platinumears has released FL4TT3RY, a gentle and flattering compressor intended for use on busses, but which also works well on individual channels. It's inspired by (but not strictly modelled on) a specific hardware compressor, which shall remain nameless.
- Very soft knee which gradually ramps up the ratio until (eventually) reaching limiting.
- RMS based level detection, with a window size that varies depending on the attack time.
- Powerful envelope shaping with no calibration for the time constants: use your ears.
- Switchable high-pass filter for the sidechain.
- Switchable asymmetric soft clipping to prevent overs.
- Zero latency.
- Low CPU use.
FL4TT3RY is free and is available for Windows as a VST effect plug-in.