CLA-76 Compressor / Limiter

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Inspired by two highly-desirable revisions of the famed mid-60s Class A line level limiting amplifier, both versions of the CLA-76 (“Blacky” and “Bluey”) offer the superfast attack (as quick as 50 microseconds!) that made the originals studio legends. With an exclusive “ALL” control that recreates the original’s explosive “All-Ratio-Buttons-In” mode, plus modeled pre-amp distortion for that extra edge, the CLA-76 delivers some of the most powerful drum sounds imaginable.

Modeled compressor plugin
Based on the famed mid-'60s Class A line level limiting amplifier
Superfast attack
Sounds excellent on drums
Exclusive ALL control
Zero latency
Pre-amp distortion modeling

Jacquire King Producer & Mixer

Kings of Leon, James Bay, Tom Waits, Niall Horan

“I use the CLA-76 Compressor a lot. It sounds and behaves so much like my own 1176 Bluestripe!”

Mick Guzauski Mixing Engineer

Daft Punk, Eric Clapton, Janelle Monáe, Mariah Carey

“CLA’s 1176 has the best simulation of the ‘all buttons down mode’ of the hardware 1176 that I’ve heard in a plugin.”

Stuart White Mixing Engineer

Beyoncé, Jay Z, FKA Twigs, Autolux

“I don’t know what I’d do without the CLA-76. It’s one of the plugins that just works every single time and there is zero latency.”

Noah Passovoy Producer, Engineer, Mixer

Maroon 5, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift

“I can’t live without this plugin on my sessions. The CLA-76 is all over everything I work on.”

Tom Lord-Alge Producer, Mixing Engineer

Blink-182, Weezer, Live, Dave Matthews Band

“No mix of mine would be complete without CLA-76. Whether on guitars or vocals, this plugin sounds exactly like the units I used to ‘borrow’ from my brother. I guess it’s time to return them!”

Ethan Mates Recording & Mixing Engineer

Linkin Park, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Black-Eyed Peas, Die Antword

“I’ve been a huge user of 1176s for 20 years, and the CLA-76 is the closest thing to the real deal, period. Not only is the sonic output fantastic, but the way that it reacts to incoming audio the same way a hardware unit is really impressive. Another plug that gets used on every mix.”

Mark Ralph Producer, Songwriter, Mixing Engineer

Clean Bandit, Years & Years, Jax Jones, TIEKS

“I love CLA-76. I mainly use it on vocals. It very accurately emulates the original hardware versions.”

Andrew “VoxGod” Bolooki Vocal Producer, Producer and Mixer/Engineer

Lil Nas X, Billy Ray Cyrus, Fifth Harmony, Selena Gomez

“The CLA-76 is one of the most reliable compressor plugins available.”

Sky van Hoff Music Producer, Mixer, Musician

Rammstein, Emigrate, The X-Factor

“If somebody would take the CLA-76 from me I’d probably lose my mind…or use one of those other great compressors Waves has.”

Carlos de la Garza Producer, Mixing & Recording Engineer

Paramore, Young the Giant, Wolf Alice, Ziggy Marley

“The CLA-76 makes pretty much everything that runs through it sound better.”

Chris Baseford Producer, Recording & Mixing Engineer

Nickelback, Shinedown, Avril Lavigne, Rob Zombie

“The default dynamics plugin in my Pro Tools preferences; that says a lot right there!”

Ian Hicks FOH Engineer

The Chainsmokers, The Glitch Mob, Bassnectar

“The CLA-76 makes the meanest parallel compression I've ever heard.”

Gabriel Fajardo FOH & Monitor Engineer

Nicky Jam, Farruko, Soulfire, Sebastian Yatra

“I use CLA-76 at the beginning of my vocal chains to heat up the signal and control peaks in the output. Sometimes I use it on the master mix after the SSL G-Master Compressor with less than 3 dB of reduction.”

SodTp Producer, Musician, Songwriter

William Singe, Che Pope

“My favorite compressor by far. I slap the CLA-76 on almost everything.”

Kesha Lee Recording and Creative Production Engineer

Childish Gambino, Lil Uzi Vert, Migos, Playboi Carti

“One of my go-to plugins is the CLA-76. I love the character and punch it adds to vocals. ”

Cam Blackwood Record Producer and Songwriter

George Ezra, Jack Savoretti, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, Tom Walker

“When I use this plugin, I’m very careful about which emulation I use. The revision A/B (blue stripe) is GREAT for vocals and high-end percussion as it has less low-end response than the rev D version (black). I use this on 95% of my vocal chains. With vocals I always spend a long time on the attack and release settings as they make a HUGE difference to how the voice sits in the mix. Also, if it’s a real ‘pop’ tune I use the “all in” ratio setting as it really slams the compressor and makes the vocal jump out.”

Matthew Rifino Live Broadcast Music Mixer, Mix Engineer

Coldplay, Kelly Clarkson, Sting, Lenny Kravitz

“CLA-76 has been part of my vocal chain since it came out. I use two in series. First the Bluey all buttons in, fast attack, fast release, just touching the loudest peaks. That feeds into the Blacky 4:1 slow attack and medium release doing 3-5 dB of compression. The combination of the two gives the vocal great attitude while helping it sit right in the mix.”

Koen Heldens Mixing Engineer

XXXTentacion, Kanye West, Trippie Redd, Lil Wayne

“For smooth controlled vocals I love to use Waves CLA-76 compressing 3dB with a 4:1 Ratio and Attack at 3 and Release at 7. If I’m going for a more aggressive in-your-face vocals sound, I switch it to the Bluey with the same settings but knocking down 10dB.”