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Apollo
FATSO Jr./Sr. Tape Sim. & Compressor

FATSO Jr./Sr. Tape Sim. & Compressor

4.8 (446)

Get the rich sound of magnetic tape, Class A transformers, and tube circuits.

  • Inject your tracks and mixes with the warm, musical qualities of magnetic tape, tubes, and class A transformers
  • Lightly color, or destroy, drums, vocals, and more with tube and tape saturation
  • Harness “plug-in only” Tranny Saturation, Sidechain Filtering, and Stereo/Mono controls
  • Dial-in a wealth of analog textures with Warmth and Spank controls

Runs on macOS or Windows. Requires an Apollo audio interface or UAD Accelerator. View full system requirements.

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Get the Rich Sound of Magnetic Tape

Warmly burnish frequencies and transients, or crush them with thick saturation using the FATSO Jr./Sr. Tape Sim. & Compressor. Used by legendary engineers with credits from Willie Nelson and Bonnie Raitt to AC/DC, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden the FATSO UAD plug-in is officially endorsed and scrutinized for accuracy by its designer, Dave Derr.

Go From Tame to Trashed

The FATSO plug-in offers a wide palette of possibilities for adding fat analog character and cohesiveness to your tracks. It’s also a creative tool that can add varying degrees of saturation — from subtle to severe — on any source. The Input control lets you dial in shades of harmonic color and distortion, while the Tranny and Warmth features provide varying amounts of tape and tube tone.

Access Plug-In Exclusive Features

The FATSO plug-in’s versatility goes even deeper with the addition of custom mods — including a “Tranny” saturation control, Sidechain Filter, and deeper compression parameters including Threshold, Attack, and Release. These special FATSO Sr. mods are only available with the UAD plug-in version of this essential studio too

What They Say

And the FATSO Sr. That’s the [FATSO jr.] companion plug-in. Yeah, that is super, super cool.

Jacquire King

Kings of Leon, Norah Jones, Cold War Kids

The new FATSO Jr/Sr [plug-in] is amazing. It may be the only dynamics module you need — it’s that versatile.

Charles Scott

Star Trek, Hung, Fringe

Reviews

4.8
Rated 4.8 out of 5 stars
Based on 446 reviews
Total 5 star reviews: 389 Total 4 star reviews: 41 Total 3 star reviews: 9 Total 2 star reviews: 3 Total 1 star reviews: 4
96%would recommend this product
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446 reviews
  • MJ
    Markus J.
    Verified Buyer
    I do not recommend this product
    Rated 2 out of 5 stars
    2 months ago
    Outdated with blurry GUI

    It's not worth the money because it's totally outdated. The GUI resolution is like it was 20 years ago, totally blurry. The algorithm hasn't been developed further either. $149 is more than a steep price for this plugin, especially since it's not even available in a UADx version. There's nothing more to say about it. But it's been six years since Apple Silicon came on the market, and this is one of those plugins that still isn't native.

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  • ZB
    Zlatko B.
    Verified Buyer
    I recommend this product
    Rated 5 out of 5 stars
    3 months ago
    FATSO Jr./Sr.

    FATSO has become a go-to tool for adding controlled saturation and density, especially on drums and buses, without losing punch or clarity.

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  • MO
    Mike O.
    Verified Buyer
    I recommend this product
    Rated 5 out of 5 stars
    3 months ago
    The best of the best

    This was one of those by-reputation impulse purchases which turned out to be a must have. Love how it gives polish and punch.

    Expect to use this a lot 🔥

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  • KM
    Kenneth M.
    Verified Buyer
    I recommend this product
    Rated 5 out of 5 stars
    6 months ago
    Old algo plugins rarely sound this good.

    I’ve largely transitioned to hardware and culled my plugins; only the strongest survived. Anything that even slightly “flattened” the sound/robbed the source of “dimension” or otherwise detracted from fidelity was removed. Spoiler: That was the MAJORITY of plugins. Fatso survived; it saturates very convincingly, adds dimension and attitude to tracks. It doesn’t perfectly emulate hardware but it’s incredibly useful and helps instruments sit in the mix in a way that is very hardware-like. Spotlight on acoustic guitar, bass and “personality” drum mics. Wonderful plugin.

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  • JV
    Jean-Claude V.
    Verified Buyer
    Rated 3 out of 5 stars
    6 months ago
    Great Tone Shaper

    Sounds are great coming out of this box. But fellas, it's 2025. It's time to do something about the video resolution on these older plug-ins. You charge a premium price for a premium product. That includes the UI quality.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, you’ll need an Apollo audio interface, UAD-2 Satellite, or UAD-2 PCIe card to run these plug-ins, using the onboard DSP. The plug-ins run on the hardware itself, without adding strain to your computer’s CPU. In an Apollo, onboard DSP processing allows you to run realtime UAD plug-ins with near-zero latency, and even record that processing directly to your DAW.

Yes, you can start a fully functional 14-day demo from any plug-in bundled with the UAD software. Simply click “Start Demo”, and start using it in your DAW.

UAD-2 licenses follow the hardware, it does not matter which computer they are connected to. You can have up to six UAD-2 devices registered to a system in your Universal Audio account, which share those licenses. See UAD-2 Plug-In Licensing Explained for full details. Authorization of UAD-2 hardware is managed by the UAD Meter & Control Panel Application.

Check our Knowledge Base for additional questions

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