Quote:
Originally Posted by jonathan jetter  for transparent reduction of a couple decibels, i think plugins work fine. for crazy overcompression as an effect, i think plugins can be great too. for mission-critical applications like a lead vocal, bass guitar, drum subgroup, or the 2-bus, hardware has been definitively better in my experience. |
This is on the money. Some compressor plug-ins are great. I throw the Massey CT4 on all sorts of things, and it works wonders. But as the quotation above suggests, "mission-critical" stuff requires (high-end) hardware—sometimes multiple units.
As others have said, you should demo a few units. Once you do, you'll hear it.
My advice would be to start with the MC77. Best "first" high-end compressor purchase, in my opinion.