UAD Distressor vs Hardware vs Slate FG Stress Comparison

[@chickencreekproductions]

Thanks for the comparison! It saved me a couple of bucks. I’d love me a couple of hardware units, but that’s not in my budget. Was thinking of getting the UAD plug but the difference between that one and the Slate, which I already own, is not worth the cost (and extra UAD system resources) so I’m just gonna stick to the Slate version until my bank account surprises me with a couple of millions of dough :) Thanks again!

[@nelsonkamryn4045]

i realize it's kinda off topic but do anyone know of a good place to watch new series online?

[@hayeslorenzo8624]

@Nelson Kamryn I watch on Flixzone. You can find it by googling :)

[@soulmecca1]

hardware sounds open and clean, both the UAD and Slate sound the same with the transients sounding squeezed and loosing the open sound the hardware has making the instruments have a dirty gritty sound. that being said it is vary subtle and they all sound great. Can’t loose with any of them, but the hardware is the winner if I had to pick

[@pparedenreposts2131]

Perfect test, very helpful, thanks a lot! I think both plugins lack fullness compared to the hardware.

[@engineersandfriends4799]

Remarkable how open the hardware sounds competing against the software. I own both software plugins. This was very helpful, thanks so much!

[@agraham211]

Please tell me the mic used to record the vocals because DAMN they sound fantastic!

[@vibesstudio840]

Hey thanks for the comment.. Glad you liked it. It was a Neumann KM105.. here is a video of the performance of the song if you want to check it out.. its a few years old now :) vimeo.com/242852586

[@casualintrovert207]

I feel like the slate emulation was the least punchy, but even with that I would never be able to tell which one is the real one in a blind test and i'm sure 99% of everyone else wouldn't be able to tell either.

[@MajikMuzq]

Slate is close but UAD nailed it for me. Hardware sounds slightly open.

[@Ibanezman03]

this is pointless, the slate is compressing 2 db more and you can hear that the attack is too fast. compare things by sound not by numbers

[@wuliwong]

I played/paused over and over through the snare section and it does seem like the slate always leads the UA plugin at least according to their meters. You make a good point though. Clearly the output needed to be different to achieve the same volume so seems naive to just assume the rest of the knobs are calibrated the same.

[@wuliwong]

I am negotiating an offer on a el8x and own the slate. Honestly i cant tell which is which on my home theater which is a nice atmos setup. Ill check again on my studio headphones but i might be passing on the hardware distressor and putting that money elsewhere.

[@wuliwong]

listened on my studio monitors. It seemed that slate lacked some of the punch of the hardware and UA plugin on snare. another commenter mentioned how it looks like the settings aren't really matched. It seems like the slate plugin has a faster attack (and possibly decay). If you play/pause and look at the meters over and over, the slate always apply the gain reduction before the UA. I'm not sure how well the meters are calibrated but my guess is these comparisons are being made at different attack/release settings. That could account for the punchiness differences?

[@datamasked623]

Slate is pretty god damn close, man. I own all 3 in my room. In isolation the Slate is brighter. In a mix, which is what actually counts, I challenge anyone to tell a difference.

[@lifesogood3809]

To my ears and I critically listened the Slate sounded better than Uad....But the hardware push the sounds forward and sounds neutral....so those who have UAD are under the spell of placebo and don't even know it.

[@dspoet1]

Why take God’s name in vain?

[@HayezMusic]

First of all, I like the emulations of the distressor hardware unit. Nonetheless, there is a significant sonic difference between the analog hardware and the digital algorithms. As always I'm missing that bit of low-end and warmth.

[@pparedenreposts2131]

Exaclty that I heared too.

[@harshverma7531]

Provide the raw and processed files for a detailed analysis and self comparing

[@ethikalkulture]

thanks man im thinking of uad

[@danielkisel5661]

Honestly any of them, really, but software is like 96%+ of the hardware sound but you can use it across the whole mix...

[@msvc23]

In my opinion FG Stress is the best for bass, for the rest the hardware, the vocals are nice on uad tho

[@joro7656]

Love the Hardware for sure on everything.. More open clearer bottom great mids...It was very close between UAD plugin and Slate..I thought the vocals and the drum room was better on the Slate plugin.. Thanks for the comparison..

[@DJHazadous1]

hardware is going through converters. Never a fair faithful comparison when doing outboard to itb.

[@directed6924]

Hardware and UAD sounds almost identical... hardware has more air and slightly better transient response

[@moussatouhami7567]

snare : fg-stres , vocal : uad , guitar: hardware done.

[@TheBroRedSunLed]

all this versus videos has no sense. You can't judge a sound filtered by youtube codec

[@incomeinnovations247]

surely if it was a blind test they would not be any bias to UAD , for me i prefer slate

[@MajikMuzq]

FG-Stress sounds better than the hardware on the bass and drums. Imho

[@mattywhitey518]

UAD identical with hardware with snare

[@PuppyPolitics]

imo 1. hardware..........2. UAD 3. Slate

[@Alexander-mk4qf]

uad is not company dat made plugins, they order and buy it from companys like brainworx (wich best)

[@pigknickers2975]

Hardware and UAD about the same. Slate sounds a little cheaper and doesn't impress. I bought the UA Distressor as soon as it came out and it's wonderful. It takes weeks for the character of a bit of gear to become known so beware the honeymoon phase. I'm listening in my mix room with good convertors etc and without this I wouldn't bother judge it either.

[@MaxiMovier]

The low-end is winner on hardware and uad. Slate sounds shitty at the bottom

[@ТочноТочное]

I can hear very clear in mixing headphones that only hardware doesn't have a delay/shifty/latency in micro seconds... Hardware is much more better. All plugins give only dirty broken sound.

[@experiment0003]

GUI? UAD wins. However, Slate sounds identical to the hardware.

[@comfortablynick1]

Agreed.

[@MFASonic]

Bought two Distressors two years ago (after having been teased by UAD, admittedly). I never look back to the plugin. It's simply sh** in comparison, what becomes even more evident when you're not listening through the KZbin codec.

[@mrmorpheus9707]

Of course hardware..but software.UAD, THEN SLATE!

[@fuzzsound2899]

hardware i smuch better ,what a suprise

[@muglebab]

1 uad 2 hardware 3 slate. uad sounds better