What's your 'go to' distortion/saturation plugins?

[DrGonzo]

ColdFire is amazing with the crazy modulation features, but people don't speak sufficiently about the quality of basic saturation with it. Just using one algo or two in serie and it sounds truly great. Amazing plugin...

I always felt 99% of saturation plugins are absolutely horrid (great for cool sound design though). Not saying it can't be done - the saturation models in Repro-5 is just so wonderfully organic and alive.

Thanks for pointing that out and I will examine the subtle nuances of Coldfire.

[panspOrmia]

+1 on Kombinat (all 3 versions!).

[Leo1999]

Hello? This is a total clickbait post from someone who desperately wants to push his YouTube channel! Don’t fall for it!
Is that even allowed on KVR?

Oops, didn't even read the post... Let's report.

Ugh!
Omg, what a drama!
Isn't everyone free to decide
whether to watch a video or not? _!

Decapitator, Radiator

[simon.a.billington]

The Drop
Phils Cascade
Flower Child

Phils Cascade @192kHz is still pretty amazing.

PA has announced another couple of plugins, not sure if they are on the street yet. But they have mentioned they were releasing SA2RATE and Maor Applebaum’s The Oven.

Plus Wave’s did a BB Tubes thing, online previews of it so far seem pretty positive.

I agree re: phil's cascade. Too bad it's PA, i won't use it. It's not THAT unique in the end, but it's pretty great and imo one of the best PA plugs. Also one of the coolest approaches to ITB distortion. (Build something with the purpose of modelling it)

re: BB Tubes:
it's whack, and anyone who believe it's in any way special or even decent by today's standards shouldn't call themselves an engineer.

Paul Third isnt always on the money and he does take a lot of things out of context. Devoid of what developers wish marketing always tends to overhype products. Most companies are guilty of this, its the result of living in a capitalist society.

What it is really is just a odds & evens distortion plugin that gives you a few convenient features. Sure you can probably replicate it, with a bit of effort, the convenient features with a bit more effort. Most things we do can be replicated, its just the matter of using the right tools and spending the time to figure it out.

Or you can just accept it for what it is, a convenient timesaver like most other things in the modern world and either choose to invest $30 in it or not.

If memory serves, he’s not actually using it correctly. He keeps yelling, “it doesn’t actually do anything! It’s just louder!” Because it is based on how an actual circuit overdrives, you have to up the “sensitivity,” which seems to just be a way to fake extra gain into the input. It does indeed do something, and it’s not just louder.

It’s a classic case of user error meets internet. I have to admit that I was guilty of this when I demoed Korg’s Modwave plugin. The MS20 filter sounded weak as hell to me. None of that scream that one would expect from that filter’s resonance. Someone kindly pointed out that the filter gain setting is a bit unintuitive (you have to set a drop down menu to “two oscillator” even when using one to get extra gain into the filter. Poor wording.) and when I redid my test with that in mind, the plugin behaved as expected and was quite good. When I mentioned the sensitivity thing to Paul on his channel, he blathered at me with some nonsense, basically yelling, “I’m going to die on this hill of ignorance.” It was simple for me to just unsubscribe and never have to see his stupid click bait videos ever again.

Again, BB Tubes is actually guilty of hyperbolic marketing. It is not a “game changer.” What it is, is a good sounding saturation plugin with an interesting take on odd/even control. Sounds excellent on bass, and when they fix the 4X oversampling, I’m sure I’ll use it all the time.

I can't stand toxic, ignorant behaviour in videos and on the web in general. It just shows how unprofessional and ill-informed this guy is. The correct thing to do would have been to acknowledge what you said, take it away, play with it, then comeback with a conclusion and possibly a follow up video.

In regards to the hyperbolic marketing, this describes just about every product released!! This is not just a Waves specific thing. It's another practice I don't agree with, alongside capitalistic greed. I've been registering my distaste for this kind of practice for years, but marketers also like to remain ill-informed and ignorant as well, it seems.

[zerocrossing]

The Drop
Phils Cascade
Flower Child

Phils Cascade @192kHz is still pretty amazing.

PA has announced another couple of plugins, not sure if they are on the street yet. But they have mentioned they were releasing SA2RATE and Maor Applebaum’s The Oven.

Plus Wave’s did a BB Tubes thing, online previews of it so far seem pretty positive.

I agree re: phil's cascade. Too bad it's PA, i won't use it. It's not THAT unique in the end, but it's pretty great and imo one of the best PA plugs. Also one of the coolest approaches to ITB distortion. (Build something with the purpose of modelling it)

re: BB Tubes:
it's whack, and anyone who believe it's in any way special or even decent by today's standards shouldn't call themselves an engineer.

Paul Third isnt always on the money and he does take a lot of things out of context. Devoid of what developers wish marketing always tends to overhype products. Most companies are guilty of this, its the result of living in a capitalist society.

What it is really is just a odds & evens distortion plugin that gives you a few convenient features. Sure you can probably replicate it, with a bit of effort, the convenient features with a bit more effort. Most things we do can be replicated, its just the matter of using the right tools and spending the time to figure it out.

Or you can just accept it for what it is, a convenient timesaver like most other things in the modern world and either choose to invest $30 in it or not.

If memory serves, he’s not actually using it correctly. He keeps yelling, “it doesn’t actually do anything! It’s just louder!” Because it is based on how an actual circuit overdrives, you have to up the “sensitivity,” which seems to just be a way to fake extra gain into the input. It does indeed do something, and it’s not just louder.

It’s a classic case of user error meets internet. I have to admit that I was guilty of this when I demoed Korg’s Modwave plugin. The MS20 filter sounded weak as hell to me. None of that scream that one would expect from that filter’s resonance. Someone kindly pointed out that the filter gain setting is a bit unintuitive (you have to set a drop down menu to “two oscillator” even when using one to get extra gain into the filter. Poor wording.) and when I redid my test with that in mind, the plugin behaved as expected and was quite good. When I mentioned the sensitivity thing to Paul on his channel, he blathered at me with some nonsense, basically yelling, “I’m going to die on this hill of ignorance.” It was simple for me to just unsubscribe and never have to see his stupid click bait videos ever again.

Again, BB Tubes is actually guilty of hyperbolic marketing. It is not a “game changer.” What it is, is a good sounding saturation plugin with an interesting take on odd/even control. Sounds excellent on bass, and when they fix the 4X oversampling, I’m sure I’ll use it all the time.

I can't stand toxic, ignorant behaviour in videos and on the web in general. It just shows how unprofessional and ill-informed this guy is. The correct thing to do would have been to acknowledge what you said, take it away, play with it, then comeback with a conclusion and possibly a follow up video.

In regards to the hyperbolic marketing, this describes just about every product released!! This is not just a Waves specific thing. It's another practice I don't agree with, alongside capitalistic greed. I've been registering my distaste for this kind of practice for years, but marketers also like to remain ill-informed and ignorant as well, it seems.

Like everything in this world today, it seems like it’s polarized. Something is both a “game changer” and “snake oil,” it seems. It’s like that tired superhero trope where it’s the hero’s fault for generating super villains because… of course that’s how it works.

As always, I just recommend not listening to either side, and just try something for yourself. It doesn’t take that much longer than watching someone else do it, and you’ll gain a deeper understanding of whatever you’re considering.

[zerocrossing]

No mention of Goodhertz's Tupe in this Thread ? (I made a search)
I find Tupe is amazing at thickening the lows and obtaining a thick, mellow and nice saturation without destroying all the dynamics (and I don't even speak about the features). I find it difficult to replicate it with other plugins - but one. -->
Arturia's ColdFire is also amazing, and can even mimick Tupe when using Tube and Tape algos. ColdFire is amazing with the crazy modulation features, but people don't speak sufficiently about the quality of basic saturation with it. Just using one algo or two in serie and it sounds truly great. Amazing plugin...

Oh yeah, I forgot about Tupe. I’ve not used it for a while, but it is truly excellent. Coldfire too, in fact, I’ll praise all the Arturia effects. They’ve really come along.

[__Karlo__]

I don’t have a lot of experience with saturation plugins but I really dig Shaperbox 3. It’s multiband and obviously can be modulated with a shaper. Super easy to use. I’m also demoing Tone Projects Kalvin - can also do a pseudo multi band thing. Sounds amazing.

[Scotty]

Doubled deleted..

[Scotty]

I give it to Waves BB Tubes. I’ve got the most of the other heavy hitters. Sorry Paul Turd.

[Echoes in the Attic]

I just took a longer look at coldfire and totally overlooked so much of it before. Seems to have quite a few features I didn’t realize like the feedback, multiband compressor, comb filters, lots of routing options.

Is there a discount if you own the fx collection 3? I assume it’ll show up in the next one anyways.

[jethrobull]

Zener model on DMG TrackComp. THD Ratio

[jethrobull]

I don’t have a lot of experience with saturation plugins but I really dig Shaperbox 3. It’s multiband and obviously can be modulated with a shaper. Super easy to use. I’m also demoing Tone Projects Kalvin - can also do a pseudo multi band thing. Sounds amazing.

DriveShaper is also nice.

[_leras]

I always felt 99% of saturation plugins are absolutely horrid (great for cool sound design though). Not saying it can't be done - the saturation models in Repro-5 is just so wonderfully organic and alive.

Thanks for pointing that out and I will examine the subtle nuances of Coldfire.

Not all saturation plug ins sound great, it's true, but it also depends on what you're trying achieve with it.

Volume, warmth, energy, presence, softness, edge are all things that can be gotten from saturation.

I think different plugine do better at different things.

[Funky40]

I think different plugine do better at different things.

agreed !
thats why it would be nice if people would put their tipps into a -theyr- context.

beside the aspect that "Best sound" and "Good Acess" are two completly different things.
But one might rate one way higher than the other.
Possibly even situation dependend in reversal.

New to a plugin ?
vs. that pro-chap on the internet who has years of (daily) experience with his ?
what you chose ?

[martinjuenke]

I like Captain Crunch from Kelloggs. Crispy and tasty, cuts through!