UAD Empirical Labs FATSO: Tape Simulator and Saturator
The UAD FATSO is the official Empirical Labs EL7 FATSO emulation. It adds tape-style warmth, harmonic saturation, and compression – used on records by AC/DC, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden.
What Does the UAD FATSO Do?
FATSO softens harsh highs, fattens low end, and glues tracks together. Use it on drums, bass, vocals, or a full mix when you want analog tape character without a hardware unit.
Key Features:
- Authentic Empirical Labs EL7 FATSO model
- Two plug-ins: FATSO Jr and FATSO Sr
- Warmth circuit for tape-style high-frequency softening
- Harmonic generation and soft clipping
- Four compression modes: Buss, G.P., Tracking, and Spank
- Buss: gentle 2:1 with a soft knee for mix glue
- G.P.: transparent level control
- Tracking: 1176-style compression for vocals and instruments
- Spank: aggressive limiter based on ’70s SSL talkback compression
- FATSO Sr adds transformer saturation, sidechain filtering, and full threshold, attack, and release
- Increases perceived low end so mixes translate on small speakers
- Available as a UAD DSP and UAD Native plug-in
