https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8N33a0ZnSs
 
What a wonderful software recreation.  Admittedly, I've never used the real/deal LA2A, but this version is insanely musical.

Of course this was a recent purchase as well...  Takes awhile for me to hop on these things sometimes....and I wonder where it's been all my life ;-D

I have the ProChannel version and I love it. There's not a lot it doesn't work wonders on. Oftentimes I'll be running around in circles with some other compressor trying to dial the right settings in and getting nowhere, then I'll give in and insert the PC2A and I'm done in seconds. I also have the Softube  VC-2A and it's a lovely piece of kit as well. 

Bump to remove spammer topic title from home page.

+1
 
A lot of the time I don't even need to turn any of the dials! Just load the module and I'm 90% there!

+1

I try not to over-use it. It's not the only choice. I like it too.
 
Keep in mind that optical compressors don't tend to have attack and release nobs (this one either). The attack time differs on different frequencies. The release times are non-linear.
 
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/low-end-theory/115937-what-optical-compressor-how-do-i-use.html
 
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep09/articles/classiccompressors.htm
 

Most of my stuff is done with MIDI & synths and since I'm shaping the sound on the synth itself, I don't often find the need to use compression for tone shaping, punch etc. And any wild fluctuation in dynamics that come from playing some notes louder than others I can pretty much fix at the velocity stage, or with a volume envelope. However, I'm often running my sounds through some pretty wild effects chains with unpredictable results (like Ohmicide with lots of automated feedback etc ), and I find the PC2A is ideal for taming that kind of stuff. 

It really is slick and sounds darned good on seemingly everything (which makes me have to restrain myself and be sure to test out the other comps as well before just slapping the CA2A on but even when others do work better I'll add the CA2A later in the chain so it is just barely touching the signal).
 
However remember (and I forget often) is that if you right click on the module you get the option to set it to "Fast" or "Classic" attack/release speeds (I think it is set to Fast Reset by default). It's not the same as actual Attack/Release knobs but it is there if need be. This is discussed in the stickie vid at the top of the forum.