IK Multimedia Opto Compressor Software (Download)

The IK Multimedia Opto Compressor Software (Download) is modeled after an electro-optical attenuator circuit used in hi-fi optical compressors. The physical principle is to build a circuit where a photoconductive cell adjusts the resistance to the audio signal based on the intensity of the light. This type of design significantly reduces the effects of distortion and coloration characteristic of other compressor designs. The lack of distortion or coloration makes the compressor useful for preserving the tonality of sources such as vocals.

It features controls for adjusting the input level, compression ratio, attack time, release time, the amount of compression, and the output gain level. A pair of switchable virtual VU meters provide visual feedback of the input stage, output stage, and gain reduction. The left and right sides of the compressor can be linked or switched to operate in L/R mode for stereo or M/S for mid-side operation. In M/S mode, the mid channel is the mono sum of the sound stage and the side channel is the difference between the left and right channels. A bypass switch allows you to A/B the effect of the processing on the signal and a reset switch can be used to restore the original settings.

The plug-in is fully compatible with native 32- and 64-bit applications on both Mac OS X (Universal Binary) and Windows (XP/Vista/7/8) computers. It supports VST, RTAS, AAX, and Audio Units plug-in formats. It can also be used with the T-RackS CS standalone application (sold separately).