Aphex Aural Exciter Type B

With three controls per channel it should be easy enough. However, the input metering is poor (one led that changes from green to red through orange) and without stereo link, it's difficult to set the two channels exactly the same.

Very material-dependent. For me, it worked well on drums and purposely distorted material, such as electric guitars, as well as on vocals. Needless to say, I wasn't going for a natural sound on the latter, though even with the added crispness and air, the vocals still didn't appear either overly bright or unnatural in the context of the mix.

With all the magic that the Aural Exciter may work on a track, I have a hard time imagining running an entire stereo mix through. Firstly, making everything brighter is bound to result in a tiring listening experience, but more importantly, many instruments, especially acoustic ones, develop noticeable distortion when passed through the Aural Exciter.

My biggest gripe about the build quality is that the controls and the input and output jacks are soldered onto the main board which even moves round a bit - that's bound to be a liability. It doesn't have a hard-bypass, which means I'd only run it live in parallel, which is the way I'd recommend it to run anyway as it tends to dull the attack (best noticeable with drums) and suck out some of the bass from bass-heavy tracks.

After I learned its strengths and weaknesses, I liked the Aural Exciter for what it did. However, after I got a good deal on the SPL Vitalizer, I couldn't help noticing that enhancer technology has advanced tremendously since the mid 1980s and that there was little reason for me to keep the Aural Exciter. I suppose Aphex's later offerings have also evolved, and if you're looking for this particular sound, there is little else to do but to get one unit or the other.