Multiband processing is a set of techniques renowned for its power and effectiveness, but it can be a challenging task to configure and manage successfully. There are numerous potential pitfalls to watch out for when using these techniques, making them all the more crucial to approach it with caution and attentiveness. However, our Ocean plugin is designed to address these complexities by providing an intuitive and powerful solution.

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. It 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.

• 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.

In the words of Giancarlo Del Sordo, CEO of Acusticaudio:

“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 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 Batllò. 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. [..]".

Ocean stands out for its simplicity and offers features that typically require complex workflows in other products. It excels in addressing the challenges of maintaining transient detail in limiters, especially in broadcast transmission. By incorporating a multiband expander, Ocean enhances transients before the limiter, resulting in improved 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 that goes beyond algorithmic interpretations, leveraging the nuances of iconic machines.

There are multiple reasons why using Ocean instead of configuring other products in a multiband architecture is advantageous. Firstly, Ocean offers a streamlined workflow and intuitive interface that allows for easy intervention and a comprehensive view of the plugin. Secondly, Ocean's elements are specifically designed for multiband operation, with minimized controls optimized for managing multiple bands. Additionally, Ocean's smart internal gain staging ensures a balanced and intact output signal, preserving the cohesion and timbre of the original track. In contrast, standalone products like Jam or Tiger lack this consideration and are complex to use in a multiband context. Using third-party plugins or the DAW itself for multiband processing can risk unbalancing or distorting the track, compromising its integrity.