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The Universal Audio UAD Empirical Labs Distressor is the only authentic emulation of the world's most sought-after modern compressor. The EL8 is perfect for radically shaping guitars, drums, and vocals with nearly infinite gain reduction variations. The Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor is revered in studios the world over as the modern, “must-have” compressor. Versatile with tons of color, the Distressor picks up where the legendary UA 1176 and Teletronix LA-2A compressors leave off — giving you a modern tool that’s equal parts utilitarian and creative, as heard on thousands of hit records.
SHAPE WITH THE ONLY END‑TO‑END DISTRESSOR EMULATION
The EL8 Distressor Compressor plug-in gives you all the features and tone of the original hardware. Simply compare other Distressor emulations for yourself, and contrast the original hardware’s ultra-fast attack time to quickly hear where most plug-ins fail, and the authentic UAD Distressor succeeds.
FIND THE PERFECT COMPRESSION RATIO
The crux of the Distressor are its staggering variations in compression — 1:1, 2:1, 3:1, 4:1, 6:1, 10:1, 20:1 and Nuke — each offering unique sounds. Use the 1:1 ratio to gently warm up synths or strings without compression, while adding musical harmonics. Conversely, the Nuke setting gives explosive excitement to room mics or your entire mix.
ADD COLOR WITH DISTORTION MODES
The Distressor's iconic Dist 2 and Dist 3 modes give you a wide palette of compression textures, letting you shape sources with even or combined even/odd-order harmonic distortion, from delicate thickening to burnished tape to fully saturated.
FOCUS DYNAMICS WITH POWERFUL SIDECHAIN CONTROLS
The Distressor’s sidechain control gets rid of unwanted low-frequency pumping — perfect for drum bus processing — while Band Emphasis tames strident vocals and harsh “power region” instrument peaks. You can also harness "plug-in only" features like Dry/Wet Mix for easy parallel compression on a mix bus or instrument group.
NATIVE UAD SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
- Mac: macOS 10.15 Catalina, 11 Big Sur, 12 Monterey, or 13 Ventura
- Windows: Windows 10 or Windows 11 (64-bit editions)
- Intel, AMD or Apple silicon processor
- Internet connection to download software and authorize native UAD plug-ins
- Free iLok account with iLok Cloud or iLok USB (2nd generation or higher)
- Free UA Connect application for managing native UAD plug-ins
Specifications
| Plugin Type | Dynamics |
|---|---|
| Software Format | |
| Operating system | macOS, Windows |
