Hi everybody, I hope you’re doing marvellously well. Today I have the immense pleasure of sitting down with Ruben Tilgner, a man whose name is quietly synonymous with some of the most innovative and musical audio hardware in the world. He’s the founder, designer, and CEO of elysia, a company known for building some of the finest analog processors on the market.
We’ve just spent three wonderful days at elysia’s headquarters in Nettetal, Germany. Hopefully you’ve already seen our factory tour. If you haven’t, I’d recommend giving it a watch, as it beautifully illustrates how elysia’s gear is designed, tested, and assembled in-house with the utmost precision and care. From the outset, it’s clear that Ruben’s design philosophy isn’t confined to circuit schematics. It flows through the entire company, from product development to production workflows to the familial warmth that defines the culture here. His sense of precision and creativity began early, as he recalls taking apart his Christmas presents as a child just to understand how they worked. By age 13, he was building his own disco lighting rigs and soldering kits from German electronics companies like Conrad and Philips.
This innate curiosity for how things function eventually led him into a hands-on apprenticeship in electronics, climbing rooftops to repair antenna systems and repairing hi-fi equipment, before moving on to a pivotal early role at SPL (Sound Performance Lab). While at SPL, Ruben began honing his skills in audio electronics, designing envelope followers and compressors, including the now-legendary Transient Designer. This groundbreaking unit fundamentally changed how engineers shape dynamics, allowing unprecedented control over attack and sustain.
His career eventually took a bold turn. In 2006, Ruben launched elysia with his business partner and former bandmate, Dominik Klaas. The company began humbly in the basement of his parents’ house, with full support from his family, his father, a teacher of electronics, and his mother, who still cooks for the team on occasion. It was, and remains, a family affair.
elysia’s first product, the alpha compressor, debuted in 2006 at Musikmesse and instantly set a new standard in mastering-grade compression. Designed entirely from the ground up with discrete Class A circuitry, MS processing, sidechain filtering, and a built-in soft clipper, the alpha compressor was more than just a unit, it was a toolbox for mastering engineers. But Ruben didn’t stop there. When some engineers tried to push the alpha to do more aggressive tasks, he responded by creating the mpressor, a unit with more extreme capabilities including negative ratios and a gain reduction limiter. Features like these show Ruben’s penchant for forward-thinking designs that solve real-world studio challenges.
elysia’s product line has since expanded to include the xpressor, xfilter, karacter, skulpter, and the flagship envelope, a powerful transient-shaping unit that brings fine-tuned control to both percussive and harmonic content. Each product is designed not only for sonic excellence but also with a focus on tactile interaction and workflow efficiency. Ruben is passionate about tools that invite commitment during tracking and mixing, bringing back the joy of hands-on creativity without compromising the flexibility of digital workflows.
The latest leap forward is the highly anticipated ChannX (ChanX) Studio, which Ruben describes as a fully recallable, analog channel strip. Years in development, it blends high-fidelity analog signal paths with DAW-based total recall and intelligent user interaction. This is made possible through elysia’s proprietary VCAs, Voltage Controlled Amplifiers, and a unique control scheme using analog potentiometers with digital tracking, delivering a seamless, musical user experience that rivals any plugin in speed and accuracy, yet sounds unmistakably analog.
elysia’s evolution over the past four years has been dramatic, thanks to a growing team of exceptional engineers and craftspeople. The company now designs and builds nearly everything in-house, from precision metalwork to final assembly, allowing for unprecedented quality control and responsiveness in product development. Ruben’s commitment to innovation, coupled with his meticulous attention to detail and warm, collaborative spirit, has created something rare in pro audio, a company where craftsmanship, sound quality, and humanity co-exist in perfect balance.
From his childhood curiosity to founding SPL’s most iconic product, to creating a world-class facility with elysia, Ruben Tilgner has consistently pursued one goal, to build tools that empower musicians and engineers to make better music.
