The BEST DISTRESSOR PLUGIN

The KIIVE XTRESSOR might be the best Distressor Plugin!
💜 My first KIIVE video: • KIIVE Tape Face and mo...
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[@whitenoisestudio]

💜 My first KIIVE video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/baXIepKnp86BrtU

[@leckel1996]

Once you matched up the amount of compression correctly, the comparison between the distressor and this plugin was one of the closest hardware vs software comparisons I’ve heard.

[@whitenoisestudio]

yeah its a bit of a thing to get right. But even when it wasnt matched, you can always wonder how close it will sound when you tweak a bit or how different it will sound from one unit to the other.

[@TheBumblebee84]

I used the hardware for a shortwhile but recently I deleted UAD and IK emulations of distressor once I got this one. everything else is bloatware now 😅

[@soulsonic]

I'm using both the Arousor and the Kiive. The Arousor has a ton more dynamic range, and I use as my main 'Distressor' but the Kiive I use as a saturator/color box w great comp ability. It's darker and tames 6k and 9k harshness straight away. Love them both!

[@whitenoisestudio]

Hey Soulspnic! I’m what way has the arouser more dynamic range? At the input or with threshold or?

[@soulsonic]

@@whitenoisestudio saying "a ton more" is exaggerated, but to my damaged ears, the extension from bottom to top with the same material. I hear more detail in the mid hi and highs. The Kiive, even with the FATSO section (what I call the lower part) turned off, is not as clean or pronounced up top. The Arousor low end has more clarity as well. The Kiive may have a headroom control I haven't used, but it is a more blunt approach (not a bad thing) to taming harshness than the saturation section of the Arousor, which sounds more refined to me. I consider them as if I bought a new Distressor (Arousor) and paired with a used/ customized one.

[@chiefofsinners5272]

Thx for the exhaustive review...nice to know how these things work and you do a great job explaining.

[@whitenoisestudio]

Thanks!!

[@GloveBunniesVideos]

Great video! This really helps explain what the Distressor does. Maybe one day they will make an Unstressor?

[@whitenoisestudio]

haha lol. Chill plugin.

[@nujazzelectro]

Love it! Sound and looks awesome !

[@whitenoisestudio]

I agree!

[@royalinvasionproductionstv6370]

Really considering using a distressor type plug on my vocals as I've been hearing alot of good things about them lately, in a vocal chain, this would replace an LA2A style Eq right?

[@whitenoisestudio]

LA2A is a classic compressor for a reason, but the distressor is as well and a whole lot more versitile ;-)

[@Harrysound]

Excellent video and congratulations for picking the correct DAW 😊

[@whitenoisestudio]

Ah you mean Audacity? ;-)

[@Harrysound]

@@whitenoisestudio 😠

[@whitenoisestudio]

😇

[@danielkisel7680]

I thought that I won't be impressed by the result of smaller company emulating distressor, but this might be the best one yet, will have to compare it with the Mike-E from Softube, nice review :D

[@whitenoisestudio]

Will be a sweet thing to check out!

[@ew2045]

So does the Xtressor not exist anymore? Plugin Alliance took down references to it an it is unavailable. There is now the XTComp from Kiive. What's up with this?

[@whitenoisestudio]

Legal issues, that's whats up with that ;-) If i'm correct Kiive didnt had permission to create a very similar emulation of the distressor, so it got rebranded into xtcomp.

[@ew2045]

Ah. I see. Thanks.

[@DariuszBlasi]

Love your videos but I think its time to change that vocal loop for something less "processed" because its harder to actually hear what the plugins are doing wrong or good on it.

[@whitenoisestudio]

:-) I didnt even use it that often haha! But thanks for the suggestion!

[@DariuszBlasi]

@@whitenoisestudio so you think! :D

[@whitenoisestudio]

@@DariuszBlasi I am barely capable of thinking without at least 15 cups of coffee ;-)

[@DariuszBlasi]

@@whitenoisestudio ok - you win :D

[@whitenoisestudio]

Almost as good as 15 cups of coffee ^^

[@AidenID101]

The part where this plugin emulates tape saturation, can it replace the others like j37 or something like that ? Because right now I am finding a good and reasonable price tape saturation plugin.

[@whitenoisestudio]

No, it doesn't, even just for the amount of control you want in a pure tape emulation. It is nice though for quick and easy tape saturation, but I personally would use a dedicated plugin for it, if I really want to dial in a tape sound.

[@AidenID101]

@@whitenoisestudio after reading your reply I just demoed the kiive tape face man the sound was so smooth, round and tight !! I think im gonna buy it

[@whitenoisestudio]

It rocks.

[@sirwanmusic]

We compared this to the real hardware and to be honest sound was a bit dull not open. Then we compared with the Arousor guess what ? Sound was 95% there.

[@Fwuzeem]

How does it compare to FG-Stress?

[@LeoGoneAcoustic]

Is it better than TR5 comprexxor?,

[@whitenoisestudio]

No idea!

[@MaartenFranken]

With a CPU use of 2-3 times what my most CPU-heavy plugins have... I'll stick to what I have

[@whitenoisestudio]

what CPU do you use? Seems excessive.

[@MaartenFranken]

I have a Mac Pro 2019 Intel. Those numbers are with oversampling, but still... over 15% with 2x and about 23% with 4x... It seems very high to me, knowing that, for example the Softube compressor emulations, take 6-8%. Now Im saying this, Im not completely sure if it are percenteges, Im refering to the value measured by the Studio One performance monitor... However, its still 2-3 times the highest value Im used to.

[@jackc8120]

I am really curious how it would compare to Arouser

[@whitenoisestudio]

Me too ;-) Arouser is not a distressor clone by the way, as stated by Empirical Labs themselves.

[@grungefire]

Is this better than Arousor?

[@whitenoisestudio]

I havent had the time to compare yet.

[@grungefire]

@@whitenoisestudio Thanks bro. I want to buy a Distressor plugin. I'm currently considering between the UAD Distressor, Arousor LT or Xtressor. Not sure which one to go with. This seems like the cheapest of the bunch. From your video, its seems legit but should I get it? I can't afford to but more than 1. :(

[@whitenoisestudio]

The UAD isnt natively available yet, you still need UAD hardware for that. But i just saw that of this xtressor there's also a little brother version which if free: www.kiiveaudio.com/plugins/Xtressor-NUKE-p498505074 Wont hurt to check that one out.

[@grungefire]

@@whitenoisestudio I have an Apollo. And I just tried the Nuke. I also demoed the X. The X is much better comparatively to the Nuke. I couldn’t get the Nuke to work the same way I could with the X. But it’s a free version. So that’s expected. Arousor LT feels limited too and Arousor is too expensive. Maybe on BF it’ll be more affordable. Who knows.

[@jhstudio749]

I bought Emperical Labs Arousor a few years ago. I use it mostly on drums but it's a great plugin from the original developer. I also have the IK version but it uses more CPU. Arousor wins.

[@eranddroory9987]

Great vid. Thank you 😊

[@whitenoisestudio]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@CreativeMindsAudio]

yeah i heard the same difference. gotta check it out.

[@whitenoisestudio]

There's a trial I think, easy to check :)

[@CreativeMindsAudio]

@@whitenoisestudio oh I just meant actually use it, I have the mega bundle :) (along with the UAD distressor and a hardware unit)

[@whitenoisestudio]

@@CreativeMindsAudio ha! Then you are completely sorted ^^

[@musicman8942]

Is it me or does this look like the original SK Note Disto?

[@whitenoisestudio]

it looks like a distressor ;-)

[@SingularityMedia]

@@whitenoisestudio I think he means the addition of the fatso unit as part of the plugin, which is what SK Note did too.

[@musicman8942]

@@whitenoisestudio Go back and look at the original Disto to see what I'm talking about. Even the developer didn't notice it until I pointed it out to him.

[@whitenoisestudio]

They are literal imitations of the hardweare unit gui wise. Of course they will look like a distressor. That fatso attachment ( not a literal imitaion) is a logical addition. So yeah.

[@thevalencrimes]

yes I thought the same.

[@Aimusic64]

Help. its not working on FL Studio

[@whitenoisestudio]

I don’t use FL, can’t help. Sorry

[@zomielastaroth4956]

Do I need ilok or....doesn't say anything.

[@whitenoisestudio]

No ilok needed!

[@TheMonkBeatsOne]

Ok bro

[@whitenoisestudio]

bro bro

[@TheMonkBeatsOne]

@@whitenoisestudio 😂 thank you!

[@ufofriend132]

never heard about these guys before but it sounds impressive!

[@whitenoisestudio]

I would keep an eye on them ;-)

[@MaxiMovier]

hardware more 3d

[@najinelson6742]

imo kiive has joined the party a bit too late, because there already are some distressor emus and kiive also isn't known yet as a good dev. No plugin could convince me yet, there are always better alternatives imo. And if you release something that already exists several times, you better make it a hundred times better. Also pricing is way too high for such a dev and plugin. I like your joke at the beginning of the video when you say you don't like a plugin to look like the hw, well, it more or less looks like hw LOL Your videos are good quality, but you somehow mostly wanna please a dev, I am in doubt whether your opinion is authentic, but who knows....?! FG Stress is said to be the closest emu. I generally don't care how close, but how good something is for me

[@whitenoisestudio]

I dont know if you can join the party too late. People always choose to use, or not to use, plugins by a vendor for mutliple reasons. I think its very healthy for the overall plugin world to have multiple options by many developers. I personally like KIIVE, their tape face and warmuy pultec are really sweet. And I think this distressor is up there wth the best in emulations. I fully agree on the pricing, I actually contacted them about that. But the alternatives by other vendors are actually more expensive. Thankfully i can provide a discount code which makes it a lot cheaper and I saw KIIVE themselves also did an extra intro discount ( not as good as my code by the way ;-) )