Distressor Shootout: Arouser vs Comprexxor vs Deflector vs Disto-S vs FG-Stress (vs Mike-E)

[Julien Unison]

E is my favourite too

[jamcat]

I think you could be happy with the results from any of these models. A few slight tweaks could get any of them sounding close enough for rock n' roll. The one exception may be A, which sounds way too overcooked. Then it depends on if you can back off that saturation, or if it's baked in.

[JWParenteau]

I feel like C is the cleanest, all the rest seem to have small digital artifacts that sound like CD jitter or a millisecond of radio interference; "digital distortion" but inconsistent.

[MFXxx]

B and D are to my ears personal preference. C sounds a little on the lighter side lacking tonal depth (listen to the bass slide and vocals). E sounds more on the top end. A sounds the cleanest and least coloured, but lacking interest to my ears.
Im going D overall for the mix, although B I would prefer to use on the low end. E sounds softer on the attack/transients. Sticking with D.

[VitaminD]

B D and E. A seems distorted or gently clipping? C seems too clean.

But, outside of A, they're all rather subtle and I probably wouldn't know/care listening to any of them were I listening to that song in a playlist.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Here's my take: A was the most distorted by far. I'm thinking this was either IK or SKNote and I'm leaning towards IK as they have a tendency to build their plugins too hot IMO. I didn't like the acoustic guitar transients on B, but it was pretty good overall. C felt pretty well balanced, with good transients, felt really good overall. D I liked the acoustic, but something about what this did on the vocal wasn't for me. E was overall my favorite. Vocal felt good, there was audible saturation but not as distorted as A, the acoustic guitar sounded good to me.

So for this test my favorites were E then C. After that I'd take the vocal on B with the acoustic guitar on D and A gets last place. Note: A may be just what I'd be looking for if I wanted a bit of distortion in the vocal and bass, but just not on this particular track. Would probably work great in a rock context.

[SoftSynthLover99]

Had some requests for the original shootout locked thread reveal: A: Complexxor, B: FG-Stress, C:Disto-S

Sweet I went 3 for 3 and got all of them right (yaaay me lol)

When you mix as much as I do you begin to pickup on those 1% differences quite easily between plugins. Even more so with actual hardware vs digital plugins.

A lot of people claim to not be able to hear those small differences but I always can hear the slightest difference a plug-in or piece of hardware makes. Almost always if I’ve used the real thing or the plug-in extensively I can tell right away which is which.

[plexuss]

Hi All. I didn't know Softube had a Distressor emu! The poll ends in an hour or so, but I decided to add the Softube version anyway as Distressor F. I didn't add it to the poll becuase it doesn't make sense to. But here is the Softube version... it's also included in the first post.


https://soundcloud.com/musicofplexus/di ... huZNPPxP2m

[4damind]

This Softube Distressor is the Mike-E?

[plexuss]

A: Sly-fi Deflector
B: Slate FG-Stress
C: IK Multimeida Comprexxor
D: SKnote Disto-S
E: Empirical Arouser
F: Softube Mike-E Comp (not in poll)
Bonus (not in poll): Softube Mke-E Comp

Click here to open image in new tab at full readable size.

Screen Shot 2021-05-24 at 7.15.45 PM.png

https://soundcloud.com/musicofplexus/se ... sWz9WXvsWh

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

I'm glad Arousor was my favorite as I regularly sing it's praises (often into the void). Although, the workflow can be a bit clunky at times with all the extra knobs, expert panels, alt ratios and blue dots. That said, what ratio was used for these tests? I fear Arousor may have been compressing a bit less due to the "4:1 on a Distressor equals 6:1 on Arousor" thing. IK was #2 for me, with Slate behind that. Interesting. Maybe I should give the IK version an actual proper demo. But then again, I've got Arousor, Slate, and UAD so no...not gonna part with more dollars!

The other thing with Arousor that is probably still a bit under appreciated, though it's a new feature, is the two new Opto modes. Try the Opto B default settings with the Opto A saturation on a strummed acoustic guitar. It's brilliant I tell you!

[plexuss]

I'm glad Arousor was my favorite as I regularly sing it's praises (often into the void). Although, the workflow can be a bit clunky at times with all the extra knobs, expert panels, alt ratios and blue dots. That said, what ratio was used for these tests? I fear Arousor may have been compressing a bit less due to the "4:1 on a Distressor equals 6:1 on Arousor" thing. IK was #2 for me, with Slate behind that. Interesting. Maybe I should give the IK version an actual proper demo. But then again, I've got Arousor, Slate, and UAD so no...not gonna part with more dollars!

The other thing with Arousor that is probably still a bit under appreciated, though it's a new feature, is the two new Opto modes. Try the Opto B default settings with the Opto A saturation on a strummed acoustic guitar. It's brilliant I tell you!

The way I set compression was, all the compressor models on a given track I set them to the same ratio and adjusted the gain so GR was averaging and peaking the same on the GR meters across all the models. Output gain was adjusted so that they were at equal loudness.

Looks like if Arouser is the most pleasing, FG-Stress @$49 is the current bargain. I'll probably go for it since I already have some VMR modules and don't mine using it. I was going to go for Comprexxor but this has changed my mind, and saved me some $.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

The way I set compression was, all the compressor models on a given track I set them to the same ratio and adjusted the gain so GR was averaging and peaking the same on the GR meters across all the models. Output gain was adjusted so that they were at equal loudness.

What ratio? I know I'm nitpicking, but each ratio in a Distressor and Arousor has a slightly different knee shape in addition to the ratio itself having an impact. So if you were using 4:1 on all, for example, Arousor won't behave the same as the other Distressor emulations. You'd want to use 6:1 on Arousor for 4:1 on a Distressor. It's even explicitly called out in the Arousor manual. If you were using 10:1 or greater on all, then it's a non-issue (see below).

The fact that I liked E the most makes me feel good, but I also question if it's because of that little quirk to Arousor vs. Distressors. Just for reference, here's my best guess at how the ratios map (well, it's more than a guess, I did try to match them up in Plugin Doctor against the UAD Distressor):

1:1 on Distressor = 1:1 Arousor
1.5:1 on Arousor doesn't exist on Distressor
2:1 on Distressor = 3:1 on Arousor
3:1 on Distressor = 4:1 on Arousor
4:1 on Distressor = 6:1 on Arousor
6:1 on Distressor = 8:1 on Arousor
8:1 on Arousor doesn't exist on Distressor
10:1 on Distressor = 10:1 on Arousor (here's where it switches back)
20:1 on Distressor = 20:1 on Arousor
Nuke on Distressor = Rivet on Arousor

I very much appreciate the test and ain't trying to rain on your parade. Thanks for taking the time. These things are never perfect and a huge pain to do. So much appreciated!

[plexuss]

I very much appreciate the test and ain't trying to rain on your parade. Thanks for taking the time. These things are never perfect and a huge pain to do. So much appreciated!

The compressors were set to the same ratio across tracks: Vocals 4:1, Guitar 3:1, Bass 4:1(except Guitar on Arouser was set to 4:1 because 3:1 doesn't exist).

Here is the track with Arousor set to V: 6:1, G: 4:1, B 6:1 which according to your research should theoretically match the other plugins at 4, 3, 4 resepectively. Let us know what differences you hear:


https://soundcloud.com/musicofplexus/di ... YvnHS0Uv3p


https://soundcloud.com/musicofplexus/di ... t49BQ966uJ

[illegal4Hunna]

Goes to show how mixing is a workflow! I own all of these and of the bunch, Arousor and FG-Stress(especially Arousor) are the least suitable for what I wanna use a Distressor for in mixing, yet in both tests I picked the FG-Stress.
I think the tuning methodology of the compressors wasn't ideal as well, since the Comprexxor and Mike-E sound very similar with matching settings and GR but very different to the other options. I guess those plugins have different attack and release curves, and the GR meter is likely responding differently as well.