Safari Audio’s Sun Bear Bus Compressor is on sale at Plugin Boutique for $4.99, down from $129.
The 96% discount runs until July 31, and Plugin Boutique is also including a choice of free gifts with the purchase. At the time of writing, the available gifts are Cloudmax Breeze Black Edition by Karanyi Sounds, AXXESS by GForce Software, and Toneknob Stargazer by Audified.
Sun Bear is a mastering-grade bus compressor for adding glue, warmth, and dynamic control to a full mix or individual buses. It’s basically a high-precision compressor that can stay transparent or add more color when you push the saturation section.
I like that this one is not just presented as another “make it louder” bus processor. Safari’s Sam Loose says Sun Bear was developed for almost a year and is based on the essence of his analog mastering chain, which includes transformer inputs, tube saturation, an M/S matrix, and a master bus compressor.
The main compression controls are Threshold, Attack, Ratio, and Release, with a sidechain filter for shaping how the compressor reacts to low-end content. The ratio goes as low as 1.2:1, and the attack range starts relatively slow, which makes sense for mix bus work where you often want movement without killing the transients.
Sun Bear also includes Tape and Tube saturation modes. Tape mode is designed for smooth harmonic warmth and soft compression, while Tube mode adds richer harmonic excitement with a more responsive feel. You can blend between the two rather than treating them as a strict either/or choice.
The M/S Matrix lets you decide how much processing happens in the mid or side channel, so you can lean into center glue or push more action toward the stereo sides. There is also a Clipper, Auto Gain, Gravity Mode, and Wild Mode, which adds a more untamed Safari-style compression boost.
Sun Bear is available for macOS 10.15 or higher in VST3, AU, and AAX formats.
The Windows version runs on Windows 8 and above in 64-bit VST3 and AAX formats, with a 1 GHz Intel Dual Core or AMD equivalent CPU and 4GB RAM minimum.
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Download: Safari Audio Sun Bear Bus Compressor ($4.99)
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Last Updated on July 3, 2026 by Tomislav Zlatic.
