Distressor Shootout | The New Kiive Audio Xtressor vs UAD, Slate, and IK Multimedia

0:00 - Intro
1:28 - The Shootout - Kick
3:05 - The Shootout - Snare
4:45 - Conclusion

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[dirkbrouns]

I have two Distressors (hardware) for more than 10 years and know them intimately well. I have been using the Kiive plugin for a couple of mixes now and I can get the exact Distressor sound I can get out of my hardware. Not necessarily with the exact same settings, but with the hardware I am also never really looking at the knobs, just dialing them in.
With this plugin, the Distressors have become a "recording only" tool; I do not need it for mixing anymore.
And yes, the added saturation function works really well, nice addition.

[NovianLeVanMusic]

*NOTE* Kiive has released an update (patch notes below timecodes) that *changes the sound of the plugin!* Plus, they changed the name to XTComp and knob colors due to legal reasons.

*KICK*
1:01 Dry
1:28 UAD
1:38 Kiive
1:47 Slate
1:58 IK
2:41 UAD
2:44 Kiive
2:48 Slate
2:52 IK

*SNARE*
3:14 Dry
3:41 UAD
3:51 Kiive
4:02 Slate
4:12 IK
4:27 UAD
4:31 Kiive
4:35 Slate
4:40 IK

*XTComp release notes*
- Reduced CPU usage
- Linear phase oversampling
- Knee toggle switch
- Hard - Hard knee relative to the ratio
- Nrml - Follows the knee slope as the hardware
- Soft - Soft knee relative to the ratio
- Added missing automatable parameters
- Fixed presets not loading on some systems
- Added PT page tables
- Improved compression algorithm to better represent the the hardware
- Added Relative linking for IO
- Fixed stereo link and dual mono modes (users can switch using the mode section)

[rome]

I don't claim to be a Distressor expert. However, it seems to me that the Xtressor really captures the top-end sizzle that everyone loves about the Distressor.

But ultimately, who cares how accurate it is? Do you like the sound of it? All I know is that I find it works really well on a parallel bus. That top-end sizzle I mentioned earlier helps liven up my whole mix when blended in parallel.

[mcpribs]

Wow, they all sound great! We are spoiled for choice. What a time to be able to have so many excellent tools at the ready. Thank you for another fantastic vid!

[jenslempke]

I don't know what Kiive do in their algorithms but as always they win the game by far.

[keidennis]

Here's a thought. The Distressor sounds better only becasuse the test has a tiny flaw. The first 2 snare hits of his loop are weak, but then from the third hit onwards there's a nicer snap in the snare hit itself. So right when you go from the Distressor to the Xtressor there's automatically a drop because you're comparing the snappy hits at the end of the loop with weak hits from the beginning of the loop.

[bangubw]

Kiive is a beast, IK is good, UAD is a classic Slate just works, it does the Distressor thing. All 4 are good for different uses but the extra features on Kiive and IK give them an extra modern advantage

[IntheDAW]

Uad seemes to be very similar to the unit i use at work. But the kive has so much color control I love the saturation I get out of it. I think something people don't talk about is just how pleasing the color and saturation a real disressor has is. You can get just a bit or alot and the kive let's you dial that it.

[MrTunes]

All mostly very close.

Kick - 1, Kiive & UAD tie 2, IK, 3, Slate.

Snare - 1, IK 2, Kiive & UAD tie 3, Slate.

[nunooliveira]

Kick

1:01 raw
1:28 UAD
1:40 Aliance
1:47 Slate
1:58 T-Racks

---

Snare

3:14 raw
3:41 UAD
3:50 Aliance
4:02 Slate
4:12 T-Racks

[carminelombardi]

Great demo! Since I do have the Slate Digital FG-Stress, I'm definitely buying the IK Multimedia, it has more in your face, and open brighter effect on both Snare and Bass Drum. Unfortunately UA doesn't support Windows 10 Pro.

[frankwyatt]

i agree with timmm down air. the ik gave me a little more thump on both trax. always great jose.

[monkmusic]

I think, you left the saturation button on with the Kiive, that alone explains differences in the clean department...

[kyfisher]

is the Kiive Audio Xtressor no longer for sale? i cant find it on there site.

[sirwanmusic]

For me uad sound so good. Slate was dry or idk flat. Two other was decent

I wonder which you like the most ?

[TimmSpinn]

Oooh, I like the IK Comprexxor the most on the kick, and the FG-Stress most on the snare! Wish the Softube one could have been included in this.

[RichardToth]

There's a loudness difference between the samples. After I fixed it came out that I like FG-Stress and UAD the best, IK is fine and I don't like the muddiness of Kiive

[MicheleUrukHai]

Crazy how similar are Kiive and Ik Multimedia compared to the other. Especially on high mids

[eaccin]

I'm sorry but I find this blind tests a bit misleading. The attack position makes a huge difference and each of them has a different modelling approach, meaning you would have to play with the input/attack/output so you can have same perceived loudness and only then make a fair judgement. If you take the time to play with the parameters and set the volume right you'll notice less difference between them. Having said that I think UAD is the closest to HW from the time I compared to my distressor HW but at the time I think I only compared it to Slate. Last week I did an AB again with UAD and Slate with a little more tweaking and they were pretty close.

[alchemistrpm]

Am I crazy, or does the Slate one sound thinner than the rest? Punchy, but a bit less present with the harmonics. The Comprexxor sounds very punchy, which is nice. I hate to admit it, but the UAD sounds best to me. Just based on GLS' settings, I'd have to rank them (best on down): UAD, IK, Kiive/PA, Slate.