Saftpumpe

A VCA-style bus compressor plugin for macOS (arm64). Built with JUCE.

Saftpumpe delivers the analog punch of classic rack-mounted bus compressors — soft-knee compression, program-dependent auto-release, and subtle tanh saturation for warmth. The skeuomorphic UI features silver metal faders on a brushed aluminum faceplate.

Obligatory AI slop disclaimer

Yes, this software was built with the help of AI. If that is an issue for you, please use a different plugin. Thank you for your understanding.

Compatibility

I have tested this on macOS (M2 Pro Mac Mini) with FLstudio. That's it. If it breaks on your setup, well, that's bad, I probably can't do much about it.

Features

Analog-modeled VCA compression with soft-knee transition
Program-dependent auto-release — faster for transients, slower for sustained material
Tanh saturation for musical harmonic coloring
7 parameters: Threshold, Ratio, Attack, Release, Knee, Makeup Gain, Dry/Wet Mix
Auto Release toggle switch
Real-time waveform scope (input + compressed output overlay)
LED-style meters: Gain Reduction, Input, Output
HiDPI scaling (0.75x – 2.0x)

Formats

VST3
Audio Unit (AU)
Standalone application

Build

Requires CMake and JUCE (cloned into the project directory).

# First time only — clone JUCE
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/juce-framework/JUCE.git

# Build
make

# Or manually
mkdir build && cd build
cmake .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build . -j$(sysctl -n hw.ncpu)

The build automatically installs VST3 and AU to:

~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/Saftpumpe.vst3
~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/Saftpumpe.component

Makefile Targets

Target	Description
`make`	Build the plugin
`make clean`	Remove build directory
`make reinstall`	Clean build
`make uninstall`	Remove installed plugins
`make run`	Launch standalone app

Parameters

Parameter	Range	Default	Description
Threshold	-48 dB – 0 dB	-20 dB	Compression onset level
Ratio	1:1 – 20:1	4:1	Compression ratio
Attack	1 ms – 100 ms	30 ms	Attack time
Release	50 ms – 1.5 s	300 ms	Release time (when auto is off)
Knee	0 dB – 12 dB	6 dB	Soft knee width
Makeup	0 dB – 24 dB	0 dB	Output gain compensation
Mix	0% – 100%	100%	Dry/wet blend
Auto Release	On/Off	On	Program-dependent release timing

License

MIT

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