Saturation

[VELLTONE MUSIC]

Highly recommend this plugin for almost everything in mid section.
It's a crime to sell such beauty at this price:
https://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/prod ... or_v2.html

[VELLTONE MUSIC]

Interesting facts about saturation:

[Winstontaneous]

So many great saturators out there! But it's easy to turn things into a mushy mess especially if your monitoring is not good.

I use a lot of the Voxengo stuff - Marquis Compressor, VariSaturator, the tape plugin. Drumformer is a 1 to 3-band saturator/compressor with EQ, gate and a clipper on the output, it reminds me of a fully adjustable PSP VintageWarmer...speaking of which all theirs are also top notch.

Since discovering ToneBoosters Barricade 4, a bit of Analog Tape saturation is on every track I've completed. And the free Softube Saturation knob is great on bass with the Keep Bass setting on. Cytomic Scream is so detailed with just a little added to any source.

[Papuzzo]

So many great saturators out there! But it's easy to turn things into a mushy mess especially if your monitoring is not good.

I use a lot of the Voxengo stuff - Marquis Compressor, VariSaturator, the tape plugin. Drumformer is a 1 to 3-band saturator/compressor with EQ, gate and a clipper on the output, it reminds me of a fully adjustable PSP VintageWarmer...speaking of which all theirs are also top notch.

Since discovering ToneBoosters Barricade 4, a bit of Analog Tape saturation is on every track I've completed. And the free Softube Saturation knob is great on bass with the Keep Bass setting on. Cytomic Scream is so detailed with just a little added to any source.

PSP VintageWarmer, now that's a blast from my past! That is the first plugin that should go into the hall of fame of digital recording. In the future they will be making emulations of it and everyone will swear the original had a "Mojo" that just can't be recreated by artificial intelligence.

[VELLTONE MUSIC]

i don't know, probably is matter of taste or there is really serious tech differences,but to me saturators are 'hot' or 'cold','clean' or 'dirty' ...
At least that's the feeling they give me.
For example PA Saturator is super hot,Big Al is cold-ish,adore them both...
Some i can't even define and not sure where to use,like PA THE OVEN...
As a guitarist I prefer everything with tube inside,no matter what fx it is,like uad la2a tube...
Hesitating between Vertigo VSM-3 and Silver bullet mk2 now,any opinion from users?

[BlackOctopus_Slade]

For guitar some cool techniques even during recording process for saturation is using a standalone mic pre (we have api, neve, etc) and you crank the input and attenuate the output so you are hitting the mic pre heavy and hard then gain staging. You get a really cool sizzle you can’t find elsewhere like this on the actual tracking. Also check out Kelvin as you can essentially do the same with that in the digital domain or any standalone mic pre emulation can work too. But Kelvin is cool because it’s multiband and you can rally control it to be the cold, hot, warm etc you’re speaking of! I’m a big saturation fanatic I actually wrote an in depth article years and years back in 2017 about saturation use in mixing. Here is a link.
https://reverb.com/news/how-to-use-sat ... your-mixes

[VELLTONE MUSIC]

For guitar some cool techniques even during recording process for saturation is using a standalone mic pre (we have api, neve, etc) and you crank the input and attenuate the output so you are hitting the mic pre heavy and hard then gain staging. You get a really cool sizzle you can’t find elsewhere like this on the actual tracking. Also check out Kelvin as you can essentially do the same with that in the digital domain or any standalone mic pre emulation can work too. But Kelvin is cool because it’s multiband and you can rally control it to be the cold, hot, warm etc you’re speaking of! I’m a big saturation fanatic I actually wrote an in depth article years and years back in 2017 about saturation use in mixing. Here is a link.
https://reverb.com/news/how-to-use-sat ... your-mixes

Thanks for sharing

[Igro]

Highly recommend this plugin for almost everything in mid section.
It's a crime to sell such beauty at this price:
https://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/prod ... or_v2.html

It is not bad, but messes with the phase of the audio.

[VELLTONE MUSIC]

Cheers for that vst revelation

[VELLTONE MUSIC]

Silver bullet is my new love,tested and compared few popular saturators and it definitely stand out in the crowd...

[VELLTONE MUSIC]

Not sure what is tech behind tape / console / other types of saturation,but definitely presence in the mix is different.
For example i adore tape saturation on bass,but console saturation on keys,pads so on mid section.
Some have universal value and usage,other only in specific cases.
U17 can't be used on master bus,it's too noisy ,but on a buss this compressor gives such a nice saturation...
Silver bullet is definition of a analog 'mojo' when / where such is needed for digital lifeless track.
Some eq's have such warming mojo,like eq232d...
Free plugins like eq1979 have it as well...
There is really nice plugins ,which make a digital sounding track more analog or real like,just have to test them in the mix so to know what you pay for.
My guess is that emulations will be interesting few more years and then developers will continue to experiment in uncharted sonic territories,mostly because nobody need 51st emus of same hardware we already have as 50 plugins
Cheers

[VELLTONE MUSIC]

I am testing and writing a review of a new exciter/enhancer/saturator called 'OOMPH'.
Can't recommend it enough, immediately lift the quality of the tracks,no matter where you put it,even on master bus :):)
Probably the best exciter i've ever try.
When the review is published will add link to read it.
https://schulz.audio/products/oomph/

[Uncle E]

I am testing and writing a review of a new exciter/enhancer/saturator called 'OOMPH'.
Can't recommend it enough, immediately lift the quality of the tracks,no matter where you put it,even on master bus :):)
Probably the best exciter i've ever try.
When the review is published will add link to read it.
https://schulz.audio/products/oomph/

So many problems with this plugin. I'm not having any trouble with their free reverb, just OOMPH. You might want to invite them here to discuss.

[VELLTONE MUSIC]

I am testing and writing a review of a new exciter/enhancer/saturator called 'OOMPH'.
Can't recommend it enough, immediately lift the quality of the tracks,no matter where you put it,even on master bus :):)
Probably the best exciter i've ever try.
When the review is published will add link to read it.
https://schulz.audio/products/oomph/

So many problems with this plugin. I'm not having any trouble with their free reverb, just OOMPH. You might want to invite them here to discuss.

Not a single problem with it,silky smooth from first second of installment,you may want to check your system compatibility/stability...

[VELLTONE MUSIC]

So many great saturators out there! But it's easy to turn things into a mushy mess especially if your monitoring is not good.

I use a lot of the Voxengo stuff - Marquis Compressor, VariSaturator, the tape plugin. Drumformer is a 1 to 3-band saturator/compressor with EQ, gate and a clipper on the output, it reminds me of a fully adjustable PSP VintageWarmer...speaking of which all theirs are also top notch.

Since discovering ToneBoosters Barricade 4, a bit of Analog Tape saturation is on every track I've completed. And the free Softube Saturation knob is great on bass with the Keep Bass setting on. Cytomic Scream is so detailed with just a little added to any source.

There is some great saturation plugins and other not so great,man have to check for himself,which add realism to the mix...