New Acustica Audio Aquamarine compressor

Aquamarine is, according to Acustica Audio, the reproduction of an old compressor built by an industry military contractor and equipped with an electroluminescent optical attenuator and a discrete voltage controlled amplifier (VCA). The developer reproduced all its features and added a dry/wet mix control.

Features:

• Switchable Preamp section with a Pre Switch, with three coloring options: Bronze (for lots of coloration), Silver (cleaner) and Gold (with a flat low response and low distortion)
• Opto-compressor that emulates the optical attenuator, with threshold and makeup gain control and bypass switch
• Discrete compressor that emulates the VCA, with threshold, ratio (6 positions from 1.2:1 to 20:1), attack, Recover (sets the time for the signal to return to an uncompressed level after it reached the threshold) and makeup gain ; this section can also be bypassed
• Sidechain filter that affects both opto and VCA section and cuts the frequencies under 90 Hz
• Dry/Wet mix knob
• Input and output level controls between –24 and +24 dB (-18 and +28dB when running the plug-in for the first time) : the input gain reduction is compensated by a +18 dB gain in the final stage
• 2 VU-meters for the opto and discrete compressor level reduction or the input/output levels

Aquamarine is a VST and AU plug-in for Mac OS X and Windows 32 and 64-bit. It is currently available for pre-sale for the price of 159 €, final price will be 199 €. It should be available within a few hours at www.acustica-audio.com.