technology, their plugins are so lightweight, I mean this compressor only takes around 0.3% of resource on my Macbook Pro M1Pro using Reaper, which is ridiculous for the sound you get. Most of the people don’t know the true story behind their hardware sampling approach and how much it required in terms of resources; now things are changing drastically, thing of it as a sort of Roland D-50: the first part of the IR is sampled and the rest is digital, keeping or better improving the sound quality which was already great but now basically with no aliasing. I really don’t know what we’ll get from them in a couple of years

    Reply

  16. Randal

     on

    What’s with the spam comments praising Acustica? That’s fishy af. Or did I miss some meme? Anyway…

    Downloaded, installed, and it sounds good. Appreciate the freebie. The interface look REALLY nice but feels kind of clunky in use. I don’t know what it is. Had the same feeling about that Pumpkin freebie. Maybe I’m just not familiar enough with them yet.

    Their install manager software is lacking, though. I won’t jump on them about the DRM because I’m sure they’ve had enough of that lately. There is just a lot of little QOL improvements that could be made to it. Seems like I’ve got dozens of these plugin managers now and this is one of the least polished. Which plugins do I have installed? Which are actually in my account?

    I don’t know, man. I appreciate a freebie but there are some off-putting vibes around this company atm and these fishy ass comments are not helping.

    Reply

    • HUMAN#7224

       on

      I’m loving Randal’s comments more and more. He keeps improving his keyboard typing ability almost on a monthly basis. And this comment is really something, specially if you consider it’s given as a gift. Life is good

      Reply

    • Brenny C

       on

      Nah, Acustica has had its share of fans for a long time, nothing spammy here as far as I can tell. With that said, I’ve never been a fan because of how CPU intensive they are (or at least used to be) and so I haven’t tried one out in a long time. But yeah, I do believe the positive feedback is legit.

      Reply

      • Tony

         on

        Throughout all these years, Giancarlo has managed to attract customers for himself through advertising and spamming. His products are completely average with attractive graphics, which also contain lags. Here, you can also see the spam. Giancarlo also needs to be accountable for espionage in systems. In my opinion, he is a troublemaker in every sense.

        Reply

  17. Brenny C

     on

    Is Acustica software as CPU intensive as it was in years past? Every one of their plugins has had a laggy GUI and has brought my computer to its knees, making them unusable for me. I’d love to know that this has changed but I’m not holding my breath. What say you?

    Reply

    • Christian H

       on

      The recent Acustica Hyper technology does reduce CPU consumption a bit. It is still CPU heavy but comparable to other manufacturer’s plugins in the heavy category.
      For example, on my system (Windows, FL), Acustica Arctic saturation is as heavy as Unfiltered Audio Dent 2 (my two most heavy saturators). Acustica Fire The Gold is less heavy, similar to many medium-load plugins like BPB Saturator, GSat+, Chow Tape.
      The compressors Acustica Tan 2 and Acustica Arctic are among my heaviest. Tan 2 is similar to IK TR5 Comprexxor and UP Royal Compressor. Arctic compressor is heaviest of all by quite a margin.

      Reply

      • Brenny C

         on

        Thanks for the detailed reply, Christian. Like you, I’m on Windows and my main DAW is also FL Studio. Maybe I’ll give Acustica one more shot and see if their plugs are any more usable for me now. Your comment gives me some hope as Dent’s performance is quite reasonable in my experience and runs smoothly on my setup.

        Reply

  18. Tony

     on

    Throughout all these years, Giancarlo has managed to attract customers for himself through advertising and spamming. His products are completely average with attractive graphics, which also contain lags. Here, you can also see the spam. Giancarlo also needs to be accountable for espionage in systems. In my opinion, he is a troublemaker in every sense.

    Reply

  19. i32

     on

    Nah, skiping this one. Not gonna install some bloatware managers for one compressor.
    Especially after reading comments about cpu intensive components.

    Reply

  20. Gery Zenz

     on

    dbx 160/165
    comparison cpu usage (with oversampling if available)

    WIN 10
    Intel Core i7-10700K, 8C/16T, 3.80-5.10GHz
    32GB RAM
    Studio One 6

    Arturia Comp VCA-65 1-2%

    Analog Obsession dBComp 0% with OS 6%

    Waves dbx 160 7%

    Acustica Audio Grey 3% (2xOS 6% – 4xOS 9% – 8xOS 16% – 16xOS 31%)

    Psycho Circuitry RLC-79 (free) 1% (2xOS 2% – 4xOS 3% – 8xOS 5% – 16xOS 7%

    Presonus Comp 160 0%

    Reply

  21. alex

     on

    Audiolatry released Easy Strings, a free virtual instrument plugin that features samples recorded from violin, viola, and cello ensembles:

    audiolatry.com/products/easy-strings

    Reply

  23. PureFire

     on

    Thanks for everything T, season greetings to you & all at BPB & Acustica, i really like this compressor, it’s awesome 😊🙏💛

    Reply
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