Three compressors. One plugin. Infinite combinations. The Herd is Safari Audio's triple-engine parallel compression powerhouse — a plugin built for musical glue, raw character, and, when you want it, pure sonic chaos. Whether you need silky transparency, bone-crushing punch, or gritty harmonic color, The Herd has a mode for it — and the real magic happens when you run all three at once.
The plugin houses three completely independent compression circuits, each with its own distinct personality. Opto mode delivers the smooth, musical gain reduction of optical compression — slow, natural, and flattering on vocals, acoustic instruments, and bus glue duties. VCA mode switches to fast, punchy gain control with the snap and authority you need on drums, bass, and anything that demands tight dynamic control. Devil mode throws subtlety out the window — this circuit adds grit, saturation, and harmonic colour for when you want your compression to be heard and felt, not just measured.
Each mode has its own dedicated on/off switch, so you can engage them individually or stack any combination simultaneously and blend them to taste using the Blend control for effortless parallel processing. The Wild knob pushes each circuit into more extreme, unpredictable territory — perfect for adding energy, movement, and attitude when the track calls for something beyond conventional compression. Attack, Release, and Tone controls give you precise shaping of the dynamics and frequency character, while Auto Gain keeps your output level balanced as you push the circuits harder. An input meter and dedicated Input/Output sliders round out a workflow that is as immediate as it is deep.

Key Features:

• Three independent compression modes: Opto, VCA, Devil
• All three modes can be engaged simultaneously in any combination
• Wild knob for pushing circuits into extreme, characterful territory
• Attack, Release & Tone controls per mode
• Blend control for seamless parallel dry/wet processing
• Auto Gain for automatic output level compensation
• Input meter & Input/Output sliders
• Formats: VST3, AU, AAX
• Compatible with macOS 10.15+ and Windows 8+