KVR Audio

SOL Studio · Post by **SOL Studio** » Thu May 14, 2026 1:39 am

Hi everyone,

SOL-5 Dynamic Clipper is now in public beta.

Originally designed as a mastering clipper, but it also works surprisingly well on individual tracks like piano, guitar and drums.

Main features:

• Clean / Glue / Tube clipping modes
• Transient and slew control
• Optional multiband emphasis section
• Soft saturation character
• Very low CPU usage

The goal was not maximum loudness, but musical clipping with depth, punch and smooth transients.

Windows VST3 only for now.

Demo video:

Also, please try the Tender and Patina presets on different kinds of material — they ended up becoming the “core sound” of SOL-5 during development.

If you'd like to test it, feel free to reply or send me a PM.

pekbro · Post by **pekbro** » Thu May 14, 2026 7:01 am

Awesome! Lovely clipper, very nice!

SOL Studio · Post by **SOL Studio** » Fri May 15, 2026 3:47 pm

Thanks Eric, really appreciate the feedback

Still refining it, but I’m glad the core idea is already coming through.

pekbro · Post by **pekbro** » Fri May 15, 2026 7:29 pm

Excellent, I will have more time to explore it this weekend.

SOL Studio · Post by **SOL Studio** » Thu May 21, 2026 2:53 am

It seems like a lot of people just aren't that interested in clippers — or maybe don't use them at all.

If that's you, you're actually the kind of person I'd love to hear from.

SOL-5 is honestly the best plugin I've made so far, and it turned out to be far more versatile than I expected.

It works on mastering, individual tracks, buses… even piano and guitar in ways I didn't originally intend.

You really have to try it to understand what it does.

So I'm still looking for beta testers willing to give feedback. Windows VST3 only for now.

I think some people are seriously underestimating what a clipper can do.

bermudagold · Post by **bermudagold** » Thu May 21, 2026 3:12 am

is that a harmonic designer giving individual control...or is it just a visual representation of what the sat dial is doing?

SOL Studio · Post by **SOL Studio** » Thu May 21, 2026 3:19 am

Thank you for the reply!

Every parameter actually does something meaningful — including the harmonic controls.

The saturation character changes depending on the settings and frequency emphasis, so it's not just visual feedback for the SAT knob.

I wanted each control to have a clear sonic purpose rather than adding “cosmetic” parameters

SOL Studio · Post by **SOL Studio** » Fri May 22, 2026 8:45 am

Updated SOL-5 to v1.1.21.

I noticed that on a 13-inch laptop running REAPER, the right side of the UI could end up slightly off-screen.
So I've now added automatic size detection, along with a resize menu button in the top bar.

Also still looking for testers on Apple Silicon Macs (especially M2 and newer).

Thanks again for all the feedback so far.

SOL Studio · Post by **SOL Studio** » Thu May 28, 2026 11:48 am

SOL-5 has been updated to v1.1.22.

A bug was fixed where the Output Gain control could revert to its previous value in certain presets after adjustment.

I've also completed testing on the latest macOS Tahoe Developer Beta, and both the AU and VST3 versions are working correctly on Apple Silicon.

Windows VST3 and Mac AU/VST3 testers are still welcome. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

billinder33 · Post by **billinder33** » Thu May 28, 2026 1:18 pm

I'm drowning in clipping and limiting options so probably won't demo, but I just dropped in here to say that your design aesthetic, choice of parameter layouts, and the color schemes of your last two plugins is very good. Hope you're getting a lot of interest in these!

Octave_Jumper_26 · Post by **Octave_Jumper_26** » Thu May 28, 2026 2:17 pm

Would be interested in trying this! I guess I'm in the camp of underestimating what a clipper can do. I mostly use Newfangled saturate on hard mode to clip big percussive transients before they hit the rest of my chain.

SOL Studio · Post by **SOL Studio** » Thu May 28, 2026 2:29 pm

billinder33 wrote: Thu May 28, 2026 1:18 pm I'm drowning in clipping and limiting options so probably won't demo, but I just dropped in here to say that your design aesthetic, choice of parameter layouts, and the color schemes of your last two plugins is very good. Hope you're getting a lot of interest in these!

Thanks, I really appreciate that.

SOL Studio · Post by **SOL Studio** » Thu May 28, 2026 2:30 pm

Octave_Jumper_26 wrote: Thu May 28, 2026 2:17 pm Would be interested in trying this! I guess I'm in the camp of underestimating what a clipper can do. I mostly use Newfangled saturate on hard mode to clip big percussive transients before they hit the rest of my chain.

Thanks for your interest!

I'd be happy to send you a beta copy.

Are you on Windows or Mac?

At the moment I have:

* Windows VST3
* Mac AU / VST3 (Apple Silicon)

No AAX/Pro Tools support for now.

Octave_Jumper_26 · Post by **Octave_Jumper_26** » Thu May 28, 2026 2:33 pm

Windows VST3

Cheers

SOL Studio · Post by **SOL Studio** » Thu May 28, 2026 2:58 pm

Octave_Jumper_26 wrote: Thu May 28, 2026 2:33 pm Windows VST3

Cheers

I've sent you the Windows VST3 beta of SOL-5 Dynamic Clipper.

[BETA] SOL-5 Dynamic Clipper (Windows VST3)