I had eyed this compressor for a long time as I have used the waves versions (various SSL emulations) forever, but wanted to break away from waves. Also because I have the SSL 2 interface which comes with both the SLL drum strip and vocal strip, which both sounds great.
Once the native SSL 2 Bus compressor 2 come on a sale I grabbed it directly. Note that I would not buy it for 329 USD, which seems to be its default price - and a bit too much for a hobbyist as myself. But for about 30 USD its a bargain.
I compared it to my Waves SSL Bus compressor and found the native SSL to be much more transparent and sparkly. Waves brought out more low/midrange, which can be great for some situations, but I found that I preferred the native SSL version over Waves for my applications. It was much more easy to hear and understand the changes of attack/release etc with the native version in my opinion.
A great option in the native SSL is the knob to High Pass the signal it will react to, which gives more control. Oversampling is available too, but hard to hear any difference regardless of the setting.
As native SSL allows for two instances activated at the same time via iLok, it means that I can use it on both my main computer and the laptop I catty around, without the hassle of moving licenses.
It also installed without problem on my now a bit old system, MacOS 10.13.
Although the SSL Download Manager (which they now use to manage your plugin installation and update) complained that the manager is not supported on such old system. Links are provided if older versions would be needed.
I tried first to buy it on the SSL webpage, but they added tax on top and only supports PayPal for payment. Ended up finding that Thomann also had the sale, to a lower price with a smoother payment procedure.
