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  • Overview
  • Features
  • Customer Reviews
  • 4.8/5
    (424)
Try it Free

Regular Price: $199.00

$99.00

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4.8/5
(424)

Experience the quirky VCA compression of the vintage hardware.

The dbx 160 Compressor/Limiter plug-in is a fully licensed, faithful emulation of the legendary studio hardware, capturing the quirky sonics of its colorful VCA compression along with added controls for modern workflows.

Included Versions

UAD Native
Runs on your Mac or PC without UA hardware.

Apollo Realtime & UAD‑2
Runs accelerated on Apollo interfaces and UAD‑2 hardware.

UAD Native plug-ins run on both macOS 10.15 Catalina or newer and Windows 10 and 11. Go to our UA Support page for system requirements.

  • Add a unique voice and flavor to your compressor toolkit with the first solid-state VCA compressor ever made
  • Harness fat compression textures on bass guitar, drum buses, synths, and more
  • Give acoustic guitars and snare drums in-your-face “thwack”
  • Create with Dry/Wet mix control for quick parallel compression and Sidechain Filter for reduced low-frequency pumping

Want to Try It?

Use this plug-in free for 14 days and find out if it's right for you.

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TAKE A LISTEN

Add Versatile VCA Compression to your Tracks

Add Versatile VCA Compression to your Tracks

Whether you’re using it on synths, bass guitar, or a drum bus, the dbx 160 plug-in emulates the original hardware’s grabby, low-end glue and old-school character, full of the same unique nonlinearities that make it a must-have for any engineer’s compressor toolkit.

Simple to Use, Timeless Character

Simple to Use, Timeless Character

With the same simple control set and at-a-glance metering of the original, the dbx 160 plug-in makes it easy to crush a parallel drum bus, or inject subtle fatness. It can also add aggressiveness and impact to everything from guitar power chords to a hip-hop vocal.

Leveled Up for Modern Workflows

Leveled Up for Modern Workflows

Along with graphic enhancements and improved VU metering, the dbx 160 plug‑in’s Dry/Wet Mix control lets you easily punch up a drum bus with parallel compression, while the added Sidechain Filter lets you keep the low end tight, enhancing the compressor's impact.

5-Minute UAD Tip
5-Minute UAD Tip

5-Minute UAD Tip

In this video, learn how to add parallel compression to drums, even out a bass performance, and bring presence to acoustic guitars with the dbx 160 Compressor/Limiter.

Key Features

Add a unique voice and flavor to your compressor toolkit with the first solid-state VCA compressor ever made

Harness fat compression textures on bass guitar, drum buses, synths, and more

Give acoustic guitars and snare drums in-your-face “thwack”

Create with Dry/Wet mix control for quick parallel compression and Sidechain Filter for reduced low-frequency pumping

Use with any audio interface, no UA hardware required



Customer Reviews

dbx® 160 Compressor / Limiter

Overall Rating

4.8/5
(424)

R. Gun

April 19, 2020

special one

Very colorful and a lot of spank.
It destroys any bass, makes it flat, but thats the deal.
Not a a compressor for every signal but best on snare.
The lost star comes from a long time missing update of the GUI (it looks grainy) and at least some modern features as a parallel mix,.
Very DSP friendly. thats absolute top.

P. O'Shea

April 16, 2020

Like the original

Sounds great, like my old hardware ones (especially for snare)

W. Haupt

April 11, 2020

Absolutely lovely

Kick, snare, bass, acoustic, right into your face, easy to handle, coloured. An absolute must have.

s. donat

March 9, 2020

very musical and punchy compressor

very musical and punchy compressor very useful in parallel love it on kick drum and bass maybe my favorite comp

T. Station

March 6, 2020

Easy to use

Results that you want come very quick, handles quick peaks very well

d. lukinov

March 5, 2020

THAT SOUND

My favorite tool to get explosive drums with some vintage vibe.

I. Roselló

January 8, 2020

Fast and easy!

In your face bass drums and exploding snares in less than 5 minutes.

I. Roselló

January 8, 2020

Fast and easy!

In your face bass drums and exploding snares in less than 5 minutes.

D. Lee

December 25, 2019

Gives You That Snap

Go to for Kick, Bass, and Snare !!! Ooo

A. Bertók

December 16, 2019

Punchy and Forward

The dbx 160 sounds very punchy and forward. Uad version is high quality and smoother than the other versions.

A. Lombardi

December 13, 2019

Dbx 160 essential

Perfect! awesome fast transients.

V. van Tiel

December 6, 2019

The dance kick compressor!!

Wow! Kick control. Thats all I have to say about it. I had a long preset list on my kick. But now with this compressor on it I need much less processing. Finaly the low frequenties totally under control. It's amazing!!

Ł. Seliga

November 12, 2019

My favourite drum glue

I already used it at my friend's studio and I already knew it's a best sounding DBX-160 emulation out there so it was the first plugin I bought when I've finally got my Apollo. Makes it really easy to make big, pumping drums, perfect for paralell compression

l. morrish-thomas

October 6, 2019

Easy to use, sounds just like the real thing

Gives me the sound I want on drums with no fussing about

C. Wilson

July 12, 2019

Great

Awesome

B. Gfeller

April 2, 2019

like the real 160

we have both in the studio, the original DBX160 and this UA plugin, its no difference

E. Faulcon

March 30, 2019

Dope

Try it on the snare

P. Gharapetian

March 29, 2019

an old one but you can't beat a perfect emulation

sounds just like the real deal. hard to improve on perfection.

T. Glosser

March 25, 2019

You Have To Hear This

Theres nothing like it.

W. Bransford

March 22, 2019

Every bit as simple as it is awesome

I'm still relatively new to UAD and am learning the history and applications of all of these plugins; some can be a little intimidating at times with their myriad of knobs and functions. After just a few minutes with the demo of the dbx160 I knew it was a must have. For progressive trance and other hard-hitting electronic music, simply dropping this on almost any sound and giving it a couple tweaks provides an extra oomph with ease that no other plugin I have can achieve. Hooray!