Looking to add a really nice saturation plugin to my arsenal just for gluing my mix together nicely, what does everyone recommend for free and paid plugins and why?
Best paid and free saturation plugins?
- Thread starter ConnorGilks
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He's Dead, Jim
Member
For free, everybody loves Ferric TDS: http://www.kvraudio.com/product/ferrictds---tape-dynamics-simulator-by-variety-of-sound
Unfortunately I have a Mac so I can't attest to whether it's any good or not.
For paid stuff, Massey Taphead is supposedly very good, along with the obvious Slate VCC (I have it and it rules hard) and VTM (again, supposedly fantastic). I have the Waves Kramer Master Tape plugin and it's alright- a little vintage and not very subtle at all, but it can sound really great if you take the time to dial it in correctly and play with the controls. Reaper also comes with a stock saturation plugin that's pretty decent, though I'm not sure it's doing anything too interesting harmonically like the others. I think Nebula 3 free might also have a tape saturation function, although I might be wrong about that.
Unfortunately I have a Mac so I can't attest to whether it's any good or not.
For paid stuff, Massey Taphead is supposedly very good, along with the obvious Slate VCC (I have it and it rules hard) and VTM (again, supposedly fantastic). I have the Waves Kramer Master Tape plugin and it's alright- a little vintage and not very subtle at all, but it can sound really great if you take the time to dial it in correctly and play with the controls. Reaper also comes with a stock saturation plugin that's pretty decent, though I'm not sure it's doing anything too interesting harmonically like the others. I think Nebula 3 free might also have a tape saturation function, although I might be wrong about that.
Old Man Doom
Member
http://www.camelaudio.com/camelcrusher.php — Free and has a blend/mix knob for harsher settings. I use it on my drum bus for every mix.
http://www.klanghelm.com/SDRR.php — This is my ultimate, go-to saturation. Very reasonably priced, a handful of modes for varied styles, and the gui looks killer. I use this on everything, mainly on the tube mode for smoothness on guitars. I slap it on the mixbus too (in desk mode). Klanghelm has a free version, which is dumbed down, but still very useful.
I haven't had much experience with Tone booster's Ferrox and Reel Bus, but they are quality plugins and reasonably priced.
http://www.klanghelm.com/SDRR.php — This is my ultimate, go-to saturation. Very reasonably priced, a handful of modes for varied styles, and the gui looks killer. I use this on everything, mainly on the tube mode for smoothness on guitars. I slap it on the mixbus too (in desk mode). Klanghelm has a free version, which is dumbed down, but still very useful.
I haven't had much experience with Tone booster's Ferrox and Reel Bus, but they are quality plugins and reasonably priced.
FarBeyondMetal
Member
+1 on SDRR. I think it is really versatile and a pretty safe purchase at 22 euro. It can do the glue effect in "desk" mode on the master bus quite nicely, and the other three modes sound great and come in handy a lot.
BearOnGuitar
Member
In addition to Klanghelm and Slate which both offer amazing plugins I suggest to also check out Kush Audio. As for free plugins I remember Airwindows having some great sounding ones.
atoragon
Member
other 2 great pieces of software are psp vintage warmer 2 and fabfilter saturn!
on the lower budget area, a great bang for the buck, very usable to mix, it's Sonimus Satson
on the lower budget area, a great bang for the buck, very usable to mix, it's Sonimus Satson
Alpha-Dee
Member
I tried out the ToneBoosters Reelbus for the first time yesterday. Slapped it on mixbus, and that thing opened up the mix right away, and glued everything nicely together. It's like 20.
http://www.toneboosters.com/tb-reelbus/
http://www.toneboosters.com/tb-reelbus/
Machinated
Member
I use soundtoys stuff on everything. little radiator and devil loc are incredible, and obviously decapitator is its own beast.
VTM and VCC are cool for gooey/glueing purposes.
VTM and VCC are cool for gooey/glueing purposes.
anotherpaul
Member
I use Sonimus Satson as my gain-staging/saturation plugin and its great. For tape stuff you can't go wrong with the free FerricTDS. Though I have to say I've had some problems with VoS plugins resetting to default settings on project load. Maybe it's a bridging issue or something in Reaper, but it had me thinking of switching to other tape sim sometime.
fabfilters saturn and sountdoys decapitator are absolute must have saturation plugins, both unique in their own way and work together brilliantly!
TRUIE
Member
For subtle coloration, I still use a lot AlexB console libraries for Nebula (mainly CLC and VBC).
I also love Klangelm SDRR on bus or even sometimes on the 2bus.
Kush UBK1 saturation stage is also pretty cool to soften things a bit, when used with soft settings.
These Sonimus consoles seems great,
Anyone tried the new Britson one ?
For heavy / effect saturation, OhmForce Ohmicide is a beast !
Check it out : https://www.ohmforce.com/ViewProduct.do?p=Ohmicide
Sounds great, and it's very versatile.
The free Voxengo Tubeamp is also pretty nice (from subtle to heavy distortion).
http://www.voxengo.com/product/tubeamp/
I also love Klangelm SDRR on bus or even sometimes on the 2bus.
Kush UBK1 saturation stage is also pretty cool to soften things a bit, when used with soft settings.
These Sonimus consoles seems great,
Anyone tried the new Britson one ?
For heavy / effect saturation, OhmForce Ohmicide is a beast !
Check it out : https://www.ohmforce.com/ViewProduct.do?p=Ohmicide
Sounds great, and it's very versatile.
The free Voxengo Tubeamp is also pretty nice (from subtle to heavy distortion).
http://www.voxengo.com/product/tubeamp/
More of the same but Slate are my favorites. I also like SDRR and Reelbus/Ferox. Kramer Mastertape is good too but not worth the money vs the others imo.
cfh11
Member
chdrummer
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- Oct 24, 2007
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