Empirical Labs Arousor Magnet

Arousor v2.3.2 VST3 AAX WIN The Arousor™ is the only Distressor plugin made by the makers of the Distressor themselves, Empirical Labs Inc. It’s been well over 20 years since Empirical Labs released its first compressor, The Distressor. Labs Empirical – Arousor VST Overview So, Labs Empirical – Arousor VST is a versatile Distressor plugin with different designed and developed features. It includes all essential modules and work to work along with your project and won’t require any other program for a single module or purpose.

Empirical Labs Arouser Magnets
Empirical Labs Arouser Magneto
Empirical Labs Arousor
Empirical Labs Arousor Magnet
Empirical Labs Arouser Magnetism

An updated software version of one of the most famous, influential, and best-selling compressors in history.

by David Keenum, July 2021

Why Do You Need a Compressor Anyway?

A simple question with a simple answer. You want to smooth out the volume of the track. You want to tame any notes that vary from the normal volume. You want to make a track sit better in the mix. All good answers, but how did they do that in the 1950s and 60s? In the 1950s, at the beginning of modern audio recording, our contemporary VCA and FET compressors did not exist. At first compressors were more of a limiter or a limiter/compressor combo, and they were based on a light diode. These units didn’t just level tracks, but also colored the sound of the tracks. Nowadays we say that they added character to the tracks, but at the time that’s how it had to be. As time went on and music technology developed, compressors and limiters got more and more transparent. Sure we want some analog warmth, but generally speaking, we want the tracks clean too.

Empirical Labs Arousor turns all of that on its head. Although Arousor can be subtle and warm, I don’t think you could ever call it clean and transparent. In fact, it’s best when it gets aggressive. Arousor is that friend that shows up to the party talking too loud, acting aggressive, maybe even making people a little uncomfortable, but he can end up being the life of the party. Sometimes a little aggression is just what we need! But wait a minute. Before we get to the Arouser we need to take a look at its heritage, The Empirical Labs Distressor.

Empirical Labs Distressor

Empirical Labs founder Dave Derr’s love of classic compressors like the 1176, LA-2A led to the development of the Distressor. But he didn’t stop with emulating classic compressors. The Distressor features eight compression curves, from 1:1 to a “Nuke” curve. The manufacture says the “Nuke” curve is a brick wall limiting curve. The 10:1 curve is an “Opto” curve that emulates the LA-2A.

There are also both second and third harmonic distortions that can provide knee compression on their own. I saw it described as “digitally controlled analog knee compression.” So you have a widely functional high-end compressor that gives a classic color with a price tag to match. According to a search on sweetwater.com a Stereo Pair of Distressors can cost from $2,850 to $3,259 depending on your options. They must be worth the money, because over 28,000 units have been sold.

So is Arouser intended as a $199.00 software emulation of the Distressor? Not really. Best as I can tell, it’s a software rethinking of the Distressor idea by the people who developed the Distressor. It’s close enough for people to do comparison shootouts between the Distressor and Arousor, so the bloodline is evident.

Like the Distressor its controls operate more like an Optical Compressor or Leveling Amplifier. For example, there is no threshold setting. Also like the Distressor, the compression ratios must be picked from a list, although Arousor offers more choices.

In fairness, I’ve never had the pleasure of working with a Distressor. I’ve read about it, watched videos, and maybe even dreamed of owning one. But that’s it. So my approach has to be looking at Arousor for what it is, not as a comparison to its big brother.

A Quick Trip around the UI

At the top of the UI you have the gain reduction meter followed by the compression controls. Under those you’ll find the compression ratios. You pick a compression ratio. No dial here. With Rev 3, Empirical Labs has added an Alt button that adds two new compression ratios (relating to the Opto Modes discussed below) with more ratios planned.

Next are the Attack Modification knob and the Soft Clipping. Attack Modification is to fine tune the attack curve of the compression envelope, where soft clipping is for dialing in harmonic distortion. I discuss Soft Clipping more below.

At the bottom of the UI is the Detector Sidechain EQ, with both a high pass filter and a parametric EQ. This is for dialing in exactly where you want Arousor to trigger. Lastly is the Blend knob. This has become a standard in modern software compressors, and for good reason. Blending a dry and effects signal gives you a great deal of control. If you haven’t used it, give it a try.

Two New Opto Modes

Arousor Rev 3 has added two Opto modes. They are modeled after two models of LA2A compressors, one from the 1980s and one from 2018. An optical compressor was, as far as I know, the first compressor or leveling amplifier. It has a distinctive character to its sound that was an integral part of recordings from the 1950s and 60s. Since the Distressor is more like an opto compressor, these additions just add to the color.

Blue Dots

On all of the lower knobs there is a light blue dot that indicates the setting where the Distressor would be set. I guess you would call these default settings. Anyway, it gives you a good starting point for editing.

Soft Clipping

I found the Soft Clipping section one of the most interesting and useful sections of this plug-in. Yes, this is distortion, and yes, I like distortion, especially soft warm distortion that fattens a sound. But soft clipping also affects the transients, the very beginning of the sound. And that, my friend, can be where some audio magic can happen. I had fun adding soft clipping to tracks, and to me, this is as an important feature to the plug-in as the compressor itself.

Both Soft Clipping and Blend have an expert button (it is an “e.”). On Soft Clipping it opens a dial for adding 2nd harmonics. I found this useful and fun, and it gave another way to subtly change a sound.

Presets

Empirical Labs Arouser Magnets

I’m not against presets, especially as a starting point, and Arousor has some good ones. In fact, I’d like to see more. Presets are a great way to learn a plug-in. A great starting point would be Preset 24: Small Drum Room. I would consider it a tutorial of how to use Arousor to slam a drum track and bring out the room ambience. I’d like to see more of these, and I understand Empirical Labs is creating a preset sharing site. I know these can sometimes be an exercise in excess, but I have hopes.

Arousor on Bass

My first delightful discovery was using Arousor on bass. In fact, I used a Preset called Bass Enhancer. Of course, with the knobs right there, I couldn’t resist tweeking the sound. The Soft Clipper was the easiest way to make a change in the sound, and I found that I really like the sound of the Soft Clipper on bass. It made it easier to hear the bass in the mix. Since I tried Arousor on Bass, I’ve used it on every track.

In Use

Empirical Labs Arouser Magneto

I decided to mix a tune with Arouser on every channel. I wanted to try every ratio I could, from 1:1 to Rivet, Arouser’s equivalent of Distressor’s Nuke. Is this compressor capable of covering all the different issues in a track? All the different sounds and instruments? In a short answer, yes, it does the job admirably. It does tend to color every track depending on the compression ratio and other settings (Opto Mode and Soft Clipping), but it worked. I liked the color. Okay, in fairness, maybe it’s not an “every track” compressor, but for this experiment I was quite happy.

To me, it thickened sample instrument tracks to where they fill their space, especially drums, percussion, and bass. I did notice that I ended up dialing the settings back as the mix progressed. I found I could easily dial in more effect than I needed. Too phatt is just as bad as too thin! So I ended up rolling back on compression and Soft Clipping, and dialing the Blend knob back a little. But I really liked the character Arousor added to tracks, and I really liked the way it made those tracks sit in the mix. Even at a ratio of 1:1 the plug-in added a thickening character to the sound.

Conclusion

My first conclusion is more of a commentary. In using Arousor I realized that I need to learn more about optical compressors. I know the theory behind them, and I enjoy using software emulations of them. But Arousor is so different from compressors I have used before, that I feel I need to rethink opto compressors. Or maybe it’s just Arousor. It imparts a sound to a track. It’s not just loaded or more up front. It’s thick and beefy. But more than that, it gives the track a different sound. I’ve used different words to describe it, but I’m not sure I’m doing it justice. My recommendation would be to download the demo, and put it through its paces. And be sure to slam some tracks with the Rivit ratio. What do you think of the sound?

So did I like Arousor? You bet! Is it a clone of Distressor? Without actually using Distressor I really don’t have a clue. I’ll leave that comparison to others. But as far as Arousor goes, I’m really impressed. Its sound is addictive. This is the first compressor that I’ve used at a 1:1 ratio, and even without compression, it sounded great. And the Soft Clipping evened out the peaks and gave the track a bit of weight.

So is it aggressive? Yes, most definitely. The aggression can be tamed, but not completely eliminated. It’s part of the character of the plug-in. And I like it! As far as I’m concerned, Arousor is a keeper!

Empirical Labs Arousor Rev 3