KVR Audio

egbert101 · Post by **egbert101** » Wed Jan 31, 2024 3:19 pm

All that is required to make digital synths sparkle is a bit of saturation. I find digital saturation almost pulls it off, but doesn't really satisfy as magical pixie dust.

What is your cheapest/best method for adding analog saturation/drive to your digital gear?

vurt · Post by **vurt** » Wed Jan 31, 2024 3:19 pm

muff.

egbert101 · Post by **egbert101** » Wed Jan 31, 2024 3:21 pm

vurt wrote: Wed Jan 31, 2024 3:19 pmmuff.

I love a bit of muff.

MFXxx · Post by **MFXxx** » Wed Jan 31, 2024 3:23 pm

egbert101 wrote: Wed Jan 31, 2024 3:21 pm
vurt wrote: Wed Jan 31, 2024 3:19 pmmuff.
I love a bit of muff.

The hairier the fuzzier

Sorry keep it clean.... M

jethrobull · Post by **jethrobull** » Wed Jan 31, 2024 3:23 pm

TC electronic mojomojo

cryophonik · Post by **cryophonik** » Wed Jan 31, 2024 3:29 pm

“Best” would my Elektron Analog Heat, but it’s not cheap and does way more than just analog saturation.

egbert101 · Post by **egbert101** » Wed Jan 31, 2024 3:44 pm

cryophonik wrote: Wed Jan 31, 2024 3:29 pm “Best” would my Elektron Analog Heat, but it’s not cheap and does way more than just analog saturation.

I was thinking of feeding digital stuff into a Syntakt, as it has a analog drive included (Stereo I think) which is from the Heat. Of course, there's a lot more stuff on the Heat and Syntakt isn't cheap!

cryophonik · Post by **cryophonik** » Wed Jan 31, 2024 5:36 pm

egbert101 wrote: Wed Jan 31, 2024 3:44 pm
cryophonik wrote: Wed Jan 31, 2024 3:29 pm “Best” would my Elektron Analog Heat, but it’s not cheap and does way more than just analog saturation.
I was thinking of feeding digital stuff into a Syntakt, as it has a analog drive included (Stereo I think) which is from the Heat. Of course, there's a lot more stuff on the Heat and Syntakt isn't cheap!

I've actually never tried that with my Syntakt, but I really should!

Uncle E · Post by **Uncle E** » Wed Jan 31, 2024 6:18 pm

Use Tonex and my MoogerFooger captures. That's as good or better than any hardware.

bmanic · Post by **bmanic** » Wed Jan 31, 2024 6:30 pm

If you happen to have a 500 series system you could take a look at things like this:

https://www.diyrecordingequipment.com/c ... ons/colour

These are quite subtle though unless you drive them really hot but they give some subtle "mojo" when wanted.

itanever · Post by **itanever** » Wed Jan 31, 2024 7:06 pm

JPTR FX Jive is cool. It's a pedal that's inspired by the preamp of an Akai reel to reel tape machine. It can go from relatively subtle up to 11. There's also a dual channel version available if you want to run stereo signals through it or just want 2 channels. I think the mono one was a bit over 100 euros and the dual channel was about 200. Maybe not the cheapest, but in terms of hardware still pretty cheap.

jethrobull · Post by **jethrobull** » Wed Jan 31, 2024 7:14 pm

itanever wrote: Wed Jan 31, 2024 7:06 pm JPTR FX Jive is cool. It's a pedal that's inspired by the preamp of an Akai reel to reel tape machine. It can go from relatively subtle up to 11. There's also a dual channel version available if you want to run stereo signals through it or just want 2 channels. I think the mono one was a bit over 100 euros and the dual channel was about 200. Maybe not the cheapest, but in terms of hardware still pretty cheap.

I was looking to get one myself but couldn't find any other than second hand.

itanever · Post by **itanever** » Wed Jan 31, 2024 7:24 pm

jethrobull wrote: Wed Jan 31, 2024 7:14 pm
itanever wrote: Wed Jan 31, 2024 7:06 pm JPTR FX Jive is cool. It's a pedal that's inspired by the preamp of an Akai reel to reel tape machine. It can go from relatively subtle up to 11. There's also a dual channel version available if you want to run stereo signals through it or just want 2 channels. I think the mono one was a bit over 100 euros and the dual channel was about 200. Maybe not the cheapest, but in terms of hardware still pretty cheap.
I was looking to get one myself but couldn't find any other than second hand.

Seems to be available for order on their website.

jethrobull · Post by **jethrobull** » Wed Jan 31, 2024 7:28 pm

itanever wrote: Wed Jan 31, 2024 7:24 pm
jethrobull wrote: Wed Jan 31, 2024 7:14 pm
itanever wrote: Wed Jan 31, 2024 7:06 pm JPTR FX Jive is cool. It's a pedal that's inspired by the preamp of an Akai reel to reel tape machine. It can go from relatively subtle up to 11. There's also a dual channel version available if you want to run stereo signals through it or just want 2 channels. I think the mono one was a bit over 100 euros and the dual channel was about 200. Maybe not the cheapest, but in terms of hardware still pretty cheap.
I was looking to get one myself but couldn't find any other than second hand.
Seems to be available for order on their website.

Oh yeah

Thank you

egbert101 · Post by **egbert101** » Wed Jan 31, 2024 8:49 pm

Thanks everyone so far for your suggestions, this is a really interesting topic for me! A few other ideas I've come across:

1) JOYO JF-01 Vintage Overdrive Guitar Effect Pedal: This is dead cheap but seems to offer a classic sound (I believe it is a clone of the Ibanez TS-808 Tube Screamer) which seems to offer a very popular and warm tone. What could possibly go wrong?
2) Behringer Spring Reverberation 636: Announced only yesterday, it's a spring verb but everyone seems mighty impressed with the preamp.
3) Put it through your existing analog synths or modules which have inputs. Analog Four, Syntakt currently come to mind. Yeah, perhaps anything will do for a bit of saturation but this thread is trying to explore the best/cheapest options.

Best or Cheapest Analog Saturation/Drive for Digital Synths