Korvpressor 2 massages your songs to perfection

By

Korvpressor 2 inside GarageBand.
Korvpressor 2 inside GarageBand.
Photo: Klevgrand

Korvpressor 2 is an amazing update to what was already one of the best music production apps on iOS — as we’ll see in a moment. But the real reason I’m writing about it today is the beautiful interface. I mean, look at it. Just look at it. Oh, and it also comes on Mac.

 

Korvpressor is a compressor. What’s a compressor? It takes audio and squeezes it, making the quiet parts louder, and the louder parts quieter, and allowing you to — among other things — increase the volume of an entire song above what would normally be possible.

Korvpressor 2 inside GarageBand.
I mean, look at it. It’s beautiful.
Photo: Cult of Mac

Klevgrand’s Korvpressor is a unique take on this ubiquitous audio effect. As you can see from the UI, you can actually “squeeze” the audio using an on-screen tube, which makes the process extremely intuitive.

That UI remains intact in v2.0, and is joined by a host of other controls. You can now control the attack, ratio, and release of the effect, which is pretty essential to a compressor. These let you choose how fast the compressor kicks in when a loud sound occurs, and how slowly to release the effect as the sound dies away.

Compression

If you ever watched a pirated movie with a badly-compressed soundtrack, you’ll be familiar with the traffic noise in the background being as loud as the actor’s speech, fading out as she delivers her lines, and then slowly getting louder again. That’s an extreme example that illustrates how these settings work, but it’s definitely not a good way to use a compressor.

The app now comes only as an AUv3 plugin. That is, it has to be hosted inside another app, like GarageBand. Korvpressor also has basic EQ controls for bass, middle, and treble adjustment, a mix knob to balance the compressed signal with the “dry” un-effected signal, plus a bunch of factory presets.

In short, it’s a pretty essential one-stop plugin for massaging your audio, and also an advanced tool for sculpting sound.

Korvpressor

Price: $4.99

Download: Korvpressor from the App Store (iOS)

Newsletters

Daily round-ups or a weekly refresher, straight from Cult of Mac to your inbox.

  • The Weekender

    The week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" -- Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" -- Kenly Xavier.