Ocean is a new multi-band processing plug-in encompassing a remarkable variety of Acustica's most acclaimed emulations built on top-tier hardware units and enhanced with our latest 'Hyper' and Core 19 technology.
Multi-band processing is a set of techniques renowned for its power and effectiveness, but it can be challenging to configure and manage successfully. There are numerous potential pitfalls to watch out for when using these techniques, making it all the more crucial to approach them cautiously and attentively.
However, our Ocean plugin is designed to address these complexities by providing an intuitive and powerful solution.
Key features
• Multi-band processing.
• Simplified workflow.
• Hyper engine.
• Acustica's most acclaimed emulations included.
• Superior transient emphasis thanks to the expander.
• Perfectly balanced output signal.
• Numeric Input/Display for main controls.
• Several listening mode options (Δ, LR, M, S).
• Over 70 presets.
• Up to 4x oversampling.
• Resizable GUI*
*Choose between 3 magnification values (1x - 1.5x - 2x) from the top left ▼SIZE drop-down menu.
Once the desired size is selected, the plug-in must be removed and re-loaded to apply the changes. This action affects the currently selected plug-in. New instances of the same plug-in will open with this magnification.
What you get
Ocean presents itself as a unique plugin with a visually captivating 'hybrid' interface that seamlessly blends the best features of 2D and 3D, delivering a truly immersive user experience.
Ocean GUI
Additionally, Ocean comes in a 'standard' version and an alternative 'ZL*' version, which operates at *zero latency and is thus suitable for use when tracking (at the cost of extra processing resources).
We recommend reading the Ocean user's manual to get the most out of this new plug-in suite.
Why choose Ocean over other brands' multi-band dynamic processors in the market?
Ocean stands out for its simplicity and offers features that typically require complex workflows in other products.
It effectively addresses the challenges of maintaining transient detail in limiters, taking inspiration from broadcasting. Ocean enhances transients before the limiter by incorporating a multi-band expander, improving sound quality.
Each processor in Ocean reflects the DNA of top dynamic processing machines developed over months with user feedback.
Ocean represents a vast repository of technology beyond algorithmic interpretations, leveraging the nuances of iconic machines and allowing you to choose between different and mutually exclusive emulations based on the type of effect selected from COMPRESSOR, LIMITER, SATURATOR, EXPANDER+LIMITER, COMPRESSOR+LIMITER.
New toolbar
For the first time, the Ocean plugin introduces the brand-new Acustica toolbar at the top of the plugin interface.
This toolbar offers a range of new features and provides convenient access to various commands and functionalities. With the Acustica toolbar, you can effortlessly load factory presets, customize and save your own presets, and enjoy additional capabilities.
Please refer to the Ocean user manual to explore these features in detail.
The idea behind Ocean
"The journey that led to the creation of Ocean began in the early 2000s when I was an avid user of another mastering software tool. It was a multiband, offering various types of processors to create a mastering chain. I was thrilled and exhilarated by the results: coming from the analog world, I was like a dinosaur, yet I loved the possibilities that new digital tools were creating. I was a small electronic music producer, and during those years, I started getting requests for remixes that had the same complexity as some American-inspired remixes. Unlike me, the Americans had serious equipment: Neve, SSL desks, tube compressors, and fantastic microphones. And yet, this digital plugin seemed so precise that it made me forget the warmth of analog equipment and made me appreciate the detail, the ability to create loudness with few artifacts and reach a final result with little effort and in an extremely short time. I embarked on the adventure of Acustica Audio during those years, trying to create plugins that would allow me to replace part of the equipment I had in my garage studio in another city in the box, and hoping over time to achieve the ergonomics and convenience of that multiband.
My journey into reproducing hardware machinery began with convolution and with the idea of sampling a dynamic unit at various input levels to study its transfer function. It was a simple concept, and I hoped it would be both innovative and novel: years later, I found out others had implemented and followed the same intuition, with results that were perhaps different from mine but similar in essence. I faced two challenges: creating a precise division of the spectrum into bands with few artifacts, and creating dynamic processors that were even better than the software model I had started with and was inspiring me. The latter point took literally many years. In 2009, I began to intuit that the 'shape' of attack and release curves were critical in the timbre of dynamic compressors and limiters, but I had no idea how to pursue this goal. It was around this time that I started to implement what I referred to as "RAW FUNS", which were precise samplings of the shape of attack and release curves [..]"
"[..] One of the places we visited on the cruise was Barcelona, and urged by my wife; we went to visit one of Gaudi's major creations, Casa Batlló. I was fascinated by its marine architecture, the moderation of the architectural elements inspired by turtle bones, and the harmony of the elements as if they came from or were part of a huge biological organism. The house became a representation of the turtle's shell, its home, and I was fascinated by the analogies. Ocean is a tribute to all this. Some of the geometries we used in the construction of the 3D model were inspired by the geometries of marine organisms. Ocean is a technical dynamic object, like a dwelling can be technical, but it's alive, as could be the best analog processor. It can compress the signal and maintain the transients, for example by joining a multiband expander with a limiter. It can compress as a multiband compressor can, or a multiband compressor with a limiter in series. It can be rough like a distorter, thanks to the possibility of being configured as a multiband saturator. It can be whatever you want. Yet it remains simple, perhaps even simpler than the multiband plugin I was talking about at the beginning of the story. Ocean has few controls, if you want you can simply use it by deciding the amount of multiband and single-band type process. You can adjust or monitor the individual intervention bands. It has few parameters, powerful and intuitive ones that depend on the model and that make it essential. You can adjust the main interventions at the level of the individual band. But it does all this while appearing simple, immediate, and above all, fast. [..]"
— Giancarlo Del Sordo, CEO of Acustica Audio.
Acustica Audio Ocean | Plug-in Demo
https://youtu.be/xSCLxOSisv0
About Acustica Audio's Hyper technology
Thanks to our new Hyper and Hyper2 technology, we can now deliver even more realistic and convincing compression, saturation, filters, and preamp signals in the digital domain by emulating the sound of analog recording equipment with lower CPU consumption and improved stability.
Technical information & compatibility
• Supported formats: VST2, VST3, AAX, and AU.
• Available sample rates: 44.1, 48, 88.2, and 96 kHz.
• Windows 10 and 11 compatible.
• macOS 10.15 (Catalina) to macOS 13 (Ventura) compatible.
• Intel, AMD, and ARM compatible.
• Apple Silicon native (Rosetta not supported).
Price and availability
Ocean introductory price: €209 | 30% OFF until June 28, 2023 (reg. price €299) Get it here!
The product is at an introductory period for the first four weeks after release or until the first official version is released; this implies that the product may receive improvements, changes, or fixes available through Aquarius Desktop updates.
Try our FREE 30-Day Trial
Note: Ocean trial version includes 44.1 - 48 - 88.2 - 96 kHz sample rates.
Please remember that trials expire 30 days after authorization, and we strongly recommend not using trial products in commercial sessions or any important project.
Ocean user's manual
Ocean webpage: https://www.acustica-audio.com/shop/products/OCEAN
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