Empirical Labs® EL8 Distressor
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The world’s most popular compressor, exactingly recreated for UAD and Apollo.
Introduced in 1993, the Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor is revered in studios all over the world as the modern, “must-have” compressor. Versatile, super fast, and offering tons of color, the Distressor picks up where the legendary UA 1176 and Teletronix LA-2A compressors leave off — a modern tool that’s equal parts utilitarian and creative, as heard on thousands of hit records.
The only authentic Distressor plug-in endorsed by Empirical Labs’ founder Dave Derr, the UAD Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor is available exclusively for UAD hardware and Apollo interfaces. An exhaustive end-to-end emulation of Derr’s iconic hardware, the UAD EL8 Distressor is the only faithful emulation of this true “desert island” compressor.Now You Can:
Track and mix with the only authentic emulation of the EL8 Distressor — the world's most popular modern compressor
Radically shape guitars, drums, and vocals with nearly infinite gain reduction variations
Harness plug-in-only features like Dry/Wet parallel processing and Headroom for user‑customizable operating level
Creatively color instruments and vocals with famous “Dist 2” and “Dist 3” modes
Embellish, pump up, or destroy bass, synth, and room mics with custom detector filtering
Mix with presets from Joe Chiccarelli (The Strokes), Vance Powell (Jack White), Jacquire King (Kings of Leon), Jimmy Douglass (The Rolling Stones), and more
Take a Listen
5-Min UAD Tip
In this video, learn how the EL8 Distressor compressor can transform your mixes into something truly special.
The Only End-to-End Distressor Emulation
The Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor Compressor plug-in provides all the features and coveted sound of the original Distressor design. UA’s team of DSP experts started with a complete circuit trace and component study of Dave Derr's selected golden unit. Simultaneously, the team analyzed three more Distressors representing the lifetime of the product — ensuring one of UA’s tightest circuit models to date.
When comparing Distressor software emulations, contrast the original hardware’s ultra-fast attack time to quickly hear where most plug-ins fail, and the authentic UAD Distressor succeeds.
The Right Ratio
The crux of the Distressor are its staggering variations in compression —
1:1, 2:1, 3:1, 4:1, 6:1, 10:1, 20:1 and Nuke — each delivering unique tones and curves. Use the 1:1 ratio to gently warm up synths or strings without compression, while adding musical low-order harmonics. At the other extreme, the Nuke limiter setting is famous for adding explosive excitement to room mics, or energizing a entire mix.
Distortion Modes
The Distressor's iconic Dist 2 and Dist 3 modes feature a wide palette of compression coloration, letting you shape sources with even or combined even/odd-order harmonic distortion. From delicate thickening to burnished tape to fully saturated, the Distortion Modes, combined with low-frequency filtering, let you focus the Distressor’s textures.
Powerful Sidechain Controls
The Distressor’s sidechain control lets you easily focus your dynamics. High Pass filter unwanted low frequency pumping and breathing — perfect for drum bus processing. Band Emphasis works to tame strident vocals or can laser in on harsh “power region” instrument midrange peaks, or use both together.
You can also run the Distressor on buses, linked or unlinked, for flexible imaging. Exclusive plug-in features like Dry/Wet Mix offer easy parallel compression on a mix bus or instrument group. Finally, the Headroom control lets you optimize the Distressor’s overall operating level to your playback system.
“The UAD EL8 Distressor feels just like the hardware, giving me results that I’ve been missing in the box.”
– Jacquire King (James Bay, Kings of Leon, Tom Waits)
“The Distressor is capable of such radical compression tones, that it becomes its own instrument. I’m confident the UAD version will become just as useful as the hardware.”
– Joe Chiccarelli (Jason Mraz, Beck, The Strokes, Morrissey)
“The Distressor is the perfect all around compressor, and no studio should be without a few of them. Now with the UAD Distressor, you can have as many as you need!”
– Vance Powell (Jack White, The Dead Weather, The Raconteurs)
“From subtle compression to destruction, the Distressor handles everything with style.”
– Hector Delgado (A$AP Rocky, Selena Gomez, Lana Del Rey)
“The Distressor truly is the desert island dynamics tool, for controlling levels or creatively reshaping instruments into sounds that couldn’t be heard otherwise.”
– Chris Coady (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Beach House, Future Islands)Watch The Reviews
Customer Reviews
T. Musto
October 2, 2020
Great job
Works flawlessly. Never had the hardware and am very happy w the plug in
Read MoreD. Cottee
October 2, 2020
Exactly What I Expected
Practically identical to the real deal. Versatile & essential
Read MoreD. Rouge
October 1, 2020
Very similar
A must have in your arsenal. Sounds amazing. Very near to the hardware unit.
Read MoreL. Wall
October 1, 2020
REALLY RAD.
I love the control with this thing. It's also really hard to make it sound bad.
Read MoreL. Wall
October 1, 2020
REALLY RAD.
I love the control with this thing. It's also really hard to make it sound bad.
Read More.
September 30, 2020
Hardware...
...as it seems! Really love the incredible match with the hardware version. The UAD features, such as the wet/dry knob, make it a even more amazing tool.
Read More -
Key Features
Painstaking, end-to-end circuit emulation of the iconic hardware designed by Dave Derr, exclusively for Universal Audio
Provides the entire circuit path and control set of the original Empirical Labs hardware
Features seven fixed ratios, including Optical and Nuke, Distortion Modes, and Detector Modes
Plug-in-exclusive features include Dry/Wet parallel processing and Headroom for user-customizable operating level
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Customer Reviews
Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor Compressor
T. Musto
Great job
Works flawlessly. Never had the hardware and am very happy w the plug in
D. Cottee
Exactly What I Expected
Practically identical to the real deal. Versatile & essential
D. Rouge
Very similar
A must have in your arsenal. Sounds amazing. Very near to the hardware unit.
L. Wall
REALLY RAD.
I love the control with this thing. It's also really hard to make it sound bad.
L. Wall
REALLY RAD.
I love the control with this thing. It's also really hard to make it sound bad.
UAD User
Hardware...
...as it seems! Really love the incredible match with the hardware version. The UAD features, such as the wet/dry knob, make it a even more amazing tool.
H. Nakanishi
Great!!
It's really great as the hardware. I hope it's the X version.
E. Grebeznieks
Perfect!
I've been dreaming about this plugin for a long time, and it didn't disappoint me. Excellent emulation of the legendary device
P. Maier
New Favorite on Vocals and Drums!
The Distressor seems to become my new favorite Compression on vocals and drums - versatile, great sound and easy to handle in a mix with the dry-wet option.
G. Scelza
Great Compressor!
I've never owned or used the real hardware but I love what this does to my drums/bass stem. Looking forward to trying it on vocals and other sources. Great job UAD!
p. huitema
Good coompressor (only in a sale)
I really enjoy the wide application of the compressor. The DSP impact is 28% which makes very expensive on my UAD2 quad. It's nice on parallel usage on the individual drum track. Due to a failing uad2 OCT PCI card, I'm currently limited to really small setups. The biggest drawback is the default UAD price.
r. aitken
Distressor
As with all the ua plugins I have this is a winner
Just need more processing ah well expansion it isM. Malinski
Best emulation on the market
Hi
I own the real thing, and UAD version is really close.
Is sound so good, so sometimes I not using the real thing.
Great on vocals, drums.
Thank youD. Coger
Great plugin
Everybody wanted a distressor plug-in and we got one. Thank you UA for giving us this plug-in. I purchased the 99 plug-in deal when I bought my Apollo and this is one of my go to plugins in just about every session.
E. Lefebvre
Perfect!
Squash machine and a lot of more... Definitely like it!
K. Ramsey
Amazing
Perfect for use on vocals!!!
N. Auterac
Pretty great
Pretty great, I have 2 of the hardware and haven’t A/B’d them yet but sounds very good
T. Ruiz
It is as close as it can be...
I've own a couple Distressors units for over 12 years or more, I've used them on a ton of recordings and mixes, since I went ITB for mixing I haven't found anything like it in the digital world till I bought the EL8 plugin from UAudio and I can tell you, I just feel like I'm using my hardware units with a digital interface, amazing, well well done UA I
B. Meijer
So nice!
Can’t go wrong with this one! So nice on synth leads and plucks.
A. Szmer
Power of software
Amazing for electric guitars, my solo sounds powerfull
