fabfilter Saturn 2 or alternative

[concealed identity]

One I forgot to mention is Unfiltered Audio's Tryad.

It's a multiband multi-fx plugin, but has the distortion/saturation algorithms from their other plugins, which imo are quite good.

The quality of distortion in a dedicated Unfiltered Audio plugins is higher though than in Byome/Triad.

If they're using the same distortion algorithms, in what way is the quality higher? Oversampling? Genuinely curious.

[n8pee]

It's easily my favourite bass processing plugin.

Ditto this. A mild bit of compression and warm tape on the low end, and then any number of different flavors for the >800hz can yield some awesome bass tones (I love some of the guitar amp options for this) - combined with an envelope follower and individual wet/dry for each band? What is there not to like?!

[Igro]

One I forgot to mention is Unfiltered Audio's Tryad.

It's a multiband multi-fx plugin, but has the distortion/saturation algorithms from their other plugins, which imo are quite good.

The quality of distortion in a dedicated Unfiltered Audio plugins is higher though than in Byome/Triad.

If they're using the same distortion algorithms, in what way is the quality higher? Oversampling? Genuinely curious.

I'm not sure it uses the same algorithms. Byome/Triad are multi-effect plugins, so they probably decided to save on CPU.

[_al_]

One thing I love about Saturn is that each band has its own EQ so if the distortion is getting too aggressive or too fuzzy you can adjust it with the eq controls. The option are always sensible without being overwhelming.

It's easily my favourite bass processing plugin.

I'm wondering though... is that EQ really just a simple EQ?
It seems to me, it can drastically alter the timbre and tone of the distortion, to the point where I view the EQ as a sound design choice.
Maybe this is because the EQ is actually before the distortion (though the GUI says otherwise)
Or I wonder if there is some other interaction going on?

[Sindikhate]

Try Saturn 2 after Trash 2 for adding "warmth" and use the 4 band eq for tone shaping. They work well together.
Distort the hell out of things with Trash 2 and do the last touches with Saturn 2 on top.

[Dr.Gunjah]

The eq confuses me honestly. All bands have 4 tone controls, but I never quite know what I actually tweak. For example, if I have a band from 200-1000hz, where are the splits or center frequencies for the 4 tone controls?

The manual says:

The Tone controls adjust the bass, mid, treble and presence of the processed band signal, allowing you to tweak the harmonics generated by the distortion algorithm.

.... which is not very precise imho.

[foosnark]

I like Saturn 2 in theory, and playing with its options can be kind of fun.

But in practice, usually when I think "I want saturation here" I end up reaching for Wavesfactory Spectre (for multiband or a specific range) or NI Supercharger GT (to just generally warm stuff up).

[xerix]

Ok i got u;

So for instruments and channel strips you want;
- UAD Oxide
- JST clip
- decapitation

For master bus or busses
- sonnox inflator
- standard clip
- newfangled saturate
- OTT
- Pro L2

[Kaboom75]

Black Box HG-Q modulated by Ableton Lives LFO.

[pekbro]

MIA 990 Spark Multiband is a very close comparison to Saturn, interestingly. I prefer it quite often actually. It can be had cheap on sale, though their website seems down, maybe they aren't doing well with sales.

Seems like their prices have plummeted since their inception, which is a shame since they make very good stuff imo...

[concealed identity]

One I forgot to mention is Unfiltered Audio's Tryad.

It's a multiband multi-fx plugin, but has the distortion/saturation algorithms from their other plugins, which imo are quite good.

The quality of distortion in a dedicated Unfiltered Audio plugins is higher though than in Byome/Triad.

If they're using the same distortion algorithms, in what way is the quality higher? Oversampling? Genuinely curious.

I'm not sure it uses the same algorithms. Byome/Triad are multi-effect plugins, so they probably decided to save on CPU.

Just to follow up on this, it says in the manual it uses the same algorithms. I demoed some of the dedicated plugins side-by-side with Triad recently because they're on sale, and I couldn't hear any difference, at least when it comes to Dent, Sandman, and G8 (maybe Zip as well, I can't remember).

[Igro]

One I forgot to mention is Unfiltered Audio's Tryad.

It's a multiband multi-fx plugin, but has the distortion/saturation algorithms from their other plugins, which imo are quite good.

The quality of distortion in a dedicated Unfiltered Audio plugins is higher though than in Byome/Triad.

If they're using the same distortion algorithms, in what way is the quality higher? Oversampling? Genuinely curious.

I'm not sure it uses the same algorithms. Byome/Triad are multi-effect plugins, so they probably decided to save on CPU.

Just to follow up on this, it says in the manual it uses the same algorithms. I demoed some of the dedicated plugins side-by-side with Triad recently because they're on sale, and I couldn't hear any difference, at least when it comes to Dent, Sandman, and G8 (maybe Zip as well, I can't remember).

I will definitely try again.

[Igro]

One I forgot to mention is Unfiltered Audio's Tryad.

It's a multiband multi-fx plugin, but has the distortion/saturation algorithms from their other plugins, which imo are quite good.

The quality of distortion in a dedicated Unfiltered Audio plugins is higher though than in Byome/Triad.

If they're using the same distortion algorithms, in what way is the quality higher? Oversampling? Genuinely curious.

I'm not sure it uses the same algorithms. Byome/Triad are multi-effect plugins, so they probably decided to save on CPU.

Just to follow up on this, it says in the manual it uses the same algorithms. I demoed some of the dedicated plugins side-by-side with Triad recently because they're on sale, and I couldn't hear any difference, at least when it comes to Dent, Sandman, and G8 (maybe Zip as well, I can't remember).

So I finally tried it again. The algos are the same, but not the quality. In Byome, they are quite noisy. In Dent, they are clean (even without the oversampling).

[concealed identity]

One I forgot to mention is Unfiltered Audio's Tryad.

It's a multiband multi-fx plugin, but has the distortion/saturation algorithms from their other plugins, which imo are quite good.

The quality of distortion in a dedicated Unfiltered Audio plugins is higher though than in Byome/Triad.

If they're using the same distortion algorithms, in what way is the quality higher? Oversampling? Genuinely curious.

I'm not sure it uses the same algorithms. Byome/Triad are multi-effect plugins, so they probably decided to save on CPU.

Just to follow up on this, it says in the manual it uses the same algorithms. I demoed some of the dedicated plugins side-by-side with Triad recently because they're on sale, and I couldn't hear any difference, at least when it comes to Dent, Sandman, and G8 (maybe Zip as well, I can't remember).

So I finally tried it again. The algos are the same, but not the quality. In Byome, they are quite noisy. In Dent, they are clean (even without the oversampling).

Interesting! If you have time, I'd love to hear audio examples. I'm not sure what "noisy" and "clean" mean in this context- surely that means the algorithms are not the same? I don't really understand the distinction between "algorithms" and "quality" here.

[Igro]

The quality of distortion in a dedicated Unfiltered Audio plugins is higher though than in Byome/Triad.

If they're using the same distortion algorithms, in what way is the quality higher? Oversampling? Genuinely curious.

I'm not sure it uses the same algorithms. Byome/Triad are multi-effect plugins, so they probably decided to save on CPU.

Just to follow up on this, it says in the manual it uses the same algorithms. I demoed some of the dedicated plugins side-by-side with Triad recently because they're on sale, and I couldn't hear any difference, at least when it comes to Dent, Sandman, and G8 (maybe Zip as well, I can't remember).

So I finally tried it again. The algos are the same, but not the quality. In Byome, they are quite noisy. In Dent, they are clean (even without the oversampling).

Interesting! If you have time, I'd love to hear audio examples. I'm not sure what "noisy" and "clean" mean in this context- surely that means the algorithms are not the same? I don't really understand the distinction between "algorithms" and "quality" here.

I'm not going to make audio samples. Quality test you can make yourself with a sine kick. It just too obvious difference. Dent with 2xOS gives a double CPU load than Byome (Byome doesn't have the oversampling option at all)