Overview

The ultimate in sound quality and sophisticated control
The elysia´s alpha compressor set the standard for what an analog mastering compressor could be. Following its debut in 2008, it quickly became one of the most respected mastering-grade compressors of the modern era, thanks to its clean, high-rent sound, even at aggressive settings, and its unusual degree of flexibility.

Pristine sound, smooth response, unparalleled sensitivity
The hardware alpha compressor is coveted for its professional dynamics processing, featuring innovative functions and absolutely uncompromising sound quality. It set new standards for audio mastering thanks in part to its highly-responsive limiters and extra features like built-in Parallel Compression, an onboard M/S matrix, elysia’s signature EQ filters, and special modes including Auto-Fast, Warm, Soft Clip, Feedforward and Feedback, offering an endless array of tonal-shaping possibilities.

The highest quality audio paths
This 100% discrete class-A analog beast provides a degree of openness and clarity unmatched in the dynamics processing world. Every part of its signal processing is based on single transistors running in class-A mode. Even the sidechain and power supply use discrete circuits. All components are of the highest grade available and exclusively chosen according to their sonic excellence.

Clean and powerful, even at extreme settings
All these design features add up to an audio quality that is truly unrivaled. Even when extreme settings are used, the sound characteristics stay clean and powerful. The alpha compressor delivers the “this is it” feeling of a finished song. Its enhanced functions far exceed the potential of normal compressors, giving users previously unimagined options for mastering and mixing. No wonder it is considered a mastering studio gem.

Even more of a good thing in plugin form
Using Brainworx advanced circuit modeling techniques, the alpha compressor plugin captures every nuance of the original hardware, delivering it to your desktop where multiple instances of this beauty are available in just a few clicks. In addition to the full-blown Mastering version of the alpha compressor, Brainworx worked in close collaboration with elysia to develop a simpler Mixing version. This version eliminates some of the more advanced features to make it even easier to get great sounding compression quickly.

Features

  • Provides the most sophisticated and complete set of dynamics control available.
  • Maintains the character of the original source material even when extreme compression settings are applied.
  • Integrated M/S Matrix: As an alternative to standard stereo operation, you can process M/S Stereo (mid and side signals), opening up completely new options for your work.
  • Feed Forward & Feedback: Compression types can be individually chosen for each channel, making different compressors available with just a button push.
  • Auto Fast: Switchable semi-automation consistently provides perfect attack and release based on adjustable values—even when working with complex material.
  • Audio Filter: The Niveau Filter changes the proportions between high and low frequencies for added clarity and punch with zero harshness.
  • Sidechain Filter: Onboard frequency selective compression, avoiding the need for complex routings and favoring an efficient workflow.
  • Parallel Compression: Both direct and compressed signals can be blended as desired.

Audio Examples

Industry Reviews

  • Allen Hunnie

    Allen Hunnie

    Streetheart, McMaster and James, The WSO, Harlequin

    I must say wooow what a plugin... makes me wish I really had a chance to try the real unit... I still want the real hardware now more than ever... I must say I never wanted to purchase something… Read More

  • Geert Bevin

    Geert Bevin

    I released my band's debut album on Monday after having done the final mastering with the elysia alpha plugin during the weekend. It was wonderful to be able to use this compressor in unlinked M/S… Read More

  • David Arnold

    David Arnold

    Composer (Casino Royale, Independence Day, Sherlock)

    The elysia units I've been using on individual tracks as well as across sub mixes and final stereo outs. All of these elysia units make up an incredibly powerful set of tools and have really… Read More

Customer Reviews

  • Really nice compressor

    ★★★★☆
    by Hamchop Turtletime
    I'm not much of an "analog fetishist" but this compressor sounds consistently great (especially on submix and master mix buses) and has a very nice interface to work with. I prefer… Read More

  • M/S Monster

    ★★★★☆
    by Beatroot
    Go to plugin for mid side bus compression. Takes some figuring out and has a particular clean sound, but in the right application there is nothing that can touch it. Be nice if it had the Brainworx… Read More

  • MASTERCHAIN

    ★★★★★
    by Woodboy
    This Baby just went back into the Mastering chain, This time in the box ! great Staple for the Studio.
    great Job BX

  • No necesitas Más

    ★★★★★
    by @audiofriki
    Para traking y master, una herramienta completa. No necesitas mucho más en cada track. Lim, comp, MS, SC..

  • Still amazing, still small

    ★★★★☆
    by Roberto
    Man this thing has been around, I used on UAD and now natively. Still one of the finest compressor plugins going, and that's saying something considering what's come along since this was… Read More
View All Customer Reviews

Specification

Supported Plugin Formats
AAX DSP, AAX Native, AU, AAX AudioSuite, VST2, VST3

Supported Operating Systems
macOS 13 down to macOS 10.11
Windows 11 down to Windows 8

Mac
Intel, or Apple Silicon

PC
x64-compatible CPU

System Requirements
Display resolution: 1440 × 900px or 1280 × 960px or higher
Memory: 2 GB RAM

Downloads

With the Installation Manager you can select, download & install all the Plugin Alliance products. Select any and all formats you need for your system! Mac & PC.

alpha compressor Installers

Installation Manager

Manuals

ChangeLog

alpha compressor

elysia alpha compressor - Changelog

Version 1.17.1 (Oct 9, 2023)
- General: fixed CPU spikes on Mac OS
- Fixed compatibility issues with old sessions using VST3 plugin version 1.16 and lower

Version 1.17.0 (Aug 15, 2023)
- General: added native Apple Silicon compatibility for AAX
- General: added macOS Ventura support
- General: improved plugin loading time in the DAW
- General: fixed issue causing Logic to crash when closing the plugin UI
- General: improved font drawing behavior

Version 1.16 (Mar 15, 2022)
- General: added native Apple Silicon compatibility for VST3, VST2 and AU
- General: added macOS Monterey support
- General: added Windows 11 and Windows 10 21H1 support
- General: discontinued Windows 7 support
- General: discontinued macOS 10.9 and 10.11 support
- General: fixed metering behavior in block sizes of 2048 samples and higher

Version 1.15 (Mar 22, 2021)
- General: Compatibility with Logic on Apple Silicon devices via the Rosetta-2 layer
- General: Fixed possible artefacts when freezing or bouncing tracks in Pro Tools
- General: Fixed automation highlighting disappearing in Studio One
- General: Improved license dialog visibility in dark mode

Version 1.14 (May 27, 2020)
- General: Qualified for use with the Windows 10 May 2020 Update
- General: VST3: Fixed potential hangs in a DAW upon loading
- General: Fixed logical issues in undo / redo behavior
- General: Fixed UI resizing issues in Ableton Live on Windows
- General: Fixed audio processing initialization issues on amp and delay products
- Fixed potential audio processing for quiet signals

Version 1.13 (Nov 06, 2019)
- General: Qualified for use with macOS 10.15 Catalina
- General: Qualified for use with Windows 10 November 2019 Update
- General: Fixed plugin validation in Logic under macOS Catalina
- General: Fixed preset name restore in Logic when reopening a session
- General: Fixed opening authorization dialog triggering automation
- General: Improved instantiation times for plugins
- General: Improved license functionality and branding for subscription
- General: Removed 32-bit support on macOS and Windows

Version 1.12 (Jul 10, 2019)
- General: macOS 10.14.5 Update compatibility
- General: Windows 10 1903 Update compatibility
- General: Fixed activation issue in Windows hosts set to non-English language (e.g. Cakewalk)
- General: AU: Fixed issue with increased CPU and memory on reopening UI
- General: VST3: Fixed issue with adapting to host knob mode, and now prioritizing linear
- General: VST3: Fixed issue with VST3 preset permissions
- General: VST3: Improved synchronization between parameter states and some UI functions, e.g. toolbar reset

Version 1.11 (Nov 16, 2018)
- General: macOS Mojave compatibility
- General: Windows October 2018 update compatibility
- General: adding Windows High DPI support for VST2/3 plugins
- General: Fixed potential crashes in Cubase and other VST2 / VST3 DAWs
- General: Fixed potential CPU spikes and audio dropouts
- General: Fixed rendering in Pro Tools on the start of a session
- General: Fixed missing presets in Wavelab and other VST3 DAWs
- General: Improving keyboard control, fixing issues with catched keys preventing it from passing through to DAW
- General: Fixed parallel use of host sessions (e.g. with Live)

Version 1.10 (May 24, 2018)
- General: Microsoft Windows Redstone 4 compatibility
- General: Added computer keyboard control for plugin parameters
- General: Fixed Mouse scroll wheel not working in Windows 8
- General: Fixed an issue where plugins will not validate or load after a certain amount of plugins have been loaded (Windows)
- General: Fixed visual GUI freezes when adjusting DAW parameters, meters, analyzers (Mac)
- General: Fixed possible issue with Pick Pack licenses
- General: Small licenser stability fix

Version 1.9 (Oct 23, 2017)
- General: Mac OS High Sierra compatibility
- General: Fixed possible crash on online activation (Mac OS High Sierra)
- General: Fixed Logic Pro X not validating AU plugins (Mac OS High Sierra)
- General: Fixed CPU spikes and crashes with Cubase (Windows)
- General: Fixed bug that could lead to "AAE -6 error" in ProTools (Windows)
- General: Fixed crash with FL Studio
- General: Fixed crash when cross-opening plugins in various hosts
- General: Fixed crash when using mixdown in Audition
- General: Fixed crash in Final Cut Pro
- General: Fixed delayed parameter handling and crackling issues in Cubase with VST3
- General: Fixed bug where plugin settings were not saved in Harrison Mixbus
- General: Fixed bug that led to AAE error -9317 in ProTools when instantiating plugin
- General: Fixed bug where plugins did not render properly when "x ray" option is enabled in Sonar
- General: Modifications to factory presets were lost when reopening session
- General: Fixed mouse wheel behaviour with second monitor setup (Windows)
- Some plugins: Value labels do not appear every time when clicking on parameter in UI
- General: Faster instantiation time for plugins (Windows)
- General: Adding support for automation highlighting in Presonus StudioOne
- Fixed crash when adding a channel in the Plugin Pin connector in Reaper

Version 1.8.1 (Dec 20, 2016)
- General: Mac OS Sierra compatibility
- General: Fixed automation issues in AU and AAX
- General: Fixed license dialog use of special characters
- General: Improved AU preset support
- General: Performance improvements

Version 1.8 (Apr 1, 2016)
- General: Major UI codebase update
- General: Fixed possible crash when authorizing plugin
- General: Added gain reduction meter support for StudioOne 3
- General: Installers show version info in Windows "Programs And Features"
- Fixed bug that leads to Alpha stop passing audio [BXBUGS-1121]

Version 1.7.4 (Jan 18, 2016)
- General codebase update
- Removing RTAS/TDM/VENUE 32-bit format support

Version 1.7.3 (Jul 18, 2015)
- General codebase update

Version 1.7.2 (Jun 22, 2015)
- General codebase update

Version 1.7.1 (May 27, 2015)
- Fixed wrong installation path for 32-bit Win VST plugin version

Version 1.7 (Apr 14, 2015)
- Fixed audible artifacts when changing parameters.
- Fixed parameter order in the generic view to comply with the GUI (422)
- Fixed meter inaccuracies

Version 1.6 (Nov 18, 2013)
- Licenser update (V3): Fixes and new features
- Prevent wrong mouse wheel behavior in 32-bit hosts on 64-bit Windows (Windows bug) (87, 95, 156)
- Fixed keyboard events after text input in Pro Tools Windows (325)
- Fixed parameter value display in VST3 (330)
- Fixed toolbar triggering automation (335)
- Fixed window size issues (279, 327)
- Fixed possible preset issues in Pro Tools 11 (312)
- Fixed AAX Audiosuite latency compensation (311)

Version 1.5.1 (Jun 28, 2013)
- fixed installer for 32-bit Windows

Version 1.5 (Jun 21, 2013)
- added support for Pro Tools 11
- licenser update: fixes and new features
- fixed automation with VST3 offline processing

Version 1.4 (Apr 05, 2013)
- otimized performance
- fixed issues with possible high CPU load
- fixed Avid related issue in Pro Tools 10 that could lead to sporadic crashes
- fixed issue that could lead to values jumping in Ableton Live

Version 1.3.2 (Jan 16, 2013)
- added support for high resolution displays (e.g. Apple Retina)
- licenser: improved Pro Tools activation

Version 1.3.1 (Oct 31, 2012)
- fixed potential TDM automation issue under Mac OS
- licenser: minor fixes
- licenser: fixed activation issue under Mac OS 10.5 / Pro Tools 8
- licenser: fixed potential crash in online activation under Mac OS
- licenser: fixed issues with USB stick activation
- licenser: fixed file handling with offline activation

Version 1.3 (Oct 16, 2012)
- Added AAX DSP

Version 1.2.2 (Jun 22, 2012)
- Licenser update: added toolbar and USB activation
- Fixed response issues in AU format
- change company string to Plugin Alliance

Version 1.2.1 (Jan 28, 2012)
- Resolved DAE/AAX AudioSuite incompatibility
- Fixed audio problems with certain licenses
- Fixed 96kHz bug in TDM version

Version 1.2 (Jan 2, 2012)
- Added German manual
- Added presets
- Added AAX Native
- Added 64-bit support
- Added Plugin Alliance Licenser

Version 1.1
- Added TDM version
- Improved mouse tracking in circular mode

Version 1.0.1
- RTAS: added multichannel mode to Mix version
- Fixed metering in M/S mode
- Fixed control linkage

Version 1.0
- Initial release