BLUE CAT AUDI0 MB-5 DYNAMIX 2

One of the most powerful multiband dynamics processors around gets a lick of paint and reestablishes itself as a plugin to be reckoned with

To most intents and purposes, a multiband version of their broadband Dynamics plugin (v4: 9/10, 222), Blue Cat Audio’s MB-5 Dynamix (VST/AU/AAX) is a multiband dynamics processor geared up for compression, limiting, gating, expansion and waveshaping. We looked at the original MB-5 way back in 2011 (8/10, 170), and version 2 introduces not only a full overhaul of the GUI, but also a redesign of the underlying algorithms for “improved performance and precision”. Since it’s been so long since last we looked at the plugin, we’ll come at it from fresh here, rather than just talking about the new stuff.

MB games

With its cleaner appearance and tweaked layout, MB-5 Dynamix 2’s reworked GUI is easier on the eye and a little more logical to navigate than that of its predecessor. Most importantly, though, the window can now be resized from 70-200% – about time, too, as v1 is pretty fiddly on a high-res display. The new top bar brings together various ancillary functions including I/O gains, Undo/Redo and zoom level, and is home to a well stocked library of presets.

The number of processing bands, from one to five, is selected using the menu in the X-Over section. All parameters are maintained when deactivating bands, so you can flip from, say, three bands to one, then back again, without losing the settings of bands 2 and 3. Complete states can be copied between bands and saved as section presets.

The band crossovers are adjusted by dragging handles in the display at the top or sweeping the Freq knobs, and the slope of each filter is set discretely from 6-60dB/octave.

The bottom left panel shows the controls for the currently selected band, and it’s here that we find one of MB-5 v2’s most powerful features: the architecturally unified but independently operated Up and Down processors. These enable simultaneous downward compression or expansion (Up) and upward compression or gating (Down), making it possible to compress the peaks in a particular frequency range and separately manipulate everything below the threshold at the same time. Both are identical in terms of controls, apart from the ‘bipolar’ Ratios,

“MB-5 v2’s reworked GUI is easier on the eye and a little more logical to navigate than that of its predecessor”

MAIN DISPLAY Adjust crossovers and gains, and view the global response RESPONSE CURVE Shows the curve for the selected or multiple bands UP Apply compression or expansion to the selected band DOWN Apply gating or upward compression to the selected band ENVELOPE Drop everything to zero for waveshaping PEAK/RMS MODE Set the detection response to any mix of the two MIX Blend the dry and wet signals for parallel processing SPECTRUM/ SPECTROGRAM Show one or neither in the display BANDS Select your required number of bands, from 1 to 5 SIDECHAIN Select any internal band or an external sidechain source MONITOR SECTION Set thresholds and view gain reduction LIMITER A brickwall limiter with up to 1000ms release time