Plugin Alliance have released a new Brainwork optical compressor plug-in and until July 22nd it is free from the Brainworx store. Use our special link to take you directly to the Plugin Alliance store and get it for FREE. You may need to be patient as everyone trys to grab this plug-in whilst it is free. After July 22nd is will cost $49.

What Is bx_Opto Pedal?

bx_Opto Pedal is a simplified version of Brainwork's Optical Comprssion Tone Monster. Try it out on guitars, basses, and even vocals as well as drums. It provides a great way to get that charismatic compression of the bx_opto with a simpler interface, lower price tag, and guitar pedal feel. After meticulously modeling the light-dependent circuits of several optical compressors, the bx_opto has amalgamated into a beastly little dynamics processor, teeming with character and spitting out sounds like no analog optical compressor can do. 

In addition to providing tone-laden compression, the bx_opto Pedal doubles as a gain pedal. By dialing-in the Density and Level Trim controls, you can add that little extra taste of gain and color that’s needed.

Most optical compressors are appreciated for their musical, program dependent character produced by the light dependent circuitry of the sidechain. They allow users the ability to adjust the effect of this character by introducing a separate resistance circuit that gives some control over the compression envelope. 

Brainworx decided to take a different approach to adjusting this compression envelope when modeling the bx_opto and bx_opto Pedal. The modeled physical constant of the Light Dependent Resistor (LDR) was influenced by those of very real compressors, but there is no separate envelope circuit. Rather, the constant is directly manipulated by the ‘Speed’ parameter of the plugin. This introduces a whole different approach to sonic character that is impossible to replicate with a ‘real-world’ optical compressor.

System Requirements

Supported Plugin Formats
VST2, VST3, AU, AAX Native, AudioSuite & RTAS

Supported Operating Systems
OS X 10.6 or higher in 32- or 64-bit
Windows XP, Vista, Win 7 & Win 8 in 64-bit

Mac
Intel CPU only (minimum 2 GHz recommended)

PC
Intel-compatible CPU with SSE2 instruction set (Pentium 4 compatible or higher; minimum 2 GHz recommended)