Impresser

Impresser was modeled after one of the most flexible, powerful, and edgy compressors known to the audio world. Its signature sound is due to a unique analog design and a very special feature set. Impresser offers the best of classic vintage compression while adding a wider range of control options. This vintage unit, recreated by Antelope Audio for both Native and Synergy Core Real-Time workflows, can handle it all.

Impresser can add gentle and warm compression to your tracks or aggressively pump up any source audio. Its flexibility is further enhanced by its harmonic distortion section, which can be used for subtle, tube-quality distortion and even in place of a tape saturator. It works its magic with or without Impresser compressing the signal.

At 1:1, Impresser applies no gain reduction at all, functioning instead as a pure harmonic enhancer that adds low-order warmth and subtle analog character. The 10:1 Opto ratio delivers smooth, musical optical compression, while the iconic Nuke ratio can squash a small garage into a giant pumping dirty grunge-room. UK Mode pushes the Attack and Release behavior into pure aggression, evoking the explosive non-linearities and pumping of classic limiter circuitry driven to extremes.

In addition, the Impresser features High- and Band-pass side-chain filters, with adjustable frequency settings. This enables even deeper control when shaping the frequency range where you need Impresser to work. Like all Antelope Audio compressor models, you can use Impresser either in mono or stereo.

History

The original hardware unit that inspired Impresser was designed in the early 90s and reflected its time. In that period, classic optical levelers and fast studio limiters had already established themselves as must-haves for every studio, yet many of them were no longer in production and were hard to find. Impresser was born as a readily available tool that could provide smooth optical-style compression, yet with the switch of a few buttons transform itself into a fast, aggressive FET-like compressor.

Around that time, Grunge music was at its peak and studios were seeking tools that could add analog distortion, color, and dirt to their sound. The unit that inspired Impresser had the ability to saturate and distort by adding 2nd and 3rd order harmonics, or a combination of the two. That made it not only one of the most flexible compressors of its time, but also a complete color palette capable of emulating tube and tape saturation.

Key Features

• Add super aggressive musical compression without any unwanted artifacts.
• Emulate subtle, tube-like distortion & tape-like saturation.
• Use 1:1 for pure harmonic enhancement, low-order warmth, and analog-style body without compressing the signal.
• Use the 10:1 Opto Ratio for smooth, musical compression.
• Use the iconic Nuke Ratio to squash a small garage into a giant pumping dirty grunge-room.
• Fine-tune the High- & Band-pass side-chain filters to your taste.
• Emulate the character of vintage "All Buttons In" with UK Mode.

*The Impresser software product is not affiliated with nor has been sponsored or endorsed by any company.

Included versions:

• Native Plugin: Runs on your Mac or PC without any additional hardware needed.
• Synergy Core Real-Time: Runs in real time with no perceptible latency on compatible Synergy Core devices.