Optic compressors?whats the deal?

[przechuy]

Hi guys,basically recently i tried a lot of diffrent compressors searching for my fairchild vst(and found one luckily).

But thats a part of it,when i was browsing in the world of compresors i found compressors that were named as optic comrpessors?Whats the deal with them?

Whats the diffrence among opto and regular comp?

I read somewhere that those opto are told not to colour your sound .

But it was a "blah blah blah" article,so maybe somene here can answer,on experience whats the diffrence,and where it can be applied?




Edittrange,i applied T-racks 3 opto and i think it changes sound more then fairchild ,though i am not saying that in a negative way,i quite like what it does,sounds so smooth

[admin]

Opto refers to the internal keying circuit that triggers the compression. It's literally a little light with a corresponding light detector. The cells in the light detector have a 'memory' which varies depending on the level they receive. If it receives a lot of level (light) then it takes longer for it to dissipate which in turn keeps the compression on longer. If it receives a short amount of light then it dissipates faster.

So the amount of level in the music being compressed makes the light sensor behave differently, not linear, and this gives the opto compressor its character.

Generally opto has a smoother rounder quality, not as aggressive. The Joe Meek comps used this, I used to have a small rack one. Tube tech also makes some.

[przechuy]

i already have in mind some visions with tracks threated with this opto from T-racks...it really sounds diffrent,smooth,especially after switching from fairchild,which i like to push a bit harder.Difrent sound,will work surely super in a track with mild drum beat and nice synth melody

[admin]

The tube techs are pretty cool using this, kind of a mushy glooey sound. There's plugin emu of one of them but for RTAS only but supposed to be one of the best plugin comps.

[przechuy]

I am totally satisfied with this t-racks stuff.And their pricing is really nice


and man thanks for great answers.I learned a looot here in understanding soem certain stuff.And if i now compare how i sound ,to productions from "before medway forum" era progress is huge.Actually,at some poit i wouldnt be afraid to compare my not mastered stuff to some official releases in terms of the way it sounds