OPTO

Four shades of smooth

OPTO captures what makes optical compression so useful: velvety gain reduction, musical recovery, and a feeling of smoothness even when the compressor is doing some real work.

But optical compressors can feel wildly different from one another, so building just one version felt plain wrong. OPTO gives you four genuinely different optical compressors in one plug-in.

three is the faster, in-your-face mode. Exceptional for bringing out punch from any source.

two is slower, warmer with a vintage character. Amazing at rounding vocals, basses, pianos and acoustic elements in general.

one is an ultra-smooth, polished, and more hi-fi sounding mode. Very good on modern vocals, loops, and more hip-hop oriented material.

zero is the cleanest and most modern of the four, for when you need super transparent compression.

They are not small variations. Each mode changes the behaviour, feel, and character of the compressor, its program-dependent settings, saturation and overall response in a meaningful way.

Alongside the main optical core, OPTO gives you the tools to shape both tone and attitude. DRIVE adds body and harmonic density without turning the plug-in into a distortion box. TRAFO is a faithful transformer emulation that adds controlled bloom, subtle density, and a more hardware-like thickness. Finally DETAIL is a gentle upward compressor that lifts quieter information and presence in a controlled way, bringing clarity and focus without pushing the top end into harshness.

The main editor also includes CLARITY, TONE and DEPTH, giving you powerful control over brightness, overall balance and low-end weight.

In the advanced settings you can find many useful tools: high-pass and low-pass filters, parallel mix knob, dual mono/stereo modes, auto gain and a variable sidechain HPF that helps focus the compression on the right portion of the signal.

Having all of these options ready to go makes OPTO a super flexible one-stop shop for compression and creative tone shaping, suitable for a wide range of sources, from vocals, bass, drums or any single source, to buses and mastering.

Tech That Removes Fear

Designed for practical use in modern production environments, OPTO operates with zero latency and low CPU usage, making it suitable for tracking and for use across large sessions. The plug-in also features an offline-first licensing system that requires no dongle or internet connection once installed. Keyboard shortcuts ensure a fast and friction-free workflow.

OPTO Key Features:

• Optical compressor built to deliver smooth gain reduction, real musical movement, and finished tone without sounding forced.
• Four genuinely different optical compressors in one plug-in.
• zero, one, two and three modes, each changing the behaviour, feel, and character of the compressor.
• DRIVE for body and harmonic density.
• TRAFO for controlled bloom, subtle density, and a more hardware-like thickness.
• DETAIL for lifting quieter information and presence in a controlled way.
• CLARITY, TONE and DEPTH for brightness, overall balance and low-end weight.
• High-pass and low-pass filters
• Mix knob for instant parallel processing
• RMS auto gain
• Stereo or dual mono operation.
• Variable sidechain filtering
• Signature fedDSP limiter with SAFE and AGGRO modes.
• CPU-light footprint allows for high instance counts across large sessions.
• fedDSP workflow features including offline licensing, extensive keyboard shortcuts, global mix knob for parallel processing.

OPTO is available now at an introductory price of £35 before moving to its regular price of £75 after 6 August 2026. Further information can be found at: https://feddsp.com/products/OPTO/