Aquamarine 5
by Acustica Audio · Compressor · Mastering compressor suite
Not rated yet
Aquamarine 5 is a dynamics suite from Acustica Audio with an opto compressor, a VCA-style processor and a 1950s passive EQ.
It adds oversampling, a resizable interface and Delta listening, for €199 (about $226).
Best for: Mix Bus, Mastering, Drum Bus. Genres: all genres.
Keywords: mastering, bus processing, opto, VCA, 50s, mix bus, oversampling, mixing, resizable UI, analog-sounding, clean, full mix, gentle, metering, drum bus, glue, inspired by, punchy, single-band, smooth, warm.
What it does
Aquamarine 5 is Acustica Audio's mastering and mixing suite, sampled from a highly regarded compressor and a rare 1950s American passive equalizer. The developer calls it a "monster compressor"; version 5 moves it onto the "Hyper" engine with improved oversampling.
- Opto section: a smooth, warm optical compression stage for gentle levelling.
- VCA-style section: a punchy, discrete dynamics processor with ratios from 1.2:1 up to a "Flood" limiting setting.
- Passive EQ: a separate module recreating an ultra-rare American passive equalizer from the 1950s, with its own bypass.
- SATU knob: adds saturation, with a range of 0 to +24.
- Metering: input, output and gain reduction meters, now with numerical readouts, plus an input trim.
- Bypass LR and Delta: bypass the processing or use Delta to hear only what the compressor is removing.
- Hyper engine and oversampling: version 5 adds Acustica's Hyper engine and better oversampling for a cleaner audio path; the interface is resizable.
KVR lists version 2.3.5. Like other Acustica plugins it is built on the Acqua engine.
Source: Acustica Audio product page
When to use it
Aquamarine 5 is the pick when you want a full, coloured mastering chain in one plugin: opto and VCA compression, saturation and a passive EQ. Compared with the SSL G-Master Buss Compressor and The Glue, it offers two compressor characters instead of one VCA style, plus tone shaping from the EQ and SATU stages. It covers the gentle opto levelling of the Teletronix LA-2A Leveler Collection and adds the faster VCA side the LA-2A lacks. Against FabFilter Pro-C 3 it trades visual feedback and clean precision for sampled analog colour, and it uses much more CPU than The Glue.
- Best for: mastering and mix bus compression with analog colour, especially where you want compression and EQ in one place.
- Genres: any; it is a mix bus and mastering tool.
- Look elsewhere if: you want a light, fast bus compressor (The Glue), a clean, highly visual compressor (Pro-C 3), or a classic SSL-style bus sound (SSL G-Master Buss Compressor).
Where to buy
- Acustica Audio: $225.96 (€199 converted to USD (ECB rate, 29 Sep 2026); price as listed on KVR)
Tutorials and reviews
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