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Best Optical Compressor VSTs - LA2A & LA3A alternatives However, They are not a good choice for Mix buses or Mastering. For example, the T-Rack Opto compressor has Ratio, Attack, Release, and Compression amount controls as well.ĭue to their slow character, Optical compressors work great on Vocals, Piano, and anything that needs a smooth transient. While the original Optical units have minimal controls, VST emulations of them are fairly advanced. Optical compressors generally have 3 controls, Input Gain, Peak Reduction, and Gain Reduction. Controls of Optical compressor and their uses Optical compressors are relatively clean, their attack and release value depend on the frequency content, they have soft knee, and transparent sound. The reason why Optical Compressors are relatively slow is that the light source takes time to have a full effect(Illumination or fading). A typical optical compressor(like LA2A) has an Attack time of 10ms and a release time of about 60 ms for 50% release and 0.5 to 5 seconds for full release. However, Optical compressors are the slowest compressors among all types. Many producers think that because optical compressors use a light source for compression, it will be a fast compression. The original LA2A unit was actually a Limiting Amplifier. LA2A is a tube-based compressor and uses Cadmium-Sulphide as a resistor. Lawrence II, founder of the Teletronix Engineering Company. LA2A was the first-ever Optical compressor. The intensity, in return, determines the amount of compression. The input level controls the intensity of the illumination source. Different compressor types use different Variable amps.Īn optical compressor uses a photoresistor along with an illumination source. The input signal in a compressor splits into 2 copies, one is goes to the variable gain amp, while the other works as a sidechain signal. With the advancement of technology, now we have access to a variety of Optical compressor units in VST, AU, and AAX formats.
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However, the reason for its popularity was also because of its cheap price and low maintenance. Its unique color, soft character, and warm compression effects make it one of the most used compressors.ĭuring the earlier days when hardware compressors were widely used LA2A, an optical compressor was the most used unit. Optical compressors are one of the most used units in the mixing process. In this article, we will tell you about the top ten optical compressor VSTs.