Cheap saturation plugin

[crickey13]

Nobody seems to have mentioned this, so for the record, all paid Voxengo saturation plugins are cheap, very good and each of them has a unique flavor, e.g. Warmifier, VariSaturator, Powershaper, OVC-128 etc. I find that Aleksey's plugins handle aliasing exceptionally well, which is particularly important in the case of saturation, so be sure to check them out.

[The Noodlist]

Melda Mamp even better when it's on sale at -50%.
https://www.meldaproduction.com/MAmp

MAmp is a great sounding vintage amp. Whether you are looking for a soft saturation to enhance the harmonic content or a great sounding creative distortion, MAmp is the right tool for the job.

[MogwaiBoy]

Nobody seems to have mentioned this, so for the record, all paid Voxengo saturation plugins are cheap, very good and each of them has a unique flavor, e.g. Warmifier, VariSaturator, Powershaper, OVC-128 etc. I find that Aleksey's plugins handle aliasing exceptionally well, which is particularly important in the case of saturation, so be sure to check them out.

Warmifier has been double-precision / alias-free for years and years. Voxengo are in the top-tier of all DSP developers in sound and quality

[smd12]

Decapitator is on sale for $49

https://www.soundtoys.com/product/decapitator/

[YoddYarmonics]

Unfiltered Audio
Indent 2
dat modulation

[Azbest]

Black Box HG-2. Wait for the inevitable sale. I got mine for like $13, tax included.

[nIGhT-SoN]

Unfiltered Audio
Indent 2
dat modulation

That looks sick! Maybe when I'll get my hands on a voucher I'll get it.

[MogwaiBoy]

Wondering about IK's Saturator X (or whatever it's called). 18 Euro with Jampoints deduction is cheap. Is it good? Recently got their tapes which are excellent.

[Obselysium]

Decapitator is on sale for $49

https://www.soundtoys.com/product/decapitator/

Yes, this is a really good sale for Decapitator. This is the lowest it usually goes. Unfortunately for OP, it uses iLok, but the plugin is worth it imo. You can authorize the license to the computer and completely forget about iLok. Another option is iZotope Trash 2, if they're ok with dealing with iZotope's ecosystem for a little bit. It frequently goes on sale for $10 as part of some bundles on PluginBoutique, has been given away a handful of times in the past, and as a result licenses can be found second-hand for $15-ish. Really solid standalone plugin.

[TIMT]

Soundtoys authorisation with Ilok is utterly painless. Just bang in the serial number they give you when you purchase, and after having done that, you'd never think it was using Ilok. Bought SieQ the other day for about 26 quid on a whim.

[imrae]

I like the workflow on Saturator X, being able to quickly flip through a bunch of very different saturation modes. Unfortunately they "bite" with very different thresholds so levels are a bit all-over-the-place when doing this.

Having found a saturation style I like on Saturator X, I tend to shoot it out against a similar style from Reelbus / SDRR / True Iron / Fuse stuff and may be able to dial in something more suitable with their extra controls.

[Ikaz7]

I found that a lot of saturation plugins have lots of aliasing going on. Softube Saturation Knob being one of them. At GS there is a great thread and reference with lots of test results:

https://gearspace.com/board/music-compu ... ts-76.html

[FapFilter]

... while lots of the biggest pros in the business actually don't seem to care that much about aliasing.
and some of them, like Serban Ghenea are seemingly heralded as THE standard for great sounding mixes, even over there on GS.

of course it's nice to keep digital restrictions / limitations in mind, but also don't overanalyze too much with visual analyzers that'll show you everything, even stuff that most (or all human beings) wouldn't hear.
Use your ears. If it sounds good, it sounds good.
if you hear it (and don't like it), use different settings, or something else if that didn't help.
I wonder how many would stop using analog gear if they relied as much on visual analyzing those imperfections like noise floor, that's too often even pretty much inaudible too, imperfect frequency responses, and other "flaws"

[Ikaz7]

... while lots of the biggest pros in the business actually don't seem to care that much about aliasing.
and some of them, like Serban Ghenea are seemingly heralded as THE standard for great sounding mixes, even over there on GS.

of course it's nice to keep digital restrictions / limitations in mind, but also don't overanalyze too much with visual analyzers that'll show you everything, even stuff that most (or all human beings) wouldn't hear.
Use your ears. If it sounds good, it sounds good.
if you hear it (and don't like it), use different settings, or something else if that didn't help.
I wonder how many would stop using analog gear if they relied as much on visual analyzing those imperfections like noise floor, that's too often even pretty much inaudible too, imperfect frequency responses, and other "flaws"

I disagree. Measurements allow objective evaluation. Artifacts like aliasing and DC offset on many channels add up and cause audible issues, even if the problem might seem negligible on a single instance.

And having 1) a subjective impression of a plugin based solely on using it and listening and 2) running objective measurements are not mutually exclusive.

In fact my objective measurements verified my subjective impression: the saturation plugins I always felt sounded a bit off and unpleasant exhibited significant amounts of artifacts, while exactly those plugins that I always ended up using for their pleasant sound exhibited the lowest amount of artifacts.

I wouldn't know why blindly trusting plugin companies claims about the accuracy and quality of analog modelling should be the gold standard, when it's very easy to perform measurements and verify one's own subjective impression?

And I'm sure someone like Serban Ghenea can afford a top-notch audio workstation rig, so aliasing is most likely not an issue for him anyway, even with badly coded (eg Waves, Slate, some of the Softube ones etcetera) pseudo-analog plugins. That guy can probably run projects at highest sampling rates and hundreds of individual channels without hiccups, unlike many semi-professionals and bedroom engineers with less sophisticated setups. Hence I want my plugins to keep artifacts at a minimum without taxing the CPU too much. When a plugin like Softube Saturation Knob introduces massive amounts of aliasing, while a Variety of Sound freebie doesn't, I will obviously choose the Variety of Sound freebie, especially when the CPU tax is the same or even less.

[FapFilter]

not sure, but i think the guy that's working with him and posting on GS claims they're usually at 44k (or was it 48?), only sometimes 88 or 96k. it's depending on the projects they are receiving.
if i'm not wrong though, i think he (and most other pros that post there too) claims not to hear much of a difference between 44k and higher rates.
and like most pros, he's using 20+ years old plugins. a lot.
not that he's not using newer ones aswell though

not following these threads religiously though, but i think that's what i gathered from those over time when i visited them

and i'm not advising to completely disregard measurements, you should definetly keep those in mind (same with artifacts on analog gear) but apparently they aren't everything either, as just being devoid of unwanted technical artifacts, doesn't automatically mean that it's superior - or even good sounding (to you).