ACME Opticom XLA-3 vs Millennia TCL-2

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HI All,

I'm wondering if any users are willing to share their thoughts between these two Optical compressors that Plugin Alliance will be putting on sale this month.
I will be trialling both at some point in the month but would be great to know whether there is a general consensus amongst KVRians as to which one is better.


I predominantly various genres of music that would be classed as House Music.

Regards.

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I had and sold TCL-2 - and demo'd the Opticom (quite glorious while the demo lasted - I tried not to get too attached to it!).

I just couldn't get TCL-2 to sound transparent at all - had a very small gain reduction sweet-spot before audible ruffled artifacts. I'm surprised they consider it useful for mastering.

bx_opto however is wicked good.

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MogwaiBoy wrote:I had and sold TCL-2 - and demo'd the Opticom (quite glorious while the demo lasted - I tried not to get too attached to it!).

I just couldn't get TCL-2 to sound transparent at all - had a very small gain reduction sweet-spot before audible ruffled artifacts. I'm surprised they consider it useful for mastering.

bx_opto however is wicked good.
Thanks, tried them both tonight. I agree, probably going to go for the Opticom, plus I think it'll be the cheaper option of the two as I have the Millennia EQ which is fantastic and they will be offering it as part of the bundle. It'll probably be around $64 so with my $50 voucher, I should be able to pick it up for $14.

Gotta say, Plugin Alliance are really looking after their loyal customers this last couple of months, but I think they've cottoned on to the fact that with the discounts and $9 plugins, people having been able to get even deeper discounts, because I've noticed they haven't offered any this month.

KVR is dead these days lol.

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Just demoed the XLA-3. I don't like its workflow [I can't stand compressors that you have to push the signal into in order for the compression to happen (aka no Threshold knob)]. CPU intensive too. Money saved... :D

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Once during demo of XLA-3 I did whole mix with only this plugin (simple Trance track). But it wasn't used mainly to compress but to saturate tracks. I can tell you that saturation and harmonics generated by this plugin are sweeeet! :) You can smash anything by this plugin and it will add character. IMO it will fit House Music very well.
I can't compare to TCL-2 as I didn't tested it yet

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XLA-3 is gritty, TCL-2 is smooth and I was able to get transparency out of it without much difficulty.

The TCL-2 can add harmonics as well for a more coloured effect. It's great on acoustic instruments, vocals, submixes and masters.

XLA-3 is great on drums, bass, guitars and anything you can afford to make gritty. Although it does do a smooth similar to LA-2A or bx_opto.

They are almost polar opposites of each other.

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greenfly wrote:HI All,
I'm wondering if any users are willing to share their thoughts between these two Optical compressors that Plugin Alliance will be putting on sale this month.
How do you know they will go on sale this month?
You have spies at PA? :o :D

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I know the Acme unit will... because I do have a spy!!

He sends me out an email a week or so before the sale begins. I think it's a perk of having single handedly paying enough to cover their wages there!! Haha!!

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I never liked the TCL-2 hardware or software but the Opticom is one of my favorite comps. I rarely go past 1dB GR with it and most of the time it's set to fast here. In many situations it is exactly the final touch you're looking for on busses or mixbuss. The character is awesome.

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Nimrod7 wrote:
greenfly wrote:HI All,
I'm wondering if any users are willing to share their thoughts between these two Optical compressors that Plugin Alliance will be putting on sale this month.
How do you know they will go on sale this month?
You have spies at PA? :o :D

I have crystal ball that tells me that the Acme goes on sale March 10th and TCL goes on sale March 17th. Just Kidding :D

They sent a newsletter out telling customers what will be going on sale this month.

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simon.a.billington wrote:XLA-3 is gritty, TCL-2 is smooth and I was able to get transparency out of it without much difficulty.

The TCL-2 can add harmonics as well for a more coloured effect. It's great on acoustic instruments, vocals, submixes and masters.

XLA-3 is great on drums, bass, guitars and anything you can afford to make gritty. Although it does do a smooth similar to LA-2A or bx_opto.

They are almost polar opposites of each other.

Thanks, I like the sound of the Acme more so will be getting that one.

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The trick with the TCL-2 (both hardware and software) is to only use the large attack values.. 50 to 100ms and then set the release very carefully to suite the material.

Unfortunately they modeled the VU meters just like on the hardware.. aka they are useless. You get compression going way before the meters even move. At least on the hardware you can actually see the tiny movements but on the software if the needle moves close to 1 you're already doing too much compression.

It's a very weird piece of gear for sure.. but on some program material it's like no other.
"Wisdom is wisdom, regardless of the idiot who said it." -an idiot

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Yeah I would say for subtle buss compression, the metering tends to not be that helpful.

When I first started using it I was sure it was doing something, but the needles weren't moving so I had to really lower the threshold just to make sure it ws working and wasn't just a placebo effect.

As it is now, if the needles aren't doing much but I like the sound, I'll leave it and come back to it and bypass it just to make sure my ears aren't playing tricks. That's said, I often go back over my work to do fine adjustments anyway, so it really was just part of the process any way.

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Good info to have on the TCL, I'd almost given up on it. I took the plunge on the Opticom without much demo time as it was awesome price with voucher. Luckily it is really great, I love that on anything. That plus HG-2 can give a real nice vibe. The Opticom does so well at lifting up the tail on drums in a nice way and the HG-2 for presence. Some super stuff coming out of PA.

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malachy5 wrote:Good info to have on the TCL, I'd almost given up on it. I took the plunge on the Opticom without much demo time as it was awesome price with voucher. Luckily it is really great, I love that on anything. That plus HG-2 can give a real nice vibe. The Opticom does so well at lifting up the tail on drums in a nice way and the HG-2 for presence. Some super stuff coming out of PA.
I'm big fan myself.

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