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Empirical Labs Distressor
- Thread starter lowrenzo
- Start date
I have a couple at my place. This is my \"desert island\" compressor without a doubt. It can do so many great things on a lot of stuff.
But IMO it doesn't quite do the emulations, and I think it doesn't have to either. When you tro to emulate an LA2A or Fairchild, you do get reminded of the action, but it does not sound the same at all.
Here are my comparisons between distressor settings and the actual thing.
1176 style:
The action is quite similar but sounds way too clean compared to a real 1176 unit. The real thing has \"bite\", \"snap\" and \"grunge\" which you can't really get here in the same way. It's like a very clinical 1176.
LA2A, ADL style:
Action again is pretty similar but if you put up an ADL or LA2A you get a fatness and warmth and solidity that you just can't emulate.
Fairchild:
Never compared to the original, so I don't know. I asume it's pretty much the same as for the other emulations.
It basically comes down to the fact that you DO get the GR action of the units but you can't really duplicate the sound of the devices themselves.
But IMO it doesn't quite do the emulations, and I think it doesn't have to either. When you tro to emulate an LA2A or Fairchild, you do get reminded of the action, but it does not sound the same at all.
Here are my comparisons between distressor settings and the actual thing.
1176 style:
The action is quite similar but sounds way too clean compared to a real 1176 unit. The real thing has \"bite\", \"snap\" and \"grunge\" which you can't really get here in the same way. It's like a very clinical 1176.
LA2A, ADL style:
Action again is pretty similar but if you put up an ADL or LA2A you get a fatness and warmth and solidity that you just can't emulate.
Fairchild:
Never compared to the original, so I don't know. I asume it's pretty much the same as for the other emulations.
It basically comes down to the fact that you DO get the GR action of the units but you can't really duplicate the sound of the devices themselves.
i used to have two of them, but i sold them because i didn't use them regularily enough because of the uAD plugs.
they sounded great on bass, distorted guitar (or similar stuff) and vocals.
the de-essing function can save your life!
i didn't really buy them to emulate stuff, so i never minded that they aren't too great at that. downside about them was that the shape of their attack and release constants didn't quite cut it for creating punch on drum submixes, for me at least.
the \"nuke\" mode is cool for parallell compression.
they sounded great on bass, distorted guitar (or similar stuff) and vocals.
the de-essing function can save your life!
i didn't really buy them to emulate stuff, so i never minded that they aren't too great at that. downside about them was that the shape of their attack and release constants didn't quite cut it for creating punch on drum submixes, for me at least.
the \"nuke\" mode is cool for parallell compression.