The new bar in optical compressor realism

Embark on a sonic journey with Opal, a groundbreaking emulation of the iconic optical compressor. Opal unveils the true essence of the T4 optical cell, faithfully reproducing the program-dependent dynamics and nonlinearities that shaped countless recordings, and carries the design forward with a modern feature set.
With 7 handpicked hardware units sourced from high-end studios around the world, Opal delivers an impressive range of unique sonic signatures, all with unrivaled accuracy.

Experience vintage authenticity, advanced features, and pristine sound quality in Opal - the evolution of vintage dynamics.

The science of sound

Opal's journey began with a relentless pursuit of authenticity. Our team employed advanced physical modeling techniques to capture the essence of these renowned optical compressors, creating our own innovative model that is truthful to the original hardware.

By meticulously studying the original hardware units and leveraging the principles of port-Hamiltonian systems theory, we unraveled the intricate program-dependent dynamics and nonlinearities that define the optical compressor’s iconic sound. This rigorous approach ensured unparalleled accuracy and a faithful representation of the vintage hardware.

More info:
https://www.uvi.net/en/effects/opal.html

 

By the way if you own most of their effects plugins, you'll get a voucher from UVI that'll upgrade you to their Effects Bundle for free (which includes OPAL):



https://www.uvi.net/en/effects/the-effects-bundle.html

 

Really cool, but I doubt I'd use it much, like other optical compressors. Adjustable attack/release times are too important to give up and I doubt the different models will give that level of customization.

 

Interesting. I would have liked to see something more modern and modular (like Shade) from UVI, rather than an analog emulation, but maybe we'll see more comps from them if this one sells well?

Sounds great in the videos. Might have to try the demo to see if it's something that would be worth buying.

 

Last edited: Jul 5, 2023

Already on sister site BTW. I guess release on this one was a bit faster than expected, hueh.

 

if every release was as fast as this one i wouldnt have to spend my money i get 0 money in return it's my hobby and i know hobbies are expensive but sometimes you wonder where is the line of spending money

 

Well what do I have to say. This thing is full of rought edges.
When in its safe zone, it controls and behaves pretty much like an opto emulation would , although I find it a bit too sterile.
I never used the hardware obv, but other emulations I used (NI/Softube ones and a bunch of freebies) have a more distinct colour to them.
This one does have a separate tube output stage, but I don't like how it sounds. It also aliases when pushed hard and there's no HQ option.
I like that you can control attack and release speed with "responsiveness" knob. It's the first one I tried to give that option. Well, if you don't count Korvpressor as an opto comp, that is.
I miss the internal sidechain tilt filter, however. At least there's a smiley )
It fails to adjust autogain momentarily. Not sure what's going on here but whenever you flick tube drive or change the algo the loudness jumps. Maybe the detection just resets, IDK, it makes comparing algos a bit cumbersome.
The annoying "Slate treble boost" as I call it can be turned off. That made me laugh.
All in all, definitely one of the opto compressors of all time.
P.S. The "velvet" mode is the most bombastic one on drums.

 

I'm a sucker for a good Opto, will be testing this one out.

What are UVI like with fx plugins? Haven't really tried much of their stuff before

 

Detection resetting is a problem with Opto compressors or really any compressor with a super long program dependent release. Also, DMGAudio allows you to freely set att/release times for its LA-2A emulation!

 

Well, they made a phaser & chorus. Aside from that they have a reverb which I haven't tried and UVI Shade which is a competitor to FabFilter Volcano except I think it's pretty underwhelming.

 

Sorry for bombing the thread with 3 messages in quick succession but I just tried this plugin and holy hell the CPU usage is insane! CPU usage jumps from 10% to about 50% with this thing loaded, removing the tube emulation makes the CPU usage significantly decrease. Considering Black Rooster Audio LA-2A (one of the finest emulations out there) only uses about 10-15% usage on its own with little to no aliasing I'm not too sure about this one. I'm assuming it's just some internal oversampling causing this, I wish they let you configure it.

After testing, I already found a bug. turn treble boost off & tube simulation off...you now have a very noticeable lowpass filter
With tube on:

I never knew tube circuits reversed the effects of lowpass filters!
And yes this is actually audible, not just EQ analyzer trickery.

With any variation of treble boost on/off or tube on/off you have noticeable shelving in the high frequencies (whether it be a dip or a boost) or a lowpass filter. Definitely not very nice.

I have no idea what mid presence does. It doesn't seem to just be a EQ boost in mids and boosting it seems to reduce the gain reduction...which would indicate it's not a sidechain mid boost?

The actual compression effect is pretty nice though. Nice and smooth with good gain reduction smoothing. The tube sounds a bit too harsh to my ears but at this point I've heard "tube" distortion as pretty much any harmonic series.

Overall, I still don't see why you'd use this when we have very fine opto emulations like VLA-2A, Tone Projects Unisum, ACME Opticom, VCL-4, DMG TrackComp or NEOLD U2a.

 

UVI is kind of a "chorus company" when it doesn't concern Falcon, and this is why I had my doubts with a dynamics plugin.
However.
Their Thorus has a very unique resonant character.
Their two reverbs are very good each in their own way. SparkVerb is a surreal algo room with flexible settings and really long tail, while Plate is one of the better and more flexible plates out there.
They have two delays. While Dual Delay X is better IMO, the multitap Relayer is good as well, especially for weirder sounddesign.
Rotary and Phasor I didn't test, not my kinds of FX, but those who tried say they're also good.
And Shade is not a competitor to Volcano in any way, rather it's a low-level DIY phasing machine with crazy capabilities that can be used as a clean EQ or an autofilter if you're not a creative type.
They also have drum trigger. Barely ever work with live drums, never used it.

 

It doesn't. Your measurement is messed up.

 

I do have to disagree with Shade not being a competitor to Volcano. Both have their own unique features, but I do believe most will use them for their filtering/modulation capabilities.

??? I literally hear a lowpass filter. When I toggled them both off I noticed my treble get completely cutoff which is why I loaded the EQ analyzer in the first place my friend.

 

Made some tests:

Freq response:
Without Treble and Tube it adds a high cut starting at 2kHz with 10kHz being lowered by ~ 11dB.
With Treble and without Tube it add a minor high boost at ~ 6kHz with 16kHz being boosted by ~ 2dB.
Both on adds a high shelf attenuation at ~ 3kHz with 16kHz being lowered by 7dB.
It varies slightly for the models.
(Ah, @towerdefense beat me to it)

Freq compression:
Absolutely unique feature for a plugin by def, the higher the signal, the less it gets compressed! This is clearly audible and visible on a drum bus. No other opto emu I tested behaved like this. 100Hz, -18dBFS with ~ 10dB GR, result in ~ 6dB at 1kHz and ~ 3dB at 10kHz - for a sine wave, it's still not an MB compressor, but responds differently to the source.
The downside, usually compressors come with and internal highpass sidechain so that the lows are compressed less!

Harmonics:
The higher the signal, the less harmonics are added which doesn't make anti aliasing as necessary as it might seem.

CPU load:
~ 10x Arousor!!!

Summary:
If you're into this specific behaviour and sound go for it, if you're just looking for this kind of sound, Arousor is the way better choice (attack and release times, ratios, attack mod, sidechain).

Oh, VST2 is runing on WiN7 but crashed my PD.

 

It actually does cut off highs when you turn both trebble and tube off. It's, like audible.

 

Are you referring to a "Mid Presence" knob? The way I understood it - it's a smiley-shaped EQ scoop in detection sidechain. So the more you increase it - the deeper the scoop gets.

It still does alias if you drive it hard enough. Can't use it for creative toneshaping purposes.

Shade has way more filter types and more flexible modulation capabilities, but Volcano has colourful resonant filters and drive. Shade is more a competitor to apQualizer, while Volcano is a competitor to Filterstation. I do agree that they're both powerful enough for their respective fields to intersect, but they're most useful for different things and both can do something unique.

 

"Without Treble and Tube it adds a high cut starting at 2kHz with 10kHz being lowered by ~ 11dB." - Nope, it adds nice and smooth warmth.

"With Treble and without Tube it add a minor high boost at ~ 6kHz with 16kHz being boosted by ~ 2dB." - Nope, it really opens up the whole song but without it sounding harsh dude.

"Both on adds a high shelf attenuation at ~ 3kHz with 16kHz being lowered by 7dB." - This really just takes out all the harshness!

"It varies slightly for the models." - It's just alive. It breathes like real analogue gear!

 

Nope, just to the def setting ->

 

Guys, you better learn to read. I said nothing about whether the plugin induces a low pass filter or not. I said @towerdefense messed up his measurement - referring to his statement that the tube circuit would "reverse the effect of lowpass filters". Again: It doesn't.