Im not sure about Soundforge but I use Adobe Audition for all my editing/layering and then Reason handles my compression. Audition has loads of effects and it can host vst's. For instance, I have an old version of Cubase SX and Audition allows me to use all the plug-ins from that. I normally use free plug-ins found on the net. Try out Fish fillets
... www.plugin.com/product/11697 ..., or http://www.kvraudio.com for a whole library of plug-ins.