“The Arousor is a compressor plugin without equal! Instantly exciting and instantly musical. There’s no turning back!” – Greg Wells
The Arousor is the only classic knee compressor plugin made by the creators of the Distressor, Empirical Labs. It’s been well over 20 years since Empirical Labs released its first compressor, the Distressor. From those early days on, Empirical Labs has been bombarded with requests for a great compressor plugin for those working in the box… and it had to be one with the creamy sound and ease-of-use of our own award winning hardware compressors. We are sure you will find the 20+ year wait worth it!
Features
Attack Modification
Fine tune the attack curve of the compression envelope with AtMod. The attack modification knob slows down the initial slope of the attack envelope to add just a little bit more of the transient back into the track. Whether it’s to get a little bit more snap on the snare track or more thump on the electric bass, the AtMod will let the transients through without losing your desired amount of compression.
Colorful Saturation
Advanced Detector Sidechain
Dial in exactly where you want the compression to trigger with 2 bands of sidechain EQ. This advanced detector sidechain EQ expands both of the preset detection filter circuits on the Distressor into a controllable hi-pass and parametric sidechain. Control the exact point on the frequency spectrum where you want compression to be triggered without losing any low-end.
Rivet Mode
Get maximum gain reduction with the Rivet mode along with all of the ratios you know and love from the Distressor. Modeled after the Distressor’s Nuke Ratio, Rivet provides the steepest compression ratio a compressor plugin can provide to slam room mics and more.
AROUSOR LT INCLUDED
As of 6/29/2022, all purchases of Arousor include the Arousor LT.
What's New in Rev 3
- Two OPTO Modes based on the time constants of a classic and a modern LA2A
- Soft Clipper Expert Panel that allows for introducing more second harmonic distortion and the ability to place the compressor input before or after the soft clipper circuit.
- Detector Sidechain EQ now includes a listen mode to hear what frequencies are affecting the compression detector.
- Two new ratios (6.5:1 and 7:1) can now be accessed by enabling “ALT” mode in the ratio section.
- The GUI can now be enlarged to double its original size for more comfortable editing.
- iLok Cloud activation is now available rather than just iLok USB activation.
Testimonials
Own It
Buy the Arousor on our store.
• When you purchase the Arousor from our online store you get 1 license with 2 activations when you redeem your activation code.
• Get free upgrades and support.
• Activate the Arousor to an iLok USB or iLok Cloud.
• Includes Arousor LT license in a Locked Group (as of 6/29/2022).
$199.00
Subscribe
Pay Monthly or Annually.
• $4.99/month or $49.99/year
• Get access to AROUSOR at a low monthly price!
• Includes AROUSOR LT
• iLok USB or iLok Cloud Required
$4.99/month or $49.99/year
Rent-to-Own
Pay Monthly towards a Perpetual License
• $9.95/month, 20 Payments
• Pause or Cancel at any time
• Includes AROUSOR LT
• iLok USB or iLok Cloud Required
$9.95/month for 20 months
Hear the Difference
↳ Drums - Dry
↳ Drums - Default Preset (5-8 dB Gain Reduction)
↳ Drums - PUMMELED KIK SN Preset (10-15 dB Gain Reduction)
↳ Drums - RIVET EXTREME Preset (20 dB Gain Reduction)
↳ Drums - RIVET EXTREME Preset (Blend set to 2)
↳ Drums - Only Saturation (Soft Clipper set to 8)
Videos
FAQs
Do I need an iLok USB to use the Arousor?
Not anymore! Now, you can activate the Arousor to iLok Cloud!
How do I upgrade to Arousor Rev 3?
Arousor Rev 3 is free for all current Arousor users. All you have to do is download the latest installer from the downloads page.
Is the Arousor an emulation of the Distressor?
Yes and no. The Arousor is more of an evolution of the Distressor than it is an emulation because it has much more advanced features like the AtMod and the Soft Clipper.
User Reviews
244 reviews for AROUSOR
You must be logged in to post a review.
John Breglia –
Used the hardware for years on every tracking and mix session. Tried all the other plugin emulations and was mildly unimpressed. Tried the Arousor and was sold on first use. It’s been on every mix session since. Great plugin.
Yoann Sirenne –
Having near 30 different compressor plugins in my toolbox I was not very aware with “what is the best comp to use to this kind of material”.
Arousor is the answer I was expecting since so many times now.
This is the only compressor plugin that I am able to “sense” , to hear exactly how the ratio is eating my sound, how Attack & Release can help to control the sound…
There is a step between knowing how works a compressor and hearing the compressor works; for me this Arousor is the only compressor that allow me to hear perfectly how each setting affects my sound.
Arousor is now my go to plugin when it comes to compression !
daniel smith –
i wanted a distressor for aggressive vocals , and as i cant afford a real one or afford UAD this was the best option for me. I already have some other distressor type plug ins but this one is definately the best out of them, it reacts better/faster and grabs the signal more accurately . Its very versitile and its easy to dial in anything from fast 1176 compression to snappy vca compression. If there was an opto mode i could cover every compression requirement with this one plug in!
The saturation and clipping sound nice and along with the attack mod makes it great for drums. Sidechain input control adds more to the flexability but tbh ive only used the hi-pass so far which works as expected, im sure once i learn the rest ill use that too.
Im very pleased with this plug in, the update map looks promising and overall looks well supported. Im glad i bought this its great for what i want to do… \m/
gary earl –
Excellent, useful on almost everything, much like the hardware. While I also like the slate and UAD emulations, there are options here that I’ve been missing and will use daily, and it’s clearly more like my hardware than the others. Sounds great, works great, very happy with it! I have hundreds of plugins but there are about a dozen that I use every day on every mix, and this is one of them.
Victor Mason –
I expected a lot since the manufacture actually builds hardware compressors, for over 25 years. I’m sure the bar was incredibly high from withing the company. I knew I could depend on them with a Plugin to rise to the level of their hardware and then they exceeded it with additional features. I own the various Empirical Labs hardware pieces and can attest as I expect many others will do the same, this is trademark Empirical Labs sound and function.