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.

The Erica Synths Black 3109 VCF/VCA is a lowpass filter and voltage-controlled amplifier combo built around the AS3109 VCF integrated circuit, a contemporary version of the IR3109 chip, found on vintage Roland synths such as the Jupiter series, Juno series and the SH-101.

Erica Synths Black Dual VCF is a dual multimode filter with CV control over cutoff and resonance for serious modular patches.

The Erica Synths Envelope Generator 2 is a re-triggerable, looping envelope generator with some unconventional features that are very useful for experimental setups. What sets the Black EG2 apart from other envelope generators is its optional GATE LENGTH setting, which allows for generating full ADSR envelopes even if a short trigger is used at the input. Likewise, in LOOP mode, the module outputs a full ADSR envelope instead of a classical AD envelope. The gate length is both manual and CV controlled, which allows for using this envelope generator in compact modular setups controlled by trigger sequencers only.

Erica Synths Black Hole DSP 2, an updated version of Black Hole DSP features 24 custom effects, designed in close co-operation of Erica Synths team rider KODEK and creator of SpinCAD software Gary Worsham.

Erica Synths Black Joystick2 is 4 channel (2 axis on each channel) multi functional CV and sound source – joystick, movement recorder, distinct LFO and drone/noise oscillator. It provides great interaction with the modular system and allows to develop unconventional modulation patterns easily.

The Erica Synths Black K-Phaser is our take on a classical, genre defining FX unit – the Krautrock Phaser.

Erica Synths Black LPG is our take on Lowpass Gate idea – it’s designed from scratch featuring 2nd order lowpass VCF (the original Buchla lowpass gate was 1st order VCF) and VCA combo with distinct resonance circuit on top.

Erica Synths Black MIDI-CV is a compact, highly accurate and easy to use duophonic MIDI interface.

Erica Synths Black Mute Mixer is a compact, high quality audio mixer with bonus features – mute switch on each input and three buffered outputs.