Distressor Shootout: Arouser vs Comprexxor vs Deflector vs Disto-S vs FG-Stress

[4damind]

It seems that A has a longer release time, which makes it sounding completely different.
I prefer B, followed by A. C sounds a bit thin and lacks a bit of body.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Plexxus, if you're interested and want to send me your FG-Stress or Comprexxor settings I can try to match them on Arousor and the UAD Distressor and send you those as well for a bigger pool. Or a whole new poll. If interested, PM me.

That's a great idea! However I found that between the 3 plugins I used here there was no direct correlation between their settings - I had to manually dial in each one by ear. With that in mind, you could download the DRY version and dial in your plugins to sound as close to what I have here. Then send me those audio tracks and I will add them to this thread and poll. Let me know!

I posted this in the FG-Stress thread, but I'll repeat here because it's relevant...

Here's a quick tip: when comparing two emulations of the same piece of gear (or in Arousor's case, kind of an expanded Distressor against a Distressor), it's useful to throw the plugins up in Plugin Doctor to fine tune settings. Not every emulation is calibrated the same. Plugin Doctor lets you see the transfer curve, see the harmonics, see the attack and release shapes. You may find that attack = 5 on one device equals 5.9 on another and 4.6 on another, or that you have to adjust the input and output gain to get the compression happening at the right level... In the latest Plugin Doctor versions, it's easy to load two plugins and hide one with the Mute button to make sure you've got the settings dialed in as closely as possible. And if you find the release curve is all wrong and can't be fixed or the harmonics and their response are completely different, that's good information too. Dial in what you can.

Once you do that, take those dialed-in settings (or save the presets you created in Plugin Doctor] and bring them into your DAW to compare against actual audio to hear what it sounds like when fine tuned. It's a tedious, though insightful way of comparing one emulation to another. Has saved me money.

...this has been my kind of go-to approach to figure out "why doesn't TrackComp sound like my hardware LA-2A...oh the release and attack are way off or the make-up gain isn't high enough to boost the harmonics..." It really helps. So my plan was "if you send me your FG-Stress settings, I can match to that in PD as best I can to UAD and Arousor then post the audio output on the same loop."

[plexuss]

Yes I saw your post in the FG thread. I agree that is a good way to do a comparison. I use PluginDoctor for EQ matching and comparing nuances in curves between different plugins. It is a valid way to do a test. I decided against it due to the amount of time it would take to set up and validate. It is also informative to do a "by ear" comparison such as the one in this thread.

I think there is an argument to be made against only using technical analysis to align two plugins for comparison purposes - just because they are aligned on a graph doesn't mean they are going to sound the same. Not that you said they would -
I am just pointing that out. There is something to be said for a test such as mine where the alignment was done by ear. I think both methodologies are useful to form a well rounded opinion.

But if someone wants to align the plugins using PluginDoctor and post their files that would be cool too.

[TheD20]

I like A and B the best.
A def sounds like the release time is a bit longer.

I couldn't guess which is which though hahahaha!

[evo2slo]

Thanks for sharing these! My only distressor is the SlyFi Deflector and I've been especially curious how it compares to FG-Stress. I've been comparing it to the Comprexxor demo and while I prefer Comprexxor I'm not sure the difference is great enough to warrant the purchase. I demoed FG-Stress a long time ago and remember loving it on strummed acoustic guitars but am hesitant to pick it up on sale without being able to demo it again.

Here's my attempt to match the A example with Deflector. I still like A the best for the smoothness and rounded depth, then Deflector, then B - not crazy about the saturation on the kick, and I really don't like C at all. My guess would be A is FG-Stress, B is Comprexxor and C is SKnote.

Deflector:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/2qt ... LECTOR.wav

[4damind]

Btw... the sale for the FG-Stress ends June 10. Just a reminder if anyone is interested in the Slate plugin...

[Ploki]

I don't own either so i don't have a horse in this race.
Re: source, i prefer more extremely processed shit for compressor shootouts.

I find A best.
I find C worst, it makes snare poke out in a weird unpleasant way.
I find B okay.

[plexuss]

Here's my attempt to match the A example with Deflector. I still like A the best for the smoothness and rounded depth, then Deflector, then B - not crazy about the saturation on the kick, and I really don't like C at all. My guess would be A is FG-Stress, B is Comprexxor and C is SKnote.

Deflector:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/2qt ... LECTOR.wav

Thanks! I actually have Deflector but forgot it was also Distressor related. I can't really add your track to the current poll because it would be obvious which one it is.

However it's good for those interested in what the Deflector sounds like in this context so anyone interested take a listen!

After this poll is over, I am thinking about mixing a 3-track song using each Distressor emu and putting up a new poll. It could be a lot of work and a failure even to try and get them similar. One thing I will try is having good control over the source levels and matching GR across each emu across each mix. If I have to go in and tweek each mix across all them in order to get something that will work, that will be too much work. I'll let you know...

[plexuss]

UPDATE: The whole test has been updated with a new track and also including Deflector and Arouser. See the first post for the links and files.

[plexuss]

Problem: I've updated all the files and additions. I can't seem to delete the poll and reset it. Does anyone know how to reset the poll? Otherwise I guess we need to wait until Sat night for me to add a new poll.

[Hink]

temp lock, dont panic...no one did anything wrong...plex wants to adjust the poll so he's starting a new one and I'll move these posts to it...you will have to revote