OptoRED Black Friday Deal 2026: $19, 75% off

OptoRED Black Friday pricing is 75% off, which puts this optical compressor plugin from Tone Empire at $19 until Nov 25, 2026.

OptoRED is a transparent optical attenuator, based on the classic American tube optical unit that turns up on countless hit records. It is the first plugin in Tone Empire's Enhanced Classics series.

The maker's idea was to start from a 1:1 emulation of the original and then go well past what the hardware could do.

What does the OptoRED compressor do?

OptoRED works as a compressor or a limiter. A Comp | Limit switch flips it between a smaller ratio and a very large one.

The maker says it stays super clean and adds none of the colouration the original unit is known for.

The extra circuits are what separate it from the classic. It carries a built-in sidechain, a low pass filter, automatic gain and a wet/dry mix.

Tone Empire says this takes it beyond the vocal and bass jobs the original was made for. The maker lists drums, synths, percussion and both electronic and acoustic instruments as targets.

What controls does OptoRED have?

• Threshold: works counter-clockwise, from +10dB to -30dB, and turning it right adds more compression
• Comp | Limit switch: picks between compressor and limiter mode
• Lo Cut: a 12 dB low-cut shelving filter, from off up to 100 Hz
• Wet / Dry Mix: the far left position passes only the compressed signal, which opens up parallel processing
• Sidechain On / Off: switches the sidechain circuit in or out
• In: sets the level entering the processor, from -48dB (silence) to +24 dB, and moves the threshold
• Auto switch: turns the AutoGain circuit on or off
• Make-Up Gain: trims or boosts the processed signal after AutoGain, from -48dB to +24dB

With the sidechain on, the compressor is fed a filtered version of the incoming signal to trigger it.

AutoGain adds more gain to the compressed signal the further right you turn the threshold knob.

Can you track through OptoRED?

Yes. The Lo Cut is there so you can use OptoRED as a tracking compressor.

It strips unwanted low end while you record vocals, bass and other instruments. You still get a low latency compressed signal to track against.

OptoRED formats and system requirements

On Mac, it needs macOS 10.13 or later, runs on Intel or native M1, and comes as VST3, AU and AAX. It is 64-bit only and needs a 64-bit host.

On Windows, it needs Windows 10 or later, 64-bit only, in VST3 and AAX formats with a 64-bit host.

Both platforms call for an AMD Ryzen or equivalent, 2 GB RAM, 300 MB of disk space and a 1024×768 screen. The plugin will not run on 32-bit systems.