“The compressor we always wanted but couldn’t find”: Polyend Press is stereo analogue hardware with the convenience of a plugin

We got our first look at Polyend’s Press compressor at Superbooth back in May, but now the Polish brand is ready to launch its debut effect out into the world for real.

Inspired by vintage rack units, Press is an all-analogue stereo compressor sold in a stompbox format. Its dynamics circuits are – according to its creator – designed for ‘premium’ sound quality with “extremely high headroom and an ultra-low noise floor.”

Front panel controls offer access to standard compressor settings, including ratio, threshold, attack, release, make-up gain and a dry/wet mix. The pedal also features a tilt EQ control, which can apply a frequency boost and cut to emphasise the high or low frequencies of the output.

Along with these elements, Press also includes several modern, plugin-like conveniences, particularly when it comes to its sidechaining capabilities. This allows for an external audio signal to act as a sidechain trigger for the compression, with low- and high-pass filters for the sidechain signal. The front panel also features a row of LEDs to visualise the gain reduction from the compression.

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Between all of these features, Press has the potential to be a highly versatile and useful compressor. In fact, Polyend touts its capabilities for a variety of use cases, from applying flattering compression to guitars and keys, to controlling the output of an effects chain, applying bus compression to drums or sitting on the master channel of a full mix.

“Press is the compressor we always wanted but couldn’t find,” says Polyend founder Piotr Raczyński. “Whether for guitars, keys, or live electronic performances, we need a flexible analogue stereo compressor that handles sidechain duties without clipping or distorting. We want that same analogue sound quality of premium studio rackmount devices, coupled with deep control inspired by our favourite VSTs. It’s a straightforward, powerful tool that fits perfectly into any setup for studio use or live performance.”

Polyend Press is available to preorder now for €/$399, and is due to start shipping 22 October. Find out more at the Polyend site.