You know, ntom, clipping is mostly the same process whatever you use, plugin or otherwise. Hardware clipping sounds even worse these days than software, and some "wise" people used to use hardware clipping back in the day [today, too, I guess].

Use your ears, not eyes. Compare. LISTEN.

That's not true. Digital clipping causes aliasing that isn't present in analog clipping. (Now, digital hardware may clip as bad as software, I'm not sure what you mean by "hardware" as there's no such thing as software without hardware.)

Well, you can always splurge for the $11.76 version that includes oversampling to remove those nasty aliasing artifacts.

I will say, I am surprised at how much clipping needs to occur before you notice really nasty distortion effects. For me, I have been using ClipShifter more on busses to add a more saturated sound with a compression effect. I have been setting the initial threshold at a higher level then the ending threshold. The result is that louder sections get more of a saturated sound, but the sharper dynamics get passed through with less coloration. For single tracks (drums or bass), I like doing the reverse. By setting the initial threshold lower than the ending threshold, the starting transient signal gets clipped substantially more, while the remainder of the sound is minimally clipped.

Anyhow, give the free one a try and let me know what you think. I am always open to suggestions.

Yes. I certainly didn't mean to suggest there aren't techniques to mitigate aliasing from intentional clipping in the digital realm.

Nah, it was just a way of slipping in a shameless plug.