The gain mismatch makes it very difficult to compare. Overall volume is the least important outcome of compression, so I would prefer a gainmatched comparison next time.
B sounds like it's doing more GR than A, and there seems to be an intrinsic level difference between them, which makes it hard to compare on even footing. That said, irrespective of which one is analogue or digital, 'A' sounds better on these sources.
Compressor B sounded darker to me, like there was an eq cutting some highs Also the volume dropped with compressor B, which immediately makes it feel like A is better.
A=Hardware, B=Plugin | I'm not sure setting the knobs to the same visual setting is the best methodology however. I'm more interested in whether someone with a good ear can get the plugin to sound like the hardware regardless of where the knobs end up pointing. Both seemed to get the job done fairly well, the voice and bass sounded the most different.
@@amidfallen idiot... a compressor makes thing lohder morons.. that is the test stupid. The plugin failed. It isnt working as much as the other with the same setting fuck people are stupid.
@@tinfoilhatlover3660 He's talking about he didn't gain match. So can make it more difficult to analysis for others A being louder than B. And no strict gain reduction was not the test, compressors effect audio many different ways. Using the same settings is irrelevant and hardware EL8s behave differently with same settings. Bottom line the guy didn't even say what comp was what in this video which is a crock of shit scam move to make people view his next video. Only jokes pull that shit.
tinfoilhatlover haha oh now it makes sense, your obviously pretty immature and aren’t too experienced with music production and compression, so you are incapable of understanding the concept behind the original post. This guy isn’t the only one with that comment. Hopefully one day your baby brain will develop and you might understand the simple concept behind what people are saying. Good luck little man. 👶 🍼
Getting a dislike from me. Been searching through your vids that were uploaded after and I still don't know officially which one is which. Waste of my time:(
My personal preference: A on Snare, Kick, Bass, B on Vocals. Couldn't decide on the Room Mics. Overall B sounded flatter and overcompressed. A sounded brighter. But I feel like they were switched which was which on Vox.
The "A" clips are much louder, but i used my volume knob to level it out. Honestly, A is better on some things, B is better on others, but mostly I liked A, I think that's the metal.
A is the distressor. It was obvious with the snare and bass for me. And I'm not sure if I heard it right but I think heard phasing issues with compressor B during the room
Good comparison but even Steven Slate said that you can't just copy the same presets, other things come into play. They should be set by ear do do same amount of compression and attack/release time, than it gets pretty close to the hardware.
A is the REAL DEAL B is the FG STRESS From researching the distressor a lot of people have said that the response out of a distressor gets really bright when you slam it, noticed this with the snare. Also in the room mic comparison the compression seemed to pump and was far less transparent on B. But how the voiceover came out sealed my thoughts, it is incredible how similar they really are and some post EQ could really make it almost impossible to tell the difference. Then again I am probably wrong.
A is clearly the best for me. The clincher is the close kick mic - with compressor B, it sounds like some input buffer clipping at some points (the pitch of the transient actually seems to change!). For me, that's one of the benefits of using a hardware compressor on the way in - you can actually get a stronger recorded signal without fear of clipping, which means less gain boosts after tracking (usually only a problem when you've got a relatively high noise floor, but still...).
No idea which is which. I preferred A throughout. Seemed to have more clarity. Was louder also which made it difficult to compare. It might be good if you set them by ear rather than by the numbers.
Problem is we don't know what revision the plugin is based on. Your Distressor is an early rev, but I bet beans to molehills the plug-in is modeled on a later rev. To me is sounds like a post 2010-2011 Distressor.
A was noticeably louder on snare and bass guitar. I didn't really hear a difference in kick drum and room mics. In the voice over B sounded hyped compared to A. Overall I guess I would prefer A, but with the volume mismatch it could only be because it was louder.
It feels like compressor A is the hardware version. A compressor clearly wins this race. But, I was amazed on the way that the B compressor crushed the room mic. Most of the time, that kind of crush is what I need to get from a room mic on metal. Pretty awesome result.
You did this demo wrong. Slate said himself matching the settings to the hardware is not the correct way to compare. Why didn't we mention anything on gain reduction and level matching?
Im guessing Slate is B, I don't mind either, they just sound different. As someone who uses Slate on everymix, I don't find myself using the distressor as much as I thought, really only use it when other comps don't work for kick and snare, I usually prefer the VCA comp or the selection of 1176s, or something different made by someone else.
gain mismatch- A sounds more "clear" but at second listen, A also retains more transient. This is either a sonic difference, or the "same settings" aren't really the same.
A is the plugin, B is the hardware. Too bad for the bass the levels weren't matched, that kinda gave it away for me. But on the snare and overheads I really couldn't tell which is which (although I did notice a difference)
Hey Glenn, i'm starting a small home studio using my PC, Cubase and my Cubase r24. Just went to my local Long & Mcquade and they had 2nd hand rack mounts like Peavey's pv35x0, pv231eq, and other similar products i forgot to write down. Just wondering what were you thoughts on these products and similar affordable products. Thanks!
Glenn, have you ever recorded metal vocals with a Sennheiser MD421? I’ve always used the SM7B but I’ve recently switched to Sennheiser on my live mic (e945) with awesome results... was wondering if the MD421 could give me similar results compared to the SM7B...
Were both the A and B processors giving the same amount of gain reduction? You said the settings were all the same but if the input level coming into the processor relative to the threshold is different then one will hit the signal harder than the other. B sounds like it's compressing harder. A sounds nicer to me ... more open and not as "squashed". I have no idea which is the hardware unit and which is the plugin.
A was clearer, less compression but also louder. B had wierd distortion artifacts. Is it possible that the input levels were not the same? Maybe it woukd have been useful to match the gain reduction.
Also Glen, aside from gain matching the end result, did you calibrate the software version to receive the signal in the same fashion as the analog model? Slate companies did a separate video and (if I remember correctly) have literature on how to compare them correctly and fairly.
Dunno which is which but although on some examples I could hardly tell the difference really, on a few I thought A sounded better than B. Especially snare, bass and voice from memory. Maybe it was just more obvious for those. Then again RUclips fucks with the sound anyways so what effect does that have on the test?
What’s your opinion/method of channel strip order? Do you put eq before/after a compressor, gate before/after compressor or eq etc? I’m really curious to hear you thoughts? Cheers from Texas!
Here are my Opinions on better sound Snare drum: B Kick: A Room Mics: Not Much Difference Bass: A Vox: B In conclusion, each shined on different inputs, both sound very good!
It is a bit tricky with the gain of B being lower than A, but B sounds richer in the lows and I've heard the FG stress is supposedly lacking there. So I think B is the Distressor.
I don't know I feel like the difference in volume makes this one very hard. I'd prefer if you did a shot on the same settings, to show how different they can sound, but then for the actual comparison match the gain so we can really tell which sounds better.
I haven’t had the opportunity to use either, but compressor A had a lot more body and was a bit smoother on the compression than compressor B and I liked it a lot better. My only concern was, yes the settings may have been identical, but you probably should have done a second take where you as an engineer try to get them as close as you can sonically. So we can hear the exact settings, and the settings where you try to get them as close to one another as humanly possible.
I don't know what of both is the original Distressor, but the Compressor B seems has a lot more compression, you can hear on the kick clip, where it sudenly I could hear the snare when switched, on the bass where the volume dropped a lot and on the voice over, where my TV almost exploded with low end on clip B. I'm gonna hear with my studio headphones later, but I liked both.
with my ears, and my listening environment, i liked - Snare: compressor B; Kick: compressor A; Room: compressor B; Bass: compressor A; Voice over: compressor B. I think the real EL8 is the one I liked in each case.
Hello there! I have an unrelated question for you. I am going to be doing a live interview soon with some of the other members of my band (Toxic Foxtrot) to promote our EP that is going to be released (hopefully) at the end of the summer. I'm kind of nervous because I know myself and I have a big mouth. Is there anything I can do to prepare? Like do's and don'ts? Just with music interviews in general?
so i'm gonna say B is the software, which would make sense in my head as when dealing with single sound sources, it effected the volume of the input much more. that seems to me to be the software trying to compensate for the lack of frequency range in the input signal and therefore being quieter. it seemed much less noticable when the dynamic range was fuller (room mic and bass drum). Frankly tho, everything sounded pretty much the same except the snare, which I think was more punchy because of the volume, but if you gain matched the signal, im guessing that the changes would be indistinguishable
I think A is software and B is hardware. Slate , similar to Waves likes to add gain to make the plugin sound "better". Also, I know the samples should be at the same level, but this is A to B comparison on the same settings. This is why the levels of the samples are not even.
Compressor A was better on snare and a lot better on bass, on kick and rooms I could not hear any difference, great comparison, keep makings those types of vidoes so we can really hear what is going on with the sound being procesed by analog vs software
WTF still no results? Why even do these blind shootout videos if you are just going to blue ball everyone? Perhaps these reviews are not as fearless as Glenn would have us believe.
Alas, I've never been able to work with a distressor, so I have not frame of reference for comparison. I can say that I think I liked "B" better on the individual drums, they were tighter and more punchy; RUclips compression killed the room samples, but from what I could make out from the reverb tails I didn't have a preference; and the bass had such a gain difference that I couldn't make a fair comparison. The voiceover sounded richer with "B" also. Something was happening with the low end that I liked.
for the bass and snare, I preferred A. However, for the voiceover, I preferred B. When it comes to the kick and room mics, I couldn't tell much of a difference.
judging from the added bass on your voice over on Compressor B, I'm going to say thats the FG Stress, and that compressor A is the hardware. The proximity effect is not getting compressed as much with your mouth that close to the mic on comp b
Well, according to Dave Derr from imperial labs on an interview with Bobby Owsinski he stated ; " No distressor plugin emulation goes out without passing my test". Now, we dont know if this emulation went thru Dave before hitting the market.
Better or not, the fg stress is a great software compressor. Unfortunately, you can't really slap it on a signal and record it down, not without a serious amount of tomfoolery that's impractical for a tracking session, and even then you have only limited flexibility with where you have it in your chain. The hardware Distressor is hands down one of the best and easiest compressors to record through. I've found the fg stress almost as easy to dial in when mixing. But nothing's as fun as recording with it and watching the meters fly when recording :)
A seems to be a bit louder, and sounds like it has a shorter attack even at same setings. B is really slamming that transients, and that's why I like it the most. Both sounds cool, btw.
i did not notice a difference between the two until you whipped out the bass. Compressor A sounds really good on bass and compressor B sounded like it was...over compressing? it sounded hella fucking quiet compared to A.
B feels like it's clamping down far more than A, as well as pulling out the high freqs. Without knowing the settings Glen's dialled in however, it's hard to tell whether that was what he was going for, or whether that's a flaw in the plug-in? And so it's hard to know which version is the real one vs the sim. Like maybe he was trying to get the snare's transient through with the hardware, and so A would fit that whilst B is just sitting on it. Or perhaps he was trying to just squash the snare to bring out the rattle a bit more, and so B would be the one to fit that. That said, A definitely felt more like his usual V/O compared to B which was boomy as hell. Be interested to see the results, and also maybe some other comparisons of Distressor plug-ins on the market.
I thought A was the software because it sounded like it had more artefacts on the high end - although that may just be youtube. A was also louder, which feels like a software trick to make it sound "better" (although I would have matched them for this demo).
I have a feeling that A is the hardware, and B is the plugin. I definitely liked the sounds of example A much more. However, I hope I am wrong, because I've wanted a Distressor for a long time, but it's way out of my budget!
Compressor A didn't stomp on the signal as much as Compressor B on my ear...buds. Honestly, I'm in bed listening to this. Compressor B had some...artifacts in the sound, which is especially audible on the room sound of the drums. Almost glitchy. An effect that I had with different software compressors. On voice, Compressor A sounds more open and less muffled than B. Because of the artifacts I might say those are from the digital process and go: Compressor A: Real Distressor Compressor B: FG Stress Very curious to see what it really was.
I think I heard some digital noise on the B Compressor in the upper frequencies. But I also heard it on the A compressor. Maybe it's because of youtube compressing the audio. But I'm leaning towards B being the software compressor.
B would have moments of sounding decent but would out of nowhere have massive artifacts for 1-2 seconds (such as 2:54 in the video). My choice is A: Real Compressor.
Thanks Glenn, I’ve been waiting for this for a while! :) I didn’t hear any difference between them except on the bass, and the only difference was a difference in volume!
I betting that "A" is the FG Stress and that B is the actual Distressor. The gain reduction on "B" is greater than that of "A", but it also makes most of the inputs darker - IMHO. For examples 1,3 & 4 I preferred "A," and for examples 2 & 5 I preferred B.
I've got both the hardware units, and the Empirical Labs version of the Distresssor. I use them mostly on drums. Your test's B sample sounded familiar to the hardware unit. I know on the Empirical labs version of the plugin, the 5-5-5-5 default isn't the same, so the plugin's settings need to be tweaked to match up. Might have been the case with the Slate. Also, I don't think anyone would mind if you eq'd those drums a bit. Take care!
I'm going to say I preferred 'A'. Where it really stood out for me was the kick. I didn't like the color that B imparted to the attack. Very thin and 'quacky' that could be the Slate plugin, if I had to guess. I remember the Waves 1176 giving me the same impression on kicks. The hardware seems to 'grab' the sound in a much more transparent way.
For those whining about the gain difference, that's part of the experiment. He said that the settings where identical, so, one is making the signal lower than the other which it should NOT do.
It seems to me that the level in the software version is not matched as 0VU which is normal for any analog gear and corrisponds about -18Dbfs. Since the original source has been recorded through a real distressor the level inside the daw could not be the same in the way in. Anyway, to me seems that "B" is the real stuff. Me to I have two distressors and the Slate emulation and, if I match the sources for 0VU they sounds pretty damn close. The real stuff has a different headroom and still sounds more full and tridimensional to me but Mr. Slate has done areally good job indeed with this plugin!
The gain mismatch makes it very difficult to compare. Overall volume is the least important outcome of compression, so I would prefer a gainmatched comparison next time.
*THIS* ^^^
My thoughts as well.
Yep 👍🏻
THIS
Yup, louder is always gonna sound better so very difficult to judge here, especially with the bass...
..it is very hard to compare if you do not level match.
he did level match
@@nicholascowan1731 Did you hear the difference in bass volume? that's not matched level
A is the actual compressor
B is the software sim.
The voice over gave it away
B sounded a bit duller and more compressed overall; less subtle; so I'd guess that was the software? Will be interesting to find out!
I think so too. Nowadays I wouldn’t be surprised I would be wrong and if I would be, I gotta get that Slate Bundle ASAP.
It was the kick drums and bass that made my mind up for sure. But then then the voiceover was a dead giveaway.
B sounds like it's doing more GR than A, and there seems to be an intrinsic level difference between them, which makes it hard to compare on even footing. That said, irrespective of which one is analogue or digital, 'A' sounds better on these sources.
Oh hay I love your channel :D
Compressor B sounded darker to me, like there was an eq cutting some highs
Also the volume dropped with compressor B, which immediately makes it feel like A is better.
on the kick i thought B was louder
GAIN MATCH! I know u should but to hear the eq of the sound source n distortion
Something to keep in mind is that when people are deciding between two pieces of audio, their subconscious will tend to favor the louder piece.
Are you ever going to re-visit this one and tell us which was which? I'm pretty sure you never did a follow up to it... quite curious!
May we get the results now please?
A=Hardware, B=Plugin | I'm not sure setting the knobs to the same visual setting is the best methodology however. I'm more interested in whether someone with a good ear can get the plugin to sound like the hardware regardless of where the knobs end up pointing. Both seemed to get the job done fairly well, the voice and bass sounded the most different.
I do not know if this is a fair comparison since the B comp si lower in volume :/
they are the same volume, the plugin just isn’t as harmonically full
@@nicholascowan1731 I dont think so. The volume drop is pretty significant.
@@amidfallen idiot... a compressor makes thing lohder morons.. that is the test stupid.
The plugin failed. It isnt working as much as the other with the same setting fuck people are stupid.
Comp A had a slightly higher rise in presence. B sounded a bit darker. I'm going with "B" being the hardware and "A" is the software.
Compressor B is at least 5db lower in volume. What´s wrong with you???
This is what compressor do fucking idiot.. this is the test you morons.
@@tinfoilhatlover3660 He's talking about he didn't gain match. So can make it more difficult to analysis for others A being louder than B. And no strict gain reduction was not the test, compressors effect audio many different ways. Using the same settings is irrelevant and hardware EL8s behave differently with same settings. Bottom line the guy didn't even say what comp was what in this video which is a crock of shit scam move to make people view his next video. Only jokes pull that shit.
@@kieranmeehan2162 nope... nan there us noway i guess to make you get it...lol
@@kieranmeehan2162 lol he didnt gain match lolol ouf...........LOLOLOLOOLOLOO 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣thanx for the laugh...youl get it.later
tinfoilhatlover haha oh now it makes sense, your obviously pretty immature and aren’t too experienced with music production and compression, so you are incapable of understanding the concept behind the original post. This guy isn’t the only one with that comment. Hopefully one day your baby brain will develop and you might understand the simple concept behind what people are saying. Good luck little man. 👶 🍼
Compressor A is the hardware I’ll guess. I did like the sound of B on the voiceover however
Getting a dislike from me. Been searching through your vids that were uploaded after and I still don't know officially which one is which. Waste of my time:(
Did you end up making the second video or not?
No follow up? Well, guess what channel I'm never watching again.
My personal preference: A on Snare, Kick, Bass, B on Vocals. Couldn't decide on the Room Mics.
Overall B sounded flatter and overcompressed.
A sounded brighter.
But I feel like they were switched which was which on Vox.
No idea which is which but I preferred B on the drums and A on your voice and the bass
The "A" clips are much louder, but i used my volume knob to level it out.
Honestly, A is better on some things, B is better on others, but mostly I liked A, I think that's the metal.
Did he ever give the results? Which was A and which was B??? I liked A even after gain matching. It has better low end.
Could you do this plus the Antress ModernDeathcore (freeware version)?
Hi!
Might be making a fool out of myself here: but was the follow-up video to this ever released?
Hi there, did you ever post the follow up to this and results? I can't find it
on DI bass does the compressor come before or after the plug in?
Results please
Where are Results ?
A is the distressor. It was obvious with the snare and bass for me. And I'm not sure if I heard it right but I think heard phasing issues with compressor B during the room
Good comparison but even Steven Slate said that you can't just copy the same presets, other things come into play. They should be set by ear do do same amount of compression and attack/release time, than it gets pretty close to the hardware.
A is the REAL DEAL
B is the FG STRESS
From researching the distressor a lot of people have said that the response out of a distressor gets really bright when you slam it, noticed this with the snare. Also in the room mic comparison the compression seemed to pump and was far less transparent on B. But how the voiceover came out sealed my thoughts, it is incredible how similar they really are and some post EQ could really make it almost impossible to tell the difference.
Then again I am probably wrong.
A is clearly the best for me. The clincher is the close kick mic - with compressor B, it sounds like some input buffer clipping at some points (the pitch of the transient actually seems to change!). For me, that's one of the benefits of using a hardware compressor on the way in - you can actually get a stronger recorded signal without fear of clipping, which means less gain boosts after tracking (usually only a problem when you've got a relatively high noise floor, but still...).
No idea which is which. I preferred A throughout. Seemed to have more clarity. Was louder also which made it difficult to compare. It might be good if you set them by ear rather than by the numbers.
Problem is we don't know what revision the plugin is based on. Your Distressor is an early rev, but I bet beans to molehills the plug-in is modeled on a later rev. To me is sounds like a post 2010-2011 Distressor.
A was noticeably louder on snare and bass guitar. I didn't really hear a difference in kick drum and room mics. In the voice over B sounded hyped compared to A. Overall I guess I would prefer A, but with the volume mismatch it could only be because it was louder.
Where can i find the answer? I cant find a video that says wich is which. Thanks
It feels like compressor A is the hardware version.
A compressor clearly wins this race. But, I was amazed on the way that the B compressor crushed the room mic. Most of the time, that kind of crush is what I need to get from a room mic on metal. Pretty awesome result.
Can't find the results video
You did this demo wrong. Slate said himself matching the settings to the hardware is not the correct way to compare. Why didn't we mention anything on gain reduction and level matching?
Im guessing Slate is B, I don't mind either, they just sound different. As someone who uses Slate on everymix, I don't find myself using the distressor as much as I thought, really only use it when other comps don't work for kick and snare, I usually prefer the VCA comp or the selection of 1176s, or something different made by someone else.
Gain mismatch is sooo frustrating (( A/B - if you hear louder and brighter sound - it is software.
gain mismatch- A sounds more "clear" but at second listen, A also retains more transient. This is either a sonic difference, or the "same settings" aren't really the same.
A is the plugin, B is the hardware. Too bad for the bass the levels weren't matched, that kinda gave it away for me. But on the snare and overheads I really couldn't tell which is which (although I did notice a difference)
Hey Glenn, i'm starting a small home studio using my PC, Cubase and my Cubase r24.
Just went to my local Long & Mcquade and they had 2nd hand rack mounts like Peavey's pv35x0, pv231eq, and other similar products i forgot to write down. Just wondering what were you thoughts on these products and similar affordable products. Thanks!
Glenn, have you ever recorded metal vocals with a Sennheiser MD421? I’ve always used the SM7B but I’ve recently switched to Sennheiser on my live mic (e945) with awesome results... was wondering if the MD421 could give me similar results compared to the SM7B...
Were both the A and B processors giving the same amount of gain reduction? You said the settings were all the same but if the input level coming into the processor relative to the threshold is different then one will hit the signal harder than the other. B sounds like it's compressing harder. A sounds nicer to me ... more open and not as "squashed". I have no idea which is the hardware unit and which is the plugin.
A was clearer, less compression but also louder. B had wierd distortion artifacts. Is it possible that the input levels were not the same? Maybe it woukd have been useful to match the gain reduction.
Also Glen, aside from gain matching the end result, did you calibrate the software version to receive the signal in the same fashion as the analog model? Slate companies did a separate video and (if I remember correctly) have literature on how to compare them correctly and fairly.
Dunno which is which but although on some examples I could hardly tell the difference really, on a few I thought A sounded better than B. Especially snare, bass and voice from memory. Maybe it was just more obvious for those. Then again RUclips fucks with the sound anyways so what effect does that have on the test?
What’s your opinion/method of channel strip order?
Do you put eq before/after a compressor, gate before/after compressor or eq etc?
I’m really curious to hear you thoughts?
Cheers from Texas!
So where is the follow-up??
I am here to ask the same question....
I'd guess A is the hardware and B the software. A is just a touch more crisp with more clarity, but it's a very close run thing.
Here are my Opinions on better sound
Snare drum: B
Kick: A
Room Mics: Not Much Difference
Bass: A
Vox: B
In conclusion, each shined on different inputs, both sound very good!
It is a bit tricky with the gain of B being lower than A, but B sounds richer in the lows and I've heard the FG stress is supposedly lacking there. So I think B is the Distressor.
I don't know I feel like the difference in volume makes this one very hard.
I'd prefer if you did a shot on the same settings, to show how different they can sound, but then for the actual comparison match the gain so we can really tell which sounds better.
I haven’t had the opportunity to use either, but compressor A had a lot more body and was a bit smoother on the compression than compressor B and I liked it a lot better. My only concern was, yes the settings may have been identical, but you probably should have done a second take where you as an engineer try to get them as close as you can sonically. So we can hear the exact settings, and the settings where you try to get them as close to one another as humanly possible.
I think that A is the distressor and B is the plugin. I prefer the sounds of A on Kicks and voiceover while the others through B
It *does not* matter which is which. If they both do useful things to sound, each has it’s place.
I prefer A -> smoother sounding release, more bottom end
I don't know what of both is the original Distressor, but the Compressor B seems has a lot more compression, you can hear on the kick clip, where it sudenly I could hear the snare when switched, on the bass where the volume dropped a lot and on the voice over, where my TV almost exploded with low end on clip B. I'm gonna hear with my studio headphones later, but I liked both.
with my ears, and my listening environment, i liked - Snare: compressor B; Kick: compressor A; Room: compressor B; Bass: compressor A; Voice over: compressor B. I think the real EL8 is the one I liked in each case.
Hello there! I have an unrelated question for you. I am going to be doing a live interview soon with some of the other members of my band (Toxic Foxtrot) to promote our EP that is going to be released (hopefully) at the end of the summer. I'm kind of nervous because I know myself and I have a big mouth. Is there anything I can do to prepare? Like do's and don'ts? Just with music interviews in general?
so i'm gonna say B is the software, which would make sense in my head as when dealing with single sound sources, it effected the volume of the input much more. that seems to me to be the software trying to compensate for the lack of frequency range in the input signal and therefore being quieter. it seemed much less noticable when the dynamic range was fuller (room mic and bass drum). Frankly tho, everything sounded pretty much the same except the snare, which I think was more punchy because of the volume, but if you gain matched the signal, im guessing that the changes would be indistinguishable
I think A is software and B is hardware. Slate , similar to Waves likes to add gain to make the plugin sound "better". Also, I know the samples should be at the same level, but this is A to B comparison on the same settings. This is why the levels of the samples are not even.
Compressor A was better on snare and a lot better on bass, on kick and rooms I could not hear any difference, great comparison, keep makings those types of vidoes so we can really hear what is going on with the sound being procesed by analog vs software
Had the same thought.
+1
Agree
WTF still no results? Why even do these blind shootout videos if you are just going to blue ball everyone? Perhaps these reviews are not as fearless as Glenn would have us believe.
Wow pretty close, it's difficult to tell but im just gonna say, A was the Hardware, and B was the pluggin. Both sound excellent.
Alas, I've never been able to work with a distressor, so I have not frame of reference for comparison.
I can say that I think I liked "B" better on the individual drums, they were tighter and more punchy; RUclips compression killed the room samples, but from what I could make out from the reverb tails I didn't have a preference; and the bass had such a gain difference that I couldn't make a fair comparison. The voiceover sounded richer with "B" also. Something was happening with the low end that I liked.
for the bass and snare, I preferred A. However, for the voiceover, I preferred B. When it comes to the kick and room mics, I couldn't tell much of a difference.
judging from the added bass on your voice over on Compressor B, I'm going to say thats the FG Stress, and that compressor A is the hardware. The proximity effect is not getting compressed as much with your mouth that close to the mic on comp b
No idea Glenn but I preferred A. However A seemed louder than B ?
Well, according to Dave Derr from imperial labs on an interview with Bobby Owsinski he stated ; " No distressor plugin emulation goes out without passing my test". Now, we dont know if this emulation went thru Dave before hitting the market.
Wrong video? :) I came from the other one as well...
Better or not, the fg stress is a great software compressor.
Unfortunately, you can't really slap it on a signal and record it down, not without a serious amount of tomfoolery that's impractical for a tracking session, and even then you have only limited flexibility with where you have it in your chain.
The hardware Distressor is hands down one of the best and easiest compressors to record through. I've found the fg stress almost as easy to dial in when mixing.
But nothing's as fun as recording with it and watching the meters fly when recording :)
A seems to be a bit louder, and sounds like it has a shorter attack even at same setings. B is really slamming that transients, and that's why I like it the most. Both sounds cool, btw.
A is software, B being hardware. I only say this as B sounded thicker in the mid, more dirty as one would expect from hardware.
A was far better on every source, so I'm gonna assume that was the hardware.
Not sure I could guess which was which. I preferred A and would like to believe that is the hardware unit, but fuck knows. . .
I don't think there was a unity gain, which kind of defeats the purpose of comparison, especially when comparing compressor. Could you fix it, Glenn?
So where is the results video ??
i did not notice a difference between the two until you whipped out the bass. Compressor A sounds really good on bass and compressor B sounded like it was...over compressing? it sounded hella fucking quiet compared to A.
B feels like it's clamping down far more than A, as well as pulling out the high freqs. Without knowing the settings Glen's dialled in however, it's hard to tell whether that was what he was going for, or whether that's a flaw in the plug-in? And so it's hard to know which version is the real one vs the sim. Like maybe he was trying to get the snare's transient through with the hardware, and so A would fit that whilst B is just sitting on it. Or perhaps he was trying to just squash the snare to bring out the rattle a bit more, and so B would be the one to fit that.
That said, A definitely felt more like his usual V/O compared to B which was boomy as hell.
Be interested to see the results, and also maybe some other comparisons of Distressor plug-ins on the market.
I thought A was the software because it sounded like it had more artefacts on the high end - although that may just be youtube.
A was also louder, which feels like a software trick to make it sound "better" (although I would have matched them for this demo).
I have a feeling that A is the hardware, and B is the plugin. I definitely liked the sounds of example A much more. However, I hope I am wrong, because I've wanted a Distressor for a long time, but it's way out of my budget!
Compressor A didn't stomp on the signal as much as Compressor B on my ear...buds. Honestly, I'm in bed listening to this.
Compressor B had some...artifacts in the sound, which is especially audible on the room sound of the drums. Almost glitchy.
An effect that I had with different software compressors.
On voice, Compressor A sounds more open and less muffled than B.
Because of the artifacts I might say those are from the digital process and go:
Compressor A: Real Distressor
Compressor B: FG Stress
Very curious to see what it really was.
They are extremely close in sound, but my guess is that B is the software based on the fact that it has occasional artifacts.
I think I heard some digital noise on the B Compressor in the upper frequencies. But I also heard it on the A compressor. Maybe it's because of youtube compressing the audio. But I'm leaning towards B being the software compressor.
both sound fantastic ,Either would work for me, however i think A is the FG stress and B is the hardware
B would have moments of sounding decent but would out of nowhere have massive artifacts for 1-2 seconds (such as 2:54 in the video). My choice is A: Real Compressor.
Its from the video not the compressor listen to all of the high end on the voice and such
@@commit123 weird how it only really happens during B :\
Thanks Glenn, I’ve been waiting for this for a while! :) I didn’t hear any difference between them except on the bass, and the only difference was a difference in volume!
I betting that "A" is the FG Stress and that B is the actual Distressor. The gain reduction on "B" is greater than that of "A", but it also makes most of the inputs darker - IMHO. For examples 1,3 & 4 I preferred "A," and for examples 2 & 5 I preferred B.
I dont know which is which, but I like A for its brightness, and B for its "warmth".
I've got both the hardware units, and the Empirical Labs version of the Distresssor. I use them mostly on drums. Your test's B sample sounded familiar to the hardware unit. I know on the Empirical labs version of the plugin, the 5-5-5-5 default isn't the same, so the plugin's settings need to be tweaked to match up. Might have been the case with the Slate. Also, I don't think anyone would mind if you eq'd those drums a bit. Take care!
Cool! I don’t have to make this video anymore then 😊
A is the hardware, right?
Make the settings the same on the compressor units, but make sure to gain match them afterwards pls.
I believe you can make both work equally well in a mix. So I'd take the plugin version (B maybe?) :)
Pretty sure A is the distressor, it sounded a bit better in general. If I'm wrong I'm buying the FG Stress ASAP lol
I'm going to say I preferred 'A'. Where it really stood out for me was the kick. I didn't like the color that B imparted to the attack. Very thin and 'quacky' that could be the Slate plugin, if I had to guess. I remember the Waves 1176 giving me the same impression on kicks. The hardware seems to 'grab' the sound in a much more transparent way.
For those whining about the gain difference, that's part of the experiment. He said that the settings where identical, so, one is making the signal lower than the other which it should NOT do.
could really hear the difference on the close mics but they sounded identical in the room mic on the drums
It seems to me that the level in the software version is not matched as 0VU which is normal for any analog gear and corrisponds about -18Dbfs. Since the original source has been recorded through a real distressor the level inside the daw could not be the same in the way in. Anyway, to me seems that "B" is the real stuff. Me to I have two distressors and the Slate emulation and, if I match the sources for 0VU they sounds pretty damn close. The real stuff has a different headroom and still sounds more full and tridimensional to me but Mr. Slate has done areally good job indeed with this plugin!
Didn't see the poll card😔