While its name may hold similarities to a certain famous reindeer, Blitzer is actually the latest addition to Solid State Logic’s rapidly growing range of plugins available in their SSL Complete subscription.
Emulating classic hardware compressors like the FET ’76 limiting amplifier, valve ‘2A’ leveling amplifier, Fairchild and others, Blitzer is a mojo machine, full of vibe and character to help your tracks take off — no magic sleigh required.
Following hot on the heels of the highly praised 4K B channel strip plug-in, Blitzer is an analogue attitude compressor, capable of delivering everything from soft, saturating compression to explosive brick-wall limiting. In addition to powerful transient shaping and luscious vintage-style harmonic drive for adding colour to your tracks, Blitzer offers 10 unique compression curves across 10 ratios — each with a unique shape and tone inspired by some of the rarest and sought-after analogue dynamics processors. Harness the distinct response of vintage tube, VCA, FET and optical compressors, all within a single easy-to-use interface.
The perfect tool for both mixing and mastering, Blitzer is versatile and loaded with sound sculpting tools. During mixing, slam room mics using the familiar “all in” BLITZ! mode, give vocals body and character with valve-style leveling, or energize instruments with heavy hyper-saturated compression. When mastering, Blitzer provides a comprehensive pallet of analogue compression styles suitable for a wide range of genres. Dial in the DRIVE function to gently warm or decimate an incoming guitar or synth signal and use the MIX function for instant parallel processing. Warm tracks with soft-saturation and gentle harmonics without compressing using Blitzer’s 1:1 ratio.
With Blitzer’s detection sidechain high pass filter (HPF) it is easy to remove unwanted low-end frequencies from triggering the compressor – which can be ideal for drum busses. For those unruly vocal tracks, try using the bell filter to remove harshness to make it fit better in the mix. Other helpful features include AUTO GAIN for maintaining levels, a cross-platform preset system with A/B and undo/redo stack, and SSL’s easy to use contextual help system — so you never feel left out in the cold.
Blitzer for Windows and Mac (VST/VST3, AU and AAX) is available from Solid State Logic as part of the SSL Complete subscription from $14.99 USD per month. A perpetual license is also available at Plugin Boutique, priced $119.99 USD.
