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Description
Dive into the realm of vintage analog warmth with the Universal Audio FATSO Jr./Sr. Tape Sim. & Compressor Plugin. This plugin provides musicians and producers with the authentic sound of analog tape, complete with its natural saturation and the iconic compression characteristics of classic hardware. Modelled on the Empirical Labs hardware, the FATSO Jr./Sr. plugin offers an exceptional emulation of the warmth, richness, and presence that tape adds to a mix.
Perfect for both mixing and mastering, this plugin offers a variety of controls that allow you to tailor the compression and saturation to your liking. With its intuitive interface, you can easily dial in the right amount of warmth and punch for drums, vocals, guitars, and more. The FATSO Jr./Sr. stands out with its unique Warmth control, which dynamically reduces high-frequency content, mimicking the natural roll-off of analog tape.
Whether you’re looking to add subtle tape characteristics or want to completely transform a sound into something reminiscent of the golden age of recording, the FATSO Jr./Sr. delivers with precision and flexibility. It’s a powerful tool for any studio setup, providing the benefit of analog tape emulation without the hassle of maintenance.
Key Features:
- Authentic emulation of analog tape saturation and compression
- Modeled on Empirical Labs hardware
- Flexible Warmth control for dynamic high-frequency attenuation
- Suitable for mixing and mastering applications
- Intuitive interface for easy control over compression and saturation levels
- Compatible with major DAWs on both Windows and macOS systems
Videos
Universal Audio
UAD Fatso Powered Plug-In Overview
Reviews
Owner Insights
We analyzed real musician discussions from forums and Reddit to find what players love, question, and tweak about Universal Audio FATSO Jr./Sr. Tape Sim. & Compressor Plugin.
Features and functionality
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The FATSO plugin excels at making audio fat and punchy with a thick tone, but it is not specifically lo-fi.
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Comparisons
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Users highlight that SoundToys Decapitator and UAD Ampex tape machine offer different saturation qualities compared to FATSO, with Decapitator being a favorite for alternative distortion.
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Use cases and applications
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Sketch Cassette is recommended for lo-fi/vintage sounds, and pairing it with FATSO might achieve a thick and deep tone.
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Software and compatibility
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FATSO is noted to sound modern and big, enhancing low end with gentle compression, differentiating it from more traditional lo-fi plugins.
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4.5 out of 5
Based on 2 Reviews and 9 Ratings
41029
I don't like the hardware fatso. I enver managed tog et anything out of it that I felt was an improvement over the sound coming into mixdown. I will say I've not sued it ona ton of DI material and I find myself using a lot of pedals, amps, saturation plugins etc recording hardware synths these days.
5455
Yeah, I never got the Fatso cuz why? I'm a dual format joint and have been for over a decade & a half. Forgive me if I've got this wrong but it is supposed to add that "analog" saturation, odd/even harmonics, and tape eq curves, right? Meh, I have yet to use it on even one track. Those damn bundles tho...they encourage risk. I've gotten wiser finally.
251
this is the shit!
simply amazing tool! uad is the best studio hardware i have trust me. buy it.
Artist usage
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"The FATSO™ Jr./Sr. Tape Sim. & Compressor plug-in is also a good one on drums specifically, to make the snare sound a little more crisp." - Armin Van Buuren.
Diplo on using Universal Audio's FATSO plugin: "The FATSO is used quite often on the record for drums and vocals, as well as instrument sounds. It was often used on busses, such as the drums and bass in the song 'Playground', but that’s more of a traditional use. It would just as often get used for creative purposes during resampling."
"on the master bus we use UAD fatso, URS channel strip pro, UAD SSL comp, Pultec."
Used on "What Do You Mean?", as stated by Purpose mix engineers Josh Gudwin and Andrew Wuepper in this May 2016 Sound on Sound interview about the mixing of the title track and others.
Gudwin picks out a few other interesting tracks, beginning with a vocal track named ‘vcls’. “That track contains a vocal sample that Blood made of Justin’s vocal. I’m just touching that with the LFO Tool for a bit of pumping, I take out some high frequencies with the Pro-Q 2, and then use the SoundToys Microshift for a slight pitch-shift/chorusing effect. ‘Sry1V’ below that is the vinyl sound in the track. ‘$JBU’ is the main lead vocal bus, on which I have the UAD 1176, Waves De-Esser, Manley Massive Passive, Metric Halo Channel Strip. The sends are to the generic aux tracks at the bottom of the sesion: verb, ping-pong delay, Dimension D. Below the lead vocal bus is the print track of a Bricasti outboard.”
Wuepper: “There are two tracks called ‘Bric’ around the main vocal bus; the one above is the print from the Bricasti effect that was used on the percussion, and the one below is the print of the Bricasti reverb on the vocal. Next are Josh’s vocal delays. Putting delays on audio snippets [ie. copying short vocal clips to new tracks and applying delays as inserts, rather than automating a send from the main vocal track] is a pretty interesting way of doing things. I’ve not seen anyone else do this, but it makes it easier for Josh to manipulate these delays and to go deeper into the effect. He can really fine tune the delay times and decay lengths and so on. Sometimes the feedback you get with plug-ins can act a little weird, and this approach allows him to have more control.”
Gudwin: “The five green tracks are all vocal throws and delays. I don’t like to automate delay throws via aux tracks. The top green track is the master track for the delays, ‘JB Throw All’, and it has a compressor and an SPL Vitalizer. The ‘1147’ delay track has the UAD Cooper Time Cube, with a quick ping-pong-y flutter delay that I use to widen, and the track called ‘1167’ has a basic eighth-note delay from the Echo Boy. The ‘A’ insert is Auto-Tune, but it’s not working on these tracks. When needed, our vocal tuning is normally done by Chris ‘Tek’ O’Ryan in Melodyne. I sometimes do it myself, if I have the time do it, in the stand-alone version.
“The blue vocal tracks below the vocal delay tracks are the main lead vocal comp tracks, and on many of them I have the UAD SSL Channel Strip, UAD LA-2A, and the Waves C6 multiband compressor, and sometimes also the Pro-Q 2 EQ. The ‘DLYP’ track has a delay pan effect, with the SoundToys Primal Tap delay and Panman auto-panner, SSL Channel Strip and the P&M Vinylizer. ‘White’ and ‘Master’ are printed reverbs recorded in two rooms at Henson. They are my main plug-in vocal reverbs, and the green tracks below are pitched with the Elastic Audio X-Form [in Pro Tools] and effected with the Waves H-Compressor for a pumping effect. I pitched the reverbs up an octave or two, and I mixed them in very low. The ‘PCM’ and ‘PC1’ tracks are prints from ping-pong delays from the Lexicon PCM42 outboard.
“Justin’s backing vocal tracks all go to the group track called ‘JBG1’, on which I have a Waves De-esser, an SSL Channel and the C6 multiband compressor, plus there are a number of delays and reverbs via the sends. Trevon’s backing vocals all go to ‘JBTR’, which has similar effects. I wanted to fill the song up a bit more, and sometimes it’s not the most enjoyable process for an artist to sing all these background parts. Plus a different vocalist will add a different texture to the song, as long as it complements the lead vocal and the record. As I mentioned, Julia added her vocals during the final mix in New York, and her group track also has the De-esser, SSl Channel and C6. Right at the bottom are some effects tracks, with the Dimension D and group delay throws, and so on.
(...) 'Love Yourself'
(...) Next are Justin’s vocals, with I overdubbed in New York. Almost all the regular vocal tracks have the UAD SSL Channel, LA2 and the Waves C6 multiband compressor. These three plug-ins work great on his vocals, so I tend to stick with them. Each of the vocal tracks has slightly different settings from them. They all go to Justin’s lead vocal bus above them, which has the FabFilter Pro-DS de-esser and the Pro-2 EQ. Justin’s lead vocals also go through the Bricasti, and the effect is printed. My own four backing vocals went through a vocal bus on which I had the SSL Channel, and a compressor, but they didn’t do much, nor did the sends. These vocals are very much in the background, I just wanted to add some texture really quickly. Finally, at the top of the session everything went through a Master track, on which I had the UAD SSL channel, mainly for compression set to mid-attack and auto-release — without drums you don’t need the slow attack and quick release — a Massey EQ, boosting 100Hz and 16kHz, a FabFilter Pro-L for level, and the Sonnox Oxford Inflator to add some sheen.”
'What Do You Mean?'
(...) “There were a few more complicated vocal effects, like the ‘JG FX’ track, on which I used the Vitalizer doing some spatial expanding, a UAD Fatso to thicken it up, and I then cut some low mids with an EQ, and used a de-esser. This effect track gave more depth to the vocal and made him sound more like an angel! Underneath that are two ‘Radio’ tracks [which sound like they could have come straight from Peter Gabriel’s ’80s Fairlight experiments]. I used Auto-Tune to pitch the vocals up, and then put on a SoundToys AlterBoy, which changed the formant, and then I’m filtering 350Hz and below.
“Below the ‘radio’ tracks are all my vocal delay tracks, in green as usual, with the bus for all delay throws at the top. One delay track, ‘Splaater’, is a flutter delay with Auto-Tune and the Cooper Time Cube, and the other two have the Waves H-Delay and SoundToys Echo Boy. They’re both quarter-note delays, but with different feels. Below the delay tracks are some ad lib tracks, and all the actual lead vocals, pulled out over several tracks. Most of them have my regular trio of UAD SSL Channel, LA2 and Waves C6 plug-ins, and all vocals are sent to the ‘JB Buss’, on which I have the FabFilter DS de-esser, a Manley EQ doing light cuts at 330Hz, 560Hz and 3kHz, and then a whole bunch of sends to my regular aux tracks at the bottom: a hall reverb, a plate reverb, a light quarter-inch delay, a light ping-pong delay and a Dimension D.
“Further down are four Justin backing vocal tracks, which go to a bus above them, ‘JBG1’, on which I have the SSL Channel, boosting highs and cutting lows and doing some heavy compression, a UAD 33609 compressor, and then the Waves Enigma [phaser/flanger] on a Mutron setting, adding some sweeping sounds. The sends are once again hall and plate reverbs, a quarter-note and a ping-pong delay and a UAD Roland Dimension D. Once Justin had decided to go with my rough mix, I spent another half hour on it, doing some EQ adjustments, and that was it.”
"I do have a lot of UAD stuff, uh, some of my favorite(s) are... the FATSO..."On the screen, after 7 Skies names the plugin, a photo of the FATSO plugin's interface appears on screen. (33:11)
"I can't seem to live without the UAD finalizer, C6, LA2A and the Fatso. What are your most used plugins?"
"I use lots of UAD stuff all the time. I love their verbs 140 + 250. I love their Studer, Ampex and Culture Vulture. Love the Silver compressor and Fatso"
This Plugin can be seen in this Future Music Magazine video at 7:52, inside Justin Prime's Cubase Project.
Ever since this little beast came out years ago it’s been my main compressor, saturator, and all round “problem solver”. Sure it’s not the only tool I use and UAD has many other incredible plugins, but this is great for everything, drums, bass, leads, vocals, and after using the hardware unit many times, I’m still very convinced this is one of the best plugin emulations ever made, it’s very hard to tell any difference, and with the Sr. version it beats the hardware in a lot of ways. https://www.heavyweightbass.net/index.php/2017/01/20/top-3-plugins-wehbba-jan-2017/
Album Usage
The Universal Audio FATSO Jr./Sr. Tape Sim. & Compressor Plugin has been featured on the following albums:
Genre Usage
Based on how artists on Equipboard use this gear, it is most commonly found in the following genres.
Used With
Based on how musicians on Equipboard use Universal Audio FATSO Jr./Sr. Tape Sim. & Compressor Plugin, it is most commonly used with the following gear.
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