saturation plugins?

[jnorman]

have you played around with a saturation plugin? like it? what did it do for you?
are there any freeware saturation plugins available?
any commercial ones you recommend?
thanks.

[mikymike]

Originally Posted by jnorman

have you played around with a saturation plugin? like it? what did it do for you?
are there any freeware saturation plugins available?
any commercial ones you recommend?
thanks.

This has NEVER been discussed on gs. Do NOT use search.

[petrovinksy]

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/new-p...tion-plug.html

[Vum]

Satch-uration plug in makes you shave your head and act like a twat.

[awakened]

Originally Posted by jnorman

have you played around with a saturation plugin? like it? what did it do for you?
are there any freeware saturation plugins available?
any commercial ones you recommend?
thanks.

that UAD one is pretty sweet in 3 band mode

[TonyBelmont]

URS.

[John Eppstein]

URP!!!!

And no, definitely don't use the search function here......

[Ben B]

I still love Steinberg Magneto. It's too bad that there's no current version of that plug-in that's compatible with PT. I still use an older version on my OS9 MIX3 system, and love it.

-Ben B

[imloggedin]

Originally Posted by mikymike

This has NEVER been discussed on gs. Do NOT use search.

bahaha

[psycho_monkey]

Originally Posted by Vum

Satch-uration plug in makes you shave your head and act like a twat.

Why act like a twat? regardless of whether you like the music or not, the guy's a humble, genuinely nice person.

All of which has nothing to do with the thread.

I've got Tapehead, analog channel and reel tape (All pt only). Still feeling my way around analogue channel, but tapehead and reel tape are both different and useful.

[JPeters86]

I use Tapehead for drums all the time and sometimes Oxford Inflator on the mix buss when it's really soft acoustic material.

[HOTC]

i really like the digidesign reel tape suite not sure as you using PT tho?

[ROCKER STUDIOS]

Mcdsp analog chanel

[flute player]

PSP VintageWarmer.

[mtstudios@charter]

I am a fan of the Crane Song "Phoenix" dark essence on vocals, set to opal or gold. It also can be useful on a thin mix or thin guitar.

Blue Thumb Productions-Audio Production Facilities

for a good chuckle Home

[awakened]

Originally Posted by flute player

PSP VintageWarmer.

amazing for guitars

[illiummusic]

I love Tapehead on drums. Wish I could find something for VST that came close
to what that plugin does. I own URS Saturation and it's nice, subtle though.

[FatBassPlayer]

I'll second the urs!

[Mr.HOLMES]

We never talked aboot this topic on Gearslutz

Anyway you can have nice saturation with plug ins but the true deal is still hardware....yes I have to say this... I always was an pro Plug In guy but when it comes to real nice saturation artifacts hardware is the deal to go.

But you can live and have great work with plug ins as well.

In a few years plug ins will be there where hardware is may you save some money and you wait 3-5 years and work in this time with plug ins of the actual generation.

[squeeks555]

i mostly use PSP VintageWarmer - i also have real tape

but i would love to try / use / own some of the others listed here such as URS. i keep hearing its praises.

[squeeks555]

Originally Posted by Mr.HOLMES

We never talked aboot this topic on Gearslutz

Anyway you can have nice saturation with plug ins but the true deal is still hardware....yes I have to say this... I always was an pro Plug In guy but when it comes to real nice saturation artifacts hardware is the deal to go.

But you can live and have great work with plug ins as well.

In a few years plug ins will be there where hardware is may you save some money and you wait 3-5 years and work in this time with plug ins of the actual generation.

you bring up a good point. i still run mixes and drum subgroups through my DBX 386 tube pre for the saturation effect.

[Kiljoy]

Voxengo Tubeamp... And it's free... PC only though....

[John Eppstein]

OK, I'm getting tired of having to repeat this over and over every time some noob doesn't bother to use the search function, but

No matter ho much the state of the technology improves, no saturation plugin is EVER going to sound like tape. Ain't gonna happen, for a variety of reasons.

First, tape saturation is someting that happens during the recording process, and any effect simulating it would need to be applied BEFORE digital conversion in order to behave like the real thing. You can't hit a digital converter hard the way you can tape. Therefore the behavior of the system won't be the same.

Second, magnetic systems are the single most difficult thing to model accurately in electronics, especially when they go non-linear, which is what is happening with saturation. We don't even have tools that can come close to accurately analyzing this - and we can't model what can't be analyzed. It's not likely that these tools will exist any time soon. We have tools that can analyze what goes on in the linear portion of the operation of a magnetic device, but that's not really what we're interested in here.

Third, it would be necessary to model the various different formulations of tape, being operated at different speeds, over different types of heads. This is a LOT of complexity. Different models of tape machine use heads and support electronics that have different frequency response characteristics which affect the way they saturate, both the head's magnetic core and the tape. Different formulations of tape have vastly different magnetic characteristics, which is why tape machines must be calibrated to the actual tape being used. There are even magnetic differences between different batches of the same formulation, which is why you have to print tones on every single reel of tape.

For these reasons, and more, companies that make "tape saturation plugins" don't usually even try to actually model tape; they come up with some sort of "saturation algorithm" that they feel is "good enough" and leave it at that.

Now I'm not saying that some of these plugins might not be useful - obviously a lot of people are using them, so they must be good for something - they just don't sound like tape. It's like trying to get a real tube guitar amp sound out of a solid state amp. You can get kinda close, but no cigar, and for very similar reasons, except that tape simulation is even more complicated than amp simulation. (Maybe you think a Line 6 can sound like a '57 Bassman or a '68 Marshall - I don't and neither does anyone with much experience with the real thing.....)(Or like using "Mic Modeler" to turn your SM57 into a Telefunken U-47.....<snicker>)

The closest thing to real tape emulation is a hardware box made by Rupert Neve that incorporates real magnetic elements - but it still doesn't have the tape itself so it's not 100%; however it is better than anything else. Expensive, too, especially if you need multiple channels.

So go ahead, play with your plugins, you may like the results. Just don't kid yourself that it sounds like tape, because it doesn't.

[Majestikc]

.....or kid yourself that even if it was recorded with tape and all analog pro gear it will automatically sound better.

It seems like if it was done "the old school" tape way it means it HAS to sound great, even if it sounds like shit.

Placebo effect.

[awakened]

you can get pleasing "saturation" ITB

[5down1up]

mcdsp ac1/2 + cranesong phoenix.

those plugins need some time to get used to. they might occur VERY subtle ( especially the ac series ) when you insert them on a channel. depends a lot on how you drive them.

they dont distort real heavy for real ( and if it sounds a lil wired ) but they can sound very nice or can make things sound more upfront.

running it on pt tdm. dont know about the compatibility with other platforms or if the plugs sound or act the same ?

good luck

[Vum]

Why act like a twat? regardless of whether you like the music or not, the guy's a humble, genuinely nice person.

Lighten up - it was a joke.

I'm having a lot of fun with the PSP Mixpressor and Saturation plug-ins.

I use Tapehead a lot on synths and drum machines but am not as impressed on natural kits.

[Alxi]

I'm mainly using two

The Sat in the Voxengo Voxformer 2.2 ( wich doesn't sound like the free tube amp ) Camel Crucher ( free ) but these are more like tube saturation.

-Alxi-

[John Eppstein]

Originally Posted by Majestikc

.....or kid yourself that even if it was recorded with tape and all analog pro gear it will automatically sound better.

It seems like if it was done "the old school" tape way it means it HAS to sound great, even if it sounds like shit.

Placebo effect.

No, you still have to have good mics and be a decent engineer. Ain't no magic bullet. But snake oil won't get the job done.....

[John Eppstein]

The other thing I get really tired of is "tube saturation" plugins that make it sound like you're running through a cheap guitar amp with bad valves......