I’ve used it on guitars, bass, room mics, vocals it works great on everything. The only authentic Distressor plug-in endorsed by Empirical Labs’ founder Dave Derr, the UAD Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor is available exclusively for UAD hardware and Apollo interfaces. More about the Arousor and UAD Empirical Labs plug-ins. Endorsed by Empirical Labs’ founder Dave Derr, and available exclusively for UAD and Apollo, the EL8 Distressor Compressor plug-in is the only end-to-end emulation of this versatile, character-filled compressor used on thousands of hit records. Overseas customers can contact their local dealer to find the closest center for performing the upgrades. Really love the incredible match with the hardware version. Versatile & essential. Looking forward to trying it on vocals and other sources. It's really great as the hardware. From delicate thickening to burnished tape to fully saturated, the Distortion Modes, combined with low-frequency filtering, let you focus the Distressor’s textures. I have tried a loooot of plugin compressors and this is the best, for everything! Somewhere along the line, someone called it “British Mode”, and the name stuck. Two HP filters – one in the audio path, one in the detector path – are also available to help with low frequencies that can cause pumping and breathing. JavaScript seems to be disabled in your browser. The biggest drawback is the default UAD price. The EL8-x includes Stereo Image Link and British Mode switches. Really awesome compressor that lets you compress the sound pretty heavy without it sounding too compressed, Not much words needed: on every bus right now. I really enjoy the wide application of the compressor. Born of founder Dave Derr’s love of classic compressors like the 1176, LA-2A and Gain Brain (among others), the Distressor incorporates his favorite sonic characteristics of these, along with other unique and interesting features that have made it a staple for audio engineers all over the world. Although frequently desirable for its phase correction, and its “thickening” on open room mics and other stereo sources, this approach can sometimes be a problem on stereo program material where the producer/engineers want to maintain absolute left/right balance at all times. However, as early as 1980 (or before), renegade recording engineers, always on the lookout for something a little more “over-the-top”, found that you could make all four buttons stay in if you pressed them just right. First, slowing up the attack will let the peaks hit harder and soften the compression, allowing hotter operating levels around the distortion generators. The EL8-X (top) is the new and improved version of the EL8 (bottom). Born of founder Dave Derr’s love of classic compressors like the 1176, LA-2A and Gain Brain (among others), the Distressor incorporates his favorite sonic characteristics of these, along with other unique and interesting features that have made it a staple for audio engineers all over the world. it's all in the interplay between the attack and the knee, which define the initial 'grab'. What kind of Distortion does the Distressor offer. The original Distressor stereo link implementation used a summing and phase detection method which allowed stereo image shifting. 5th place in the Top 20 Compressors of all Time, Behind the Gear at The Record Shop Part 1, Empirical Labs Distressor Review by K. Osbourne, “The most impressive and versatile compressor I have ever used”, “The unit is really awesome! Another large part of the Distressor’s personality and power derive from three modes that color the signal, even without compression. Never had the hardware and am very happy w the plug in, Practically identical to the real deal. The concept of British Mode came from an unusual setting on the classic UREI LN1176 limiter. Exclusive plug-in features like Dry/Wet Mix offer easy parallel compression on a mix bus or instrument group. An exhaustive end-to-end emulation of Derr’s iconic hardware, the UAD EL8 Distressor is the only faithful emulation of this true “desert island” compressor. SCOTTS VALLEY, CA • November 14th, 2017 — In close partnership with Empirical Labs and its founder, Dave Derr, Universal Audio is proud to introduce the Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor Compressor plug-in for UAD hardware and Apollo interfaces as part of UAD Software v9.4 — an expert end-to-end circuit emulation of the iconic compressor that has been used on thousands of hit records. With uniques features such as the AttMod™ and Advanced Detector Sidechain, this plugin is not an imitation; its innovation. Finally, the Headroom control lets you optimize the Distressor’s overall operating level to your playback system. You must have JavaScript enabled in your browser to utilize the functionality of this website. If you want the Brit Mod and Image Link options, an EL8X-S package is also available. The product that started it all for Empirical Labs. You can’t have too many Distressors.”, “The Distressor would be the last piece of hardware many engineers would relinquish; you’d have to pry it from their cold, dead hands, as the saying goes”. Really great stuff. The UAD features, such as the wet/dry knob, make it a even more amazing tool. 4-710d Four-Channel Tone-Blending Mic Preamp w/ Dynamics, Regular Price: After 20 years, Empirical Labs finally entered the audio software plug-in industry with the Arousor. Besides providing a wide range of control and a unique feature set, the Distressor offers a warm, vintage sound by using a custom designed gain control circuit. I’ve used it on records I’ve made with Beck, U2, Etta James, Hole and lots of others. I hope it's the X version. The original Distressor stereo link function used a summing and phase detection method, which allowed slight stereo image shifting. Simultaneously, the team analyzed three more Distressors representing the lifetime of the product — ensuring one of UA’s tightest circuit models to date. Use the 1:1 ratio to gently warm up synths or strings without compression, while adding musical low-order harmonics. This sets the internal reference level of the plugin, enabling the distortion characteristics and dynamic response to be tweaked independently of the input level - …