MusicRadar

• Review

Summary

Overall, you should buy FATSO for its sonic footprint (carefully transferred from a proven hardware unit) and its excellent custom upgrade, FATSO Sr. However, the hardware-style mode switching feels clumsy in the software domain, and having two versions (Jr. and Sr.) seems like an unnecessary gimmick.

Listen to both versions of FATSO in action:

FATSO Jr.

1. Picked acoustic guitar: first running through the compressors - buss, general purpose, tracking and then the limiter. Next, removing compressors and driving the input itself so LED meter hits 'pinned'. Bypass to compare. Reducing input level a bit and adding 'tranny' option. Repeatedly bypassing to compare.

2. Snare drum: first running through the compressor options including combinations - bus, general purpose, tracking, spank, then spank combined with first three. Next, reset levels and clicking through the warmth settings from 1 to 7. Then choosing general-purpose compressor, and setting warmth to a mid point to show heavily fattened snare sound.

3. Kick drum: Trying the three compressor options, settling on tracking. Spinning through the warmth settings to reduce top end click. Finally, adding in the 'tranny' setting for thickness. Bypassing repeatedly to compare.

4. Kit overheads: cycling round a section with a crash, gradually increasing the warmth control to reduce the harshness. Bypass to compare. Notice how the snare transients also get tamed by the warmth effect.

FATSO Sr.

1. Drum kit: full kit mix, switching in the compressor choosing general purpose preset then reducing threshold for deep compression. Next, switching in the attack and release options selecting slow attack and fast release for a big squashed sound. Finally, adding in the 'tranny' effect and pushing to the max using the Sr. 'tranny' level control. Bypass to compare.