IS THE XTRESSOR ANY GOOD!? - Empirical Labs Distressor Plugin Shootout
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- čas přidán 28. 07. 2024
- Plugin Alliance have recently added the Kiive Audio Xtressor plugin to it's MEGA BUNDLE XXL. So, myself being an avid user and fan of the Empirical Labs Distressor, I thought I'd put it through it's paces against other Distressor emulations on the market.
Stick around to the end of the video to check out the Plugin Doctor analysis.
Please leave a comment down below and like the video if you enjoyed it, and subscribe to the channel for more mixing, mastering and production videos!
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TIMESTAMPS
00:00 INTRODUCTION AND PLUGIN WALKTHROUGH
07:16 DRUMS SHOOTOUT
24:44 VOCAL SHOOTOUT
35:09 MIX BUS SHOOTOUT
40:21 PLUGIN DOCTOR ANALYSIS - Hudba
Hey guys I made a follow up video to this with a hardware Distressor included in a blind test shootout! Link here: czcams.com/video/_s1bhQOVO-o/video.html
I never owned the Distressor and have never worked with it. Ive used all of these 4 Distressor plugins plus a few more on the market and i feel that Xtressor is the one that resonates more to me. Nice video!
I have all of these plugins and the Xtressor is the one that finally got me closest to the hardware. The rest sound like cardboard, and great to see oversampling. But thank you for the analysis. In the end its all subjective. And appreciate you making the effort to post this. Subscribed and liked.
Thank you my friend for the kind words!
I never owned the Distressor and have never worked with it. Ive used all of these 4 Distressor plugins plus a few more on the market and i feel that Xtressor is the one that resonates more to me.
Thank you for making the time to compare these different distressor plugins. I prefer the UAD version :)
Thank you I'm glad you enjoyed the video. Yes indeed the UAD Distressor is also my favourite! Sounds so good on parallel vocals.
2:1 and 3:1 ratio is supposed to be the Xtressor cleaner sound and for 'openess' they added width at the top. 4:1 and 6:1 are supposed to be saturated. PA made a video explaining this, or in the manual it also states their intended sound.
Hey thanks for letting me know. Usually, 4:1 is my go to ratio for compressors which is why as soon as I click 4:1, and I don't get the desired sound, I usually move on and try something else. Thanks for watching!
@@BociBeats I get your point! We all do that 🫣But once I figured out this compressor has it’s own characteristics, it really allowed me to appreciate the plugin more. Especially for that vintage sound on a drum kit 🥁 that really brings out the snare in the low-mid range 🤩 personally love that sound!
@@jcpuga I'll have to give it a try!
I don't think I saw that in the manual but after using for a week I can tell ur answer was spot on 2:1-3:1 sounds so transparent and clean
Thanks for that! Glad to see the Doctor in the house, as after a while trying new plugins is more of a pain then it's worth, when you have to figure out what the fuck their doing to your shit! Nice to see it and know. As everyone knows by now, that your ears change by the day, by the hour, and by what the fuck your doing with them. Wouldn't be surprised to find out, if you eat certain shit it fucks with em!
Yeah, to be honest it wasn't too bad as a plugin it just wouldn't be my first choice. Maybe I'd use it for something I'd want a bit more dirt in the lower mids.
Nice track!
Extressor sound warm , uad distressor sound agressive no drums it's not bad,arousor nice and don't like slate distressor sound plastic.. it's my opinión amazing video!
Thanks for watching Im glad you enjoyed it 🙌
The fact I can only hear this song when I come to this video is a crime
czcams.com/video/lWWuq6XWDg8/video.html ;) enjoy!
You left the saturation component On on the Kiive. Even though the in buttons were off your Mix Comp and Saturation were at 100% so that could have affected the punch difference on the Kiive.
Yes you're right did, I thought turning off the two 'In and Out' buttons would've removed that component. But didn't realize by leaving that 'power' button on would've affected the sound. I've since used the Xtressor on a bunch of mixes and I'm beginning to like the sound! Thanks for watching!
i own one its great , the real one.
The Xtressor sounds the most Analog and Open....you can acutally Master with the xtressor
The Xtressor has saturation emulated on the output. I can't remember which is which but to prevent that 'dirt' you mentioned, you gotta use the clean output level. Too much of that saturation and you lose the snap as you noticed.
Sorry I'm confused what you mean. Do you mean to disable the power switch in the saturator at the bottom? There was nothing in the manual that stated that having the power switch on will affect saturation, only if I enabled the 'ON' switch next to the warmth and saturation... thanks for watching! 🔥
@@BociBeats No they emulated the saturation of the output gain, so when you turn up the output level it saturates.
One of the output gains is clean, i don't remember which one !
But this would likely explain why we are hearing that 'dirty' snare.
@@bontempo1271 Hmmm interesting thanks for letting me know!
@@BociBeats no problem :)
please legends in videos!
I've tried to add chapters in my videos but unfortunately CZcams has not allowed me to do it. Sorry for that and thanks for commenting!
You gain match with the controls in the top bar
Yeah I noticed those by what's the point of linking input and output when I then have to use the top bar? Might as well not even have it you know what I mean. I always manually gain adjust anyway but was just a feature that would've been cooler if it worked a little better. Thanks for watching!
Without a null test with an actual Empirical Labs hardware Distressor all these tests are subjective and more about artistic taste.
White Sea Studio's and Glenn Fricker tried nulling the Hardware with both the software Arousor and FG-Stress with no success.
These software versions will never sound like the hardware, and that's ok.
Personally I would get the Xtressor on PA on their many sales for $30 or less than spend $200 for Arousor what comes with a free iLok virus and no over sampling. Between the two software "emulations" you won't tell in a mix really.
Yes of course the hardware reigns supreme and my tests are never 100% accurate, scientific or apple to apples comparisons. More for fun, to hear the sound of them each as closely as possible and to provide an example of them side by side. Regarding price points yes that's an important factor however I will always spend more for better quality in sound regarding plugins (hardware is another matter), and in this case I believe the Xtressor even for $30 is not worth it when it comes to sound quality, it kind of smeared the sound (which I feel a lot of plugins do). However, if the Xtressor does the job for some people and gets them the sound they're looking for, then I'm all for it and more power to you. In future I'd love to get my hands on the hardware and do a plugin vs hardware comparison. Thank you for watching I hope you enjoyed the video!
@ 32:47 you left the fg-stress on. That's probably why the saturation on the Kiive got fucked. nice video but from 32:47 it got useless in comparison to the vocals.
Can you do it over in a new video?
HA! So I did! Good spot. Yeah I'll definitely sort a re-do out of this shootout on a vocal. Seems that a lot of viewers want more of this shootout so I'd love to make a chase up video! Thanks for watching.
Looking forward to it!
@@darknsoul6665 czcams.com/video/_s1bhQOVO-o/video.html
Bro just unlink it and do it separate. Of course it's turning your Output down that's what linking does. The more Input the less Output. The J37 from Waves does the same. But I think they all sound good. I have no idea which is the best. That UAD one hmmmmm. But I'm fine the Xtressor from Plug In Alliance... Sounds good as well TO ME. SALUTE
Sorry I think you might have misunderstood what I was saying. I was basically expecting it to accurately gain match. I wasn't surprised because the output got pulled down. I was surprised that it didn't get pulled down in a linear fashion. It dipped the volume and made it harder for me to gain match. But yes, I did end up unlinking and I pretty much never use gain matching, always prefer manual. Thanks for watching!
It should be a crime to not give us the song title …