The product that started it all for Empirical Labs. Born of founder Dave Derr’s love of classic compressors like the 1176, LA-2A and Gain Brain (among others), the Distressor incorporates his favorite sonic characteristics of these, along with other unique and interesting features that have made it a staple for audio engineers all over the world. With over 28,000 units in the field, it’s safe to say that the Distressor is one of the best selling high end compressors of all time… if not THE best selling. A prominent recording engineer recently wagered that there probably was not a top 40 record made in the last five years that didn’t have at least one Distressor on it.

The product that started it all for Empirical Labs. Born of founder Dave Derr’s love of classic compressors like the 1176, LA-2A and Gain Brain (among others), the Distressor incorporates his favorite sonic characteristics of these, along with other unique and interesting features that have made it a staple for audio engineers all over the world. With over 28,000 units in the field, it’s safe to say that the Distressor is one of the best selling high end compressors of all time… if not THE best selling. A prominent recording engineer recently wagered that there probably was not a top 40 record made in the last five years that didn’t have at least one Distressor on it.

Arguably the coolest and most unique device in the Empirical Labs arsenal, the FATSO (Full Analog Tape Simulator and Optimizer) is a digitally controlled analog device that gives musicians and engineers easy access to many of the desirable characteristics exhibited by older tube and Class A electronics and magnetic tape mediums. This two channel audio processor musically integrates frequencies and transients, increasing the apparent volume while keeping tight control over peak levels.

In today’s modern age of digital recorders, DAWs and software plug-ins, Mike-E is the ultimate solution for getting a clean and strong, yet warm and musical signal into the box…and it couldn’t be easier to work – its front panel layout is so straight ahead that even inexperienced engineers will have no problem moving around on it right away.

As with ELI’s other signal processors, the Lil FrEQ Equalizer takes a somewhat unique approach to its job. Instead of daisy chaining several equalizers and frequency processors, we combined most of the sound sculpting tools an engineer needs into a compact single rack space box, while still offering the highest performance of any design in its class.

Genuine centerpiece of a setup, it offers every tool needed to compose songs in the studio and perform them on stage. From vintage to modern synths, from modular systems to your favorite DAW, Hapax can sequence and synchronize all your gear, while bringing you carefully crafted tools, designed for maximizing creativity.

Hermod brings together an advanced step sequencer, a CV looper, a real-time effect processor, LFO generators and a complete bi-directional MIDI-USB-CV input/output interface.

Record a performance at any time thanks to the CV inputs, the USB HOST, the USB DEVICE and the MIDI input, quantized or not. Create and edit your tracks with the STEP mode and its piano roll & automation view. Generate crazy patterns with the randomization tool.

Hermod is polymetric, it means that each track can have a different length, from 1 step to 64 steps. Moreover, you can zoom in to increase the resolution of the step sequencer (up to 512 steps).