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dbx® 160 Compressor / Limiter
Experience the quirky VCA compression of the vintage hardware.
The dbx 160 Compressor/Limiter plug-in is a fully licensed, faithful emulation of the legendary studio hardware, capturing the quirky sonics of its colorful VCA compression along with added controls for modern workflows.
Included Versions
UAD Native
Runs on your Mac or PC without UA hardware.Apollo Realtime & UAD‑2
Runs accelerated on Apollo interfaces and UAD‑2 hardware.UAD Native plug-ins run on both macOS 10.15 Catalina or newer and Windows 10 and 11.
- Add a unique voice and flavor to your compressor toolkit with the first solid-state VCA compressor ever made
- Harness fat compression textures on bass guitar, drum buses, synths, and more
- Give acoustic guitars and snare drums in-your-face “thwack”
- Create with Dry/Wet mix control for quick parallel compression and Sidechain Filter for reduced low-frequency pumping
Add Versatile VCA Compression to your Tracks
Whether you’re using it on synths, bass guitar, or a drum bus, the dbx 160 plug-in emulates the original hardware’s grabby, low-end glue and old-school character, full of the same unique nonlinearities that make it a must-have for any engineer’s compressor toolkit.
Simple to Use, Timeless Character
With the same simple control set and at-a-glance metering of the original, the dbx 160 plug-in makes it easy to crush a parallel drum bus, or inject subtle fatness. It can also add aggressiveness and impact to everything from guitar power chords to a hip-hop vocal.
Leveled Up for Modern Workflows
Along with graphic enhancements and improved VU metering, the dbx 160 plug‑in’s Dry/Wet Mix control lets you easily punch up a drum bus with parallel compression, while the added Sidechain Filter lets you keep the low end tight, enhancing the compressor's impact.
System Requirements
- macOS Catalina 10.15, Big Sur 11, Monterey 12, Ventura 13, or Sonoma 14
- Windows 10 or Windows 11 (64-bit editions)
- Intel, AMD or Apple silicon processor
- Internet connection to download software and authorize native UAD plug-ins
- Free iLok account with iLok Cloud or iLok USB (2nd generation or higher)
- Free UA Connect application for managing native UAD plug-ins
- A supported DAW compatible with VST, AU and AAX plug-in file formats.
Native UAD Instruments Requirements
- Sample-based UAD instruments require SSD storage with APFS formatting for macOS or NTFS formatting for Windows
- 1 GB to 10 GB available SSD storage per plug-in (space requirement varies per UAD Instrument). A minimum of 100 GB available storage is highly recommended.
- Individual UAD Instrument storage requirements are listed on UA Connect’s UAD Plug-Ins tab.
Notes
- Operating systems not listed above are untested. Although untested operating systems may work, they are not supported by Universal Audio.
- Pre-release and beta versions of operating systems are not supported.
- Native UAD plug-ins on Apple silicon machines automatically run natively on Apple silicon in DAWs that support native Apple silicon.
- Windows running via Bootcamp on Mac systems are not supported.
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