FATSO™ Jr./Sr. Tape Sim. & Compressor Plug-In

The Empirical Labs EL7 FATSO’s ingenious design and creative feature set gives users the wonderfully warm and pleasing sound of magnetic recording tape, class A transformers, and tube circuits. Endorsed and scrutinized for accuracy by designer Dave Derr of Empirical Labs, Universal Audio has painstakingly recreated the FATSO Jr. in this highly anticipated UAD Powered Plug-In, capturing the sonic nuances of the original hardware. Specifically, the FATSO is designed to musically integrate frequencies and transients — and increase the apparent volume of your source material — in the same way classic analog equipment does.

• Recreates the warm, musical qualities of magnetic recording tape, tubes, and class A transformers
• Licensed and endorsed by Empirical Labs, created by Universal Audio
• Additional UAD Powered Plug-In exclusive, FATSO Sr., provides original concept developed by Empirical Labs’ Dave Derr
• Requires a UAD-2 DSP Accelerator Card or Apollo Interface available from authorized dealers worldwide
• View All Features

Legendary engineers including Ed Cherney, Al Schmitt, and Brendan O'Brien, and artists including Paul McCartney, Trent Reznor, Blackalicious, Jack Johnson, and Avril Lavigne, have helped make the EL7 FATSO Jr. a modern studio standard. As part of the FATSO Powered Plug-In, UA has also worked closely with Dave Derr to model his never-before-available original concept of the FATSO, the FATSO Sr., at no additional charge.

The FATSO's Input control gives the ability to dial in harmonic generation/distortion while “Tranny” and “Warmth” allow the user to dial in just the right amount of tape and tube tone. The FATSO also operates as a highly versatile compressor, and is useful for mixing and stereo buss compression. From tame to trashed, the FATSO offers a wide palette of possibilities for adding analog character and cohesiveness to your DAW tracks. Adding Dave Derr's own custom mods to turn the original FATSO into an unbelievable tonal-shaping powerhouse, the FATSO Sr. offers a “Tranny” saturation control, sidechain filtering and deeper compression parameters including Threshold, Attack and Release. These special FATSO Sr. mods are only available with the UAD Powered Plug-In version of this essential studio tool.

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FATSO™ Jr. /Sr. Analog Tape Simulator & Compressor Plug-In

FEATURES:

• Recreates the warm, musical qualities of magnetic recording tape, tubes, and class A transformers
• Licensed and endorsed by Empirical Labs, created by Universal Audio
• Clipping, Warmth, Tranny and Compression Select allow for a wide variety of analog tonal shaping possibilities
• Additional UAD Powered Plug-In exclusive, FATSO Sr., provides original concept developed by Empirical Labs’ Dave Derr
• FATSO Sr. features include Tranny Saturation, Sidechain Filtering plus Threshold, Attack and Release
• Stereo or Mono operation with independent Left/Right controls
• Requires a UAD-2 DSP Accelerator Card or Apollo Interface available from authorized dealers worldwide

FATSO Jr.

• Input Gain operates as processor threshold and allows for clipping distortion
• Output Gain operates as makeup gain/gain reduction
• Warmth circuit and cycling button offers seven degrees of saturation simulating the softening of the high frequencies that occurs with analog tape
• Tranny circuit adds frequency "rounding," low order harmonic clipping, intermodular distortion and transient clipping
• Tranny/Bypass cycling button allows for Tranny enable/disable and independent channel Bypass of all processing
• FATSO Comp cycling button offers seven compression options:
  • Buss - Slow attack, fast release, soft knee buss compression
  • G.P./General Purpose - Medium attack, slow release, transparent compression
  • Tracking Compressor - Fast attack, medium release “1176-type” compression/limiting
  • SPANK - “SSL talkback-type” aggressive limiting, can also be combined with Buss, G.P. or Tracking
• Warmth and Compression metering via horizontal LED meters
• Distortion metering via the "0 VU" yellow LED light indicating 1% THD, red "Pinned" LED indicating 5% THD or more
• Link Compress links or unlinks compressor sidechain between Channels 1 and 2
• Link Controls links or unlinks Ch 1 and 2 controls for ease of use in stereo operation
• Processing can be bypassed globally via the Power switch for comparison to the original unprocessed signal

FATSO Sr.

• All of the FATSO Jr. controls plus…
• Threshold Lvl knob adjusts compressor threshold
• Tranny Lvl knob adjusts transformer saturation
• HP Side Filter enables high pass filter in compression sidechain, selectable between 60, 120, 240, and 480Hz
• Attack cycling button manually adjusts compressor attack time between 0.9, 10, 30, and 60ms
• Release cycling button manually adjusts compressor release time between 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, and 0.5s

UAD System Manual

UAD Plug-Ins Manual

UA Product Catalog.pdf