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Empirical Labs Arousor Rev 3 Plugin
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| Empirical Labs Arousor Rev 3 Plugin |
Arousor™ Rev 3 is the newest version of Arousor that builds on emulations of the tonal possibilities of Empirical Labs' Distressor hardware counterpart. There are now two opto compression modes, as well as two additional ratio choices: 6:5:1 and 7:1. Arousor is a free update to all Arousor owners--it automatically removes the old version when you install it and (thoughtfully) does not lose its backward compatibility with sessions using the previous version.
Like the Distressor, the Arousor plugin emulates many classic transistorized, tube, and VCA-based compressors and adds features many engineers could only dreamed of 'back in the day' for those vintage units.
Immediately noticeable is the resizable GUI--always a good thing for modern plugin GUIs. The new orange-colored buttons for the Opto A and B compression modes allow the application of the "Opto circuitry" emulation to any ratio and many other settings to closely emulate the two different attack and release time constants of classic and modern Teletronix LA-2A compressors.
I liked that Opto comes up unselected and you may quickly click to select either A or B and also click to deselect either. Opto A is 8ms attack time and 500ms release while Opto B is 2.5ms attack and 400ms release.
With Opto selected, there are small orange digital readouts showing the attack and release times of the selected Opto mode. Clicking on either orange text puts that value into play and updates the readouts in the center of the large white Attack and/or Release control knobs.
Furthermore in these Opto modes you will notice orange texts show up with parameter settings of: Det HP (side-chain filter), the Sidechain parametric EQ, and both the 2nd Harmonic and Saturation controls in the Soft Clipping section. These values represent the two LA-2s (old and new) measured for this emulation.Shift+ click Opto A or B will also replace currently selected Attack Knob and Release Knob settings and engage the new ratios 6.5:1 and 7:1 all at the same time. Those ratios are also available by using the red ratio Alt button if you are not using either Opto mode.
Arousor includes a secondary layer in the Soft Clipping section accessible using its "e" button. You can change the compressor's detector input before or after the soft clipping circuit and there is an adjustable second harmonic control knob to go with the Saturation control.
Arousor now has a total of twelve ratio settings from: 1:1 to "Rivet". I know sound designers will love this Rev 3 update for precision processing. An awesome and musical feature is the new Wet/Dry Mix knob that has also has an "e" button to access the Dry Level Trim. This is great for percussion compression to get just right the "spank" yet retain clarity!
Arousor is available for purchase as an AAX and AAX-DSP, AU, VST2/3 for macOS (10.7 or higher) and Windows PCs (7 or higher) for $199 MSRP download. I'm very excited to add this extremely versatile tone shaper to my AAX-DSP plugin collection for use in large Dolby ATMOS mixing work!
Bravo Dave Derr and Empirical Labs!
www.empiricallabs.com/product/arousor/
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