Here are 5 of our favourite virtual boutique compressors – wholly legitimate stand-ins for some of the most desirable dynamics-shaping boxes eye-watering amounts of money can buy.

One of the best things about plugin effects is that they give every producer (with a few hundred quid to spare) access to emulations of ultra-expensive boutique hardware devices that they’d never get so much as a sniff of in the real world. And although, in the analogue domain, physical circuitry still just about has the edge, these minor software miracles are now so authentic in terms of sound, response and vibe that only the most churlish of traditionalists would contest their validity and positively democratising economic proposition.

Empirical Labs Arousor

Ubiquitous in studios the world over since the late 90s, Empirical Labs’ Distressor is without doubt on one of the greatest compressors ever made – and who better to model it in software than the New Jersey-based manufacturer itself? Described as an “evolution of the Distressor”, rather than a strict recreation, Arousor adds to the colourful line-up of compression ratios that define the sound of its corporeal forebear with extra 1.5:1 and 8:1 options, and lets you adjust the shape of the attack stage for transient tweaking. The Saturation knob, meanwhile, provides more range than the Distressor’s two fixed distortion modes, and the two-band sidechain EQ is an obvious improvement on the original hardwired circuit. Oh, and it works in stereo, too, of course – you’d need to buy two Distressors for that luxury in the real world. Versatile, easy to work with and oozing personality, Arousor is a modern classic.

• Check out our Full Empirical Labs Arousor Review

Softube Weiss DS1-MK3

The sweet, sweet fruit of a collaboration between software supremos Softube and boutique hardware manufacturer Weiss Engineering, DS1-MK3 expands carefully on a flawless emulation of the latter’s 30-year-old mastering compressor/de-esser. With the original being a digital device in the first place, the developer had the advantage of being able to directly port code, rather than wrestle with the vagaries of analogue circuitry; and the result is an incredibly precise, supremely transparent frequency-aware compressor/limiter/expander that’s only improved by the upgrade to 32-bit/192kHz resolution and the addition of True Peak limiting, amongst other things. A must-hear for any serious mastering engineer.

• Check out our Full Softube Weiss DS1-MK3 Review

Plugin Alliance Elysia Alpha Compressor

If DS1-MK3’s all-digital architecture doesn’t float your mastering boat, you might want to check out Plugin Alliance’s exacting virtual take on Elysia’s Alpha – an achingly luxe box of tricks that would set you back over ten grand in material form. Developer Brainworx has applied its formidable component modelling chops to virtualising every individual transistor (one of the hardware’s big selling points is its discrete Class A circuitry) in order to capture that famously open sound, and everything is in place, from the empowering Auto Fast Attack and Release settings, Niveau filter, and dry/wet mix control, to the feed forward mode, mid-side routing and soft clipper.

The Alpha is quite simply one of the tastiest and most adaptable mastering compressors on the market, and Brainworx’s plugin twin has to be seen as representing amazing value, given its authenticity. A simplified Mix version is included as well, for use on individual tracks.

• Check out our article showing the Elysia Alpha Compressor In Use

UAD Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor

Shadow Hills Industries’ legendary dynamics processor is the very epitome of ‘boutique’, and Universal Audio’s UAD-2/Apollo-powered plugin version absolutely nails its redoubtable sonic character. Switchable between stereo and dual mono routing, SHMC’s super flexible two-stage arrangement offers laid-back, musical smoothing in the program-dependent Optical section, much more detailed VCA compression at ratios up to 20:1 in the Discrete section, or both together in series; while three output transformer models – Nickel, Iron and Steel – open up a choice of saturation styles. And don’t be misled by the name – that dual-compressor design makes this one equally adept at pumping up and improving instruments, vocals and busses as it is spearheading the mastering chain.

• Check out our Full UAD Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor Review

DDMF MagicDeathEye and MagicDeathEye Stereo

Ian Sefchick’s fabulous Fairchild 660-inspired Magic Death Eye and Magic Death Eye Stereo vari-mu compressors are about as exclusive as they come, what with his day job as an engineer at Capitol Records preventing him from building them at any sort of speed, and their availability being limited to the US and Canada. Happily, though, ’the rest of us’ can get our mitts on official plugin clones of both at a fraction of the prices, thanks to this collaboration between Sefchick and DDMF.

Unlike the hardware, both plugins are in fact stereo, but the main differences between them are still the addition of a two-band boost-only EQ and implementation of a softer compression curve in MagicDeathEye Stereo, gearing it up nicely for mastering usage. The headlines are a smooth, warm valve sound, sublime program-responsiveness and ‘drivability’, old-school ease of use, and MagicDeathEye Stereo’s almost supernatural gluing capabilities on groups and the master buss.

That’s our pick of the boutique plugin compressor bunch, then – let us know your favourite in the comments.