Olive

Olive is the fourth Acqua plugin in our new ‘Boutique Collection’ series (available in VST, VST3, AAX and AU formats) that faithfully reproduces a legendary console, of which very few units were ever built and whose traces have almost been lost in the mist of time. The Olive mixing console was way ahead of its time when it was designed in the early '70s...today, after 50 years from its inception, Olive has finally come of age! The time has come for the phoenix to rise from its ashes.

What you get

Olive EQ (a vintage 4-Band parametric equalizer – low and high shelf, plus two mid bells and high and lowpass filters, plus a pre-amp stage);
Olive Pre (a vintage pre-amp section including 4 Line and 4 Mic pre-amps);
Olive Comp (an original VCA based compressor/limiter, plus a pre-amp stage);
Olive Exp (a VCA expander, plus a pre-amp stage);

The story behind Olive console

The birth of a myth

In 1969, Wayne Jones had a unique vision that would have changed the industry. Mixing consoles were usually custom-made at the time, combining individual elements such as faders, equalizers and compressors upon customer request. In the 60s, a US company introduced the concept of strip modularization to make it easier to build consoles with different numbers of inputs. Other companies soon followed. Among them, Olive Electrodynamics, a Canadian company founded in 1971 by Wayne Jones, produced semi-modular consoles which included all the features offered by outboard gear until then.

Jones and his team's dedication towards creating Olive was remarkable. Their relentless effort was evident from the fact that within the company they communicated mainly through the intercom, and even slept in the office to ensure maximum productivity. However, despite their best efforts, the company had to rush the console's release date due to mounting pressure to bring it to the market. The Canadian government played a significant role in its funding, but the rush to launch the product found the company unprepared. Only two slightly different consoles are known to have been built and were sold to two prestigious studios in Toronto and in the U.S. Unfortunately, the famed American studio had to close its doors in 1985 due to a severe fire.

There were many internal innovations, yet externally it was revolutionary as well. The Olive was the first console to include what we know today as a standardized channel strip, including all common functions with every channel, rather than a haphazard custom design. It was also the first console to have automation. We might as well say that every mixing desk since, and every digital audio workstation, has copied these core concepts from The Olive.

The Resurrection

As a result of a collaborating effort with Craig Patterson and Clark Hagan, Acustica recovered and restored the only abandoned Olive 2000 console existing today.

The console was massive and heavy, and it took time and strength to move it out of the warehouse. Bulldozers were used to transport its frame and various sections. Once we had cleaned all the pieces and reassembled them, the real work began. We meticulously connected every wire and tested every button, ensuring that everything was working perfectly. The excitement grew as we realized we were bringing back to life something truly unique and legendary in a plugin suite form, enhancing its performance with our proprietary technology.

It was like watching a phoenix rise from the ashes.

The plugin suite

Isn’t it great that today’s technology can now bring these unique colors from the past to everyone?

At last, like a fine wine of a great vintage, today it's time to taste again the classy sound of Olive! Acustica is proud to offer you an inimitable sound that was destined to disappear and is set to make history in the form of one of the most valuable and powerful plug-in suites ever made, enhanced with our 'Hyper' 2 technology, which delivers unparalleled sonic warmth and character to your music.

Olive | Demo