If so, when do you reach for one vs. the other?
Thanks!
Squasher is Steinberg’s interpretation of the now classic “OTT” compression used in EDM. It’s meant to not be subtle at all. It can distort and pump without much trouble, and there’s phase shift at the crossover frequencies even if no compression/expansion is being applied, just like the original effect and Quadrafuzz v1. That’s all part of the intended sound. The “SC-1” presets allow you to easily apply EDM pumping to any track.
This is great if you want to add some attitude to a track, or maybe even just make it sound “different” by using subtle settings and letting the phase shift do most of the job.
The MultibandCompressor can also be used for extreme compression if you want, but is overall significantly more subtle. It uses transparent linear phase filters much like Wavelab’s MasterRig. I think it’s best used to glue together a mix or group track/bus that are otherwise refusing to cooperate. It’s really easy to overdo it, however.
I’ve heard of people using multiband compressors to fix problematic recordings, but I think in most of these cases you can just use Cubase’s DeEsser or Frequency in dynamic mode.
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Thank you so much, @Romantique_Tp , that is such a helpful perspective to me!
Squasher it isn’t then, for me!