![]() ![]() Ease-of-use: how user-friendly is the optical compressor emulation plugin?.Graphic user interface (GUI): how does the optical compressor emulation plugin look when loaded in the DAW?.Sonic performance: how does the optical compressor emulation plugin sound subjectively/objectively?.The criteria I used to judge these plugins include the following: That being said, I believe these plugins to be the best optical compressor emulation plugin options today. I would expect the next person's top 10 to be different from mine but hope there would be plenty of overlap. It should go without saying that any “top X” article is subject to bias. Universal Audio Teletronix LA-2A Collection.Brainworx Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor.The top 10 best optical compressor emulation plugins for digital audio workstations are: As the amplitude of the audio signal increases, the light element emits more light and causes the optical cell to attenuate the amplitude of the output signal.įor more information on optical compressors, check out my article What Is An Optical Compressor & How Does It Work? What is an optical compressor? An optical compressor is an analog compressor that uses a light element and optical cell to alter the dynamics of an audio signal. With so many options to choose from, I've compiled what I consider to be the 10 best optical compressor emulations plugins. There are plenty of excellent analog optical compressors and plugin emulations of such compressors. There are plenty of plugins that aim to emulate analog hardware in an attempt to make digital audio sound more like its nicer-sounding analog counterpart. ![]() Plugins are, therefore, invaluable assets for the modern audio engineer. Whether employed for vocals, drums or on the master fader, its unique control and character makes it a joy to use.We're currently living in the age of digital audio, and in-the-box mixing within a digital audio workstation is commonplace. The result is a hugely flexible, sonically-diverse dynamics controller which can provide anything from a subtle sonic tickle to the proverbial punch in the privates. Love in the shadowsīy plug-in standards, $299 isn't exactly cheap but, when you consider that the hardware version of this compressor changes hands for around £6,000, it's an unbelievable bargain, especially when you consider that UAD, in partnership with Brainworx, have achieved a typically brilliant and tonally impressive transformation from hardware to software. Lastly, as a mastering compressor, it excels, capturing peaks in a transparent way while providing plenty of opportunity to dial in natural-sounding make-up gain. And, because, the plug-in also offers a mono mode, it's an excellent processor for single instruments including vocals upon which, as well as the two parallel dynamics processors, you can turn to the output transformers to provide sonic coloration - great for mixing vocals where a chorus needs a little more drive than a verse, for instance.īack in stereo land, if you want a hard-edged drum bus compressor to spank the ambience back into a recorded kit, you're in the right place, with fantastic control over transients during the 'Discrete' VCA stage, in particular. While the processor's name might suggest that it's only good for mastering applications, nothing could be further from the truth.Īs it can work in stereo or dual mono modes, it can serve as a useful processor on 'stereo' sources with independent requirements for the left and right-hand sides. The results of such flexibility are, as you might expect, an impressive range of sonic flavours. "While the processor's name might suggest that it's only good for mastering applications, nothing could be further from the truth" You can even use these having bypassed both compressor stages. These provide Nickel, Iron and Steel modes, which progressively 'colour' the sound from clean, through warm to more distorted and edgy, offering three tonal moods to suit your track. The final and truly unique design point is represented by the output transformer stage, where the three physical transformers built into the original hardware are modelled. Either or both (or neither!) compressors can be switched in at any time, giving you huge flexibility over how your signal will be processed - either with the twin compressors working in series or independently.īut that's not all. ![]()
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