West Coaster

West Coaster is a dual-channel opto bus compressor built around one uncompromising idea: cohesion should make a mix feel more complete without making it feel more compressed. Its detector models the slow, program-dependent behavior of an optical cell, pairing a gentle knee with musical time constants. The default Threshold is light enough to kiss most program material, while the AUTO detent at the top of the Release range derives its own timing from the amount of gain reduction that just occurred rather than relying on one fixed recovery time.

Each channel is a complete independent signal path with its own Threshold, Attack, Release, Ratio, Saturation, SC HPF, Input, Output, and Mix controls. Channel Mode selects Stereo, Dual, or Mid-Side processing. Engage Link and Channel Two follows Channel One’s full parameter set and detector behavior; disengage it and both channels return to fully independent operation.

A restrained 2nd-harmonic saturation stage sits at the end of each channel, adding subtle low-order warmth, polish, and dimension rather than obvious drive or grit. Mix provides parallel blending, and Auto-Level automatically compensates output for the amount of reduction being applied. Heavier compression no longer wins the comparison by simply becoming quieter.

West Coaster also includes a real external sidechain input with per-channel SC HPF filtering. Two VU meters switch together between Gain Reduction and Output readings, providing the feedback needed for both mix-bus decisions and mastering-level control.

The result is magnificent west-coast smoothness with serious engineering underneath it: full dual-channel independence, Mid-Side control, zero-sample plugin latency, and exceptionally low measured CPU use.

West Coaster ships with full technical disclosure. Detector topology, oversampling decision, latency, and measured CPU load are published below instead of being left for the customer to guess.

Perpetual license, 3 simultaneous activations, Windows/macOS (VST3 + AU)/Linux.