Cheap saturation plugin

[El°HYM]

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.

One of the Vintage - Modes is extremely smooth sounding, dont remember which one but its quite obvious compared to the other.

Regarding smooth saturation, I agree that Voxengo most definitely has some Algorithms most of the competitors are not even near to.

[Igro]

I am a big fan of D16 Devastor2 and Redoptor2 depending on the flavour your after. Often on sale. Their bit crusher Decimort2 is also great. I often just flick through the presets till I find something I like and then tweak the mix knob.

Devastator 2. Maybe not exactly a saturation pligin, but, honestly, the best distortion plugin for percussion (it doesn't matter for which style of music). I do electronic music and never layer kicks. Devastator 2 with the right tweaks can make a kick like if it was layered. Very good for EDM too. From a weak "sine" kick you can make a very solid kick that can cut through the mix. I don't even use any compressors, it is all there in the plugin. A must have.

[Tappistry]

Some good suggestions already. Also:

Airwindows ToTape 5 - free

Audiothing Valves - affordable

[Debutante]

Critical use of a waveshaper should not be underestimated.

[degreco]

https://audioassault.mx/products/headcrusher

Headcrusher is well known and quite explored. Somewhat comparable to Decapitator, but also different. As of now in a sale for 5.99$ which is a great deal if you like what Decapitator does but refuse the pricerange Soundtoys chooses for their stuff.

[eytanmich123]

Burier (KIT Plugs)

I Burierize everything

[BONES]

Bugger! You beat me to it. I only recently started using Burier but it's great for that subtle(ish) thickening that can sometimes make a part. It's also a doddle to use so it's quick and easy. Price is great, too.

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

You mean you saw a few screenshots and decided it was a problem. Let us know when it actually matters because, in my experience, it adds even more to the saturated sound most of the time. i.e. Aliasing is more likely to make it better than to make it worse.

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.

Bullshit!! If anything most of those kinds of problems are completely masked in a mix. Maybe not always DC Offset but that's easily fixed and not a problem.

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.

Maybe not for you but it is something I have never done in 40+ years of making music. I've always worked on the principle of if it sounds good, it is good and left it at that. Ae are regularly complemented on our production quality in album reviews, I think that principle has served us well.

I wouldn't know why blindly trusting plugin companies claims about the accuracy and quality of analog modelling should be the gold standard

And I don't understand why anyone would give a flying f**k about modelling analogue equipment. It' s a funny old world we live in, ain't it?

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

I'd never heard of this guy until I read this thread but if he's mixing no. 1 pop singles, I doubt he's using a lot of saturation plugins. OTOH, it's the heart and soul of what we do.

[CinningBao]

Serban Ghenea

I'd never heard of this guy until I read this thread but if he's mixing no. 1 pop singles, I doubt he's using a lot of saturation plugins. OTOH, it's the heart and soul of what we do.

I've heard your music, and it's no where near pop music, so I wouldn't make assumptions about what pop producers use. There is a surprising amount of saturation all over the pop charts, used subtly. Perhaps your ears are not sensetive enough to hear it?

Pop.

[imrae]

I'd also observe that BONES takes pride in using as few tracks as possible in his mixes. That's a different mixing style, and a different way of avoiding the build-up of artefacts over many tracks.

Pop producers with their double-tracking, layering, studio drums etc. are going to have different requirements.

[BONES]

More tracks just makes it easier to hide that shit, it' snot stuff that builds up, it's stuff you'll likely only notice if you solo tracks.

I've heard your music, and it's no where near pop music, so I wouldn't make assumptions about what pop producers use.

The big difference, genius, is that I have to endure plenty of pop music. It's unavoidable, so I think I'm as qualified as anyone to comment. If those guys are using saturation, they aren't using it in such a way that they are likely to have to deal with any aliasing or other artifacting, are they?

There is a surprising amount of saturation all over the pop charts, used subtly. Perhaps your ears are not sensetive enough to hear it?

Oh, I've no doubt those guys are as brainless as anybody. Like the rest of you, they'd never question the validity of the shit they do.

[Michey]

I found that a lot of saturation plugins have lots of aliasing going on.

Thank you for that.

My name is Capt. Mick Sir, I'm with the InterPol (Intermodulation distortion Police).

We value honest citizens like yourself, who are helping us to obliterate as much of this despicable aural phenomenon. you, like 99% of the world's population, can hear all these holes and notches in our precious waveforms - and we are glad you do. so, thank YOU !

Some good suggestions already. Also:

Airwindows ToTape 5 - free

Please take notice :

The InterPol criminal division has conducted an analysis to this plug (actually, to a newer version) and found it unworthy due to some notches and holes in its resulting measured waveform. our researchers were hard-pressed finding any meaningful AURAL difference but nevertheless - the picture speaks for itself. and if I were to quote the guy who produced the picture below : "it is not a plug I would ever use".

Here is the resulting waveform :



A search warrant has been issued to hunt down Mr. Chris Johnson, the coder of this plug. last we heard he's escaped to Latin America (specifically : British Columbia). sources tell us that most likely he will be sentenced to 99 years in prison, painting pictures with straight line frequency plots AND coding LINEAR response plugins ONLY.

If any of you guys find more pictures like the one above, LITTERING our impeccable aural world, don't hesitate and call us. call ME.

Thanks again for your hard work

Mick

[degreco]

lol

[The Noodlist]

Overdrive/Distortion Tube Vacuum plug-in (free)

Taratube implements up to 8 vacuum tubes that can be placed in serial

https://smaolab.org/product/taratube-fr ... n/#content

---

A write up at BPB
https://bedroomproducersblog.com/2022/0 ... -taratube/

[BONES]

I tried Headcrusher and Taratube and they are two very different sounding plugins. In m ylimited playing with it, Headcrusher doesn't really do much for me. I tseems to muddy up the sound, rather than enhance it, but Taratube is a f**king cracker! You don't get much control but it sounds so good you don't feel like you need to do much to it, either. One thing it's not is subtle but they do have a more subtle member of the family if that's more your thang. Headcrusher feels like a waste of $9 - I couldn't download the demo, it kept trying to switch out the download for some dodgy flac file - but Taratube is a definite keeper.

[dionenoid]

Nick Crow Tubedriver : https://www.kvraudio.com/product/nick-c ... k-crow-lab