Before I tested the opto I was skeptical about the necessity of this Plugin, there are so many different compressors at the market. But when I was concerned with it, I understood the special effort I needed to have in some situations. But tell me how can you describe a sound? Test it and find out!
Surprisingly Excellent
★★★★★
by Donald W Avera
I got a ridiculously good deal on this plugin. Up until now, I've always been happy with Ableton's Compressor. It's always "done the job" in the past. The bx_opto is a different animal altogether. I used to have a UA-LA-610 hardware channel strip, and the bx_opto kind of reminds me of the 610's compressor....super smooth, transparent, dead simple to use. It sounds great on whatever I throw at it. It's kind of hard to make the bx_opto sound bad, really. Had I known it worked as well as it does, I would have picked it up sooner!
Great Compressor...
★★★★★
by J_R_G
Great sounding opto compressor. It's not trying to emulate any specific classic hardware.. in fact it does have its own unique sound, highly musical. It's replaced my favorite emulations of the LA2A/3A and I'm only reaching for this one. It's really all I need.
Favorite Red
★★★★★
by Alex Hepting
This compressor's design let you focus not only on the dynamic quality but also coloration / transparence of your sound. The included vu meter comes very handy. Tighten up, or round up or just make it pump.
Clean as can be
★★★★★
by Off-Beat
bx nailed the opto compressor topic with the bx_opto so much that I upgraded from the pedal version, that I got for free, to the slightly more versatile 'full' version, just to say thank you to Plugin Alliance. No matter how you push _opto, you barely ever hear it working. Amazing. Thanks!
Beautiful Sonic Character
★★★★★
by J
Unexpectedly surprised how musical this sounds on the master bus. Notes just bloom yet transients retain their punchiness. This compressor has easily become one of my favourite plugin discoveries. It's very simple to use and just sounds superb. This is everything I hoped NI's Vari-Comp would be. It breathes life into everything.
Very nice for vocals
★★★★★
by Sappho192
Simple and clean compressor makes me handle the vocal easily. Indeed brainworx!
nice on warm instruments
★★★★★
by Niels Dettenbach
The red interface color might have influenced me further, but i really like this comp on typical "warm" instruments / sounds. Very slight compression on pianos, organs and wurlies sounds just awesome and even synth sounds could get nice dynamic textures.
Juicy Goodness
★★★★★
by Tommy
This thing is always in my vocal chain. I can dial down the boomy without losing fullness. Dial down honk without losing presence. the side chain function is brilliant for this. Like a single band multi band compressor with a choice of filters that seem to do just what I need them to do in a way that keeps me coming back for more. I'm grateful for the speed control and the smoothness that is maintained in faster attacks. I don't normally do reviews, but my voice is often difficult to manage in a track. A little boomy or a little thin, depending on material, of course. I work with a quartet and it used to be difficult to get us all to blend. The bx_opto is a God-send. I use it on every vocal track we do. Sometimes side-chain sometimes not, the results are always better than I've achieved previously chaining eqs and multibands. Thanks BX for a great plugin.
BX Opto Comp
★★★★★
by John Garden
Best thing about this compressor is the choice of sidechain filters. Really like setting a lopass sidechain somewhere between 150-300Hz on a bass track to add low-end control but allow the high end to breathe.