Distortion is Beautiful

Distortion is beautiful. It can give sounds life, character, grit, warmth, body, and more. However, different distortions can have wildly different qualities, so it is vital to have various options at your disposal to design your perfect sounds. That's where Satyrus by W. A. Production comes in!

Satyrus is a unique saturation and distortion effect plugin built to provide you with an incredible sounding shine that you won't get anywhere else. Satyrus includes 8 wonderfully different distortion and saturation modules with an endless range of potential uses:

• Power Distortion: The KING of distortions, with a drastic effect on levels.
• Fresnel Distortion: A unique sounding distortion that can be used on pretty much any sound.
• Hyperbolic Overdrive: Ideal for editing strong and popping attack-heavy sound FX like shots, explosions, thunder, etc.
• Logarithmic Colouration: A hybrid of distortion and saturation, great for making vocals shine.
• Circular Projection: One of the most energy-rich and downright BRUTAL distortions, particularly useful for low and deep Sustain and Release sounds, like pads or synth bass.
• Cosine Modulation: Similar to Circular Projection but a bit more subtle.
• Satyric Crunch: A peculiar blend of Fresnel Saturation with the typical "crunch" of a distortion.

No matter what kind of music/audio you create, Satyrus is sure to become a much-used favourite when you need to give a sound life and character. The wide variety of distortion/saturation types gives you unparalleled flexibility and control when designing your sounds, and W.A Production know that you'll love how simple it is to use! Get your hands on Satyrus today and start creating your most unique sounds ever!

MSaturatorMB is a powerful multiband saturation/distortion processor. It can be smooth as glass, hard as rock, or creamy as butter. Its modulation system goes far beyond what you could have thought possible. All this with unbelievable audio quality that will blow you away.

Features

• Dual user interface - the plugin is not only extremely versatile, but also quick and easy-to-use thanks to 2 graphical user interfaces. First there is a simple default one with several predefined modes, but just a few controls, which lets you start quickly and easily without any knowledge. All you need to do is choose what you want and use a few knobs. And the plugins also has an advanced mode, which provides all the extreme features the plugin offers.
• 1-6 fully configurable independent bands built on 3 perfectly transparent crossover algorithms (analog, linear-phase and hybrid) with fully adjustable limits and input gains. Includes peak meters for all bands and the master.
• Continuously adjustable oscillator shape - every oscillator in our plugins is defined by a mix of predefined oscillator shapes, custom waveforms edited using our MeldaProduction Envelope System (MES), step-sequencer and several methods for algorithmic postprocessing. It is the most advanced approach for defining oscillator shapes.
• 4 global modulators - in each instance you can have up to 4 fully-featured modulators that can modulate any set of parameters including other modulators! In this way you can make the sound move in time, be less static and more interesting. Each modulator works as LFO, follower, midi/audio triggered ADSR envelopes, a pitch detector or even a combination.
• Up to 8 channels surround processing - our plugins can handle not only mono and stereo signals, but also up to 8 channels of surround audio, making them ideal for audio production for movies, games etc.
• Full randomization - using a single button you can generate completely new settings. By clicking the button you can walk through the billions of possible settings and find the best one for you! And if that's too much, you can just hold ctrl and MSaturatorMB will only slightly modify existing settings.
• Adjustable up-sampling 1x-16x to minimize aliasing and get an even clearer sound.
• Extremely advanced and easy-to-use user interface - our products are always designed to enhance the workflow. You can easily change all values, fine-tune each control in multiple ways. Easy orientation in a standardized GUI, textual editing and smooth visualization with almost unlimited zooming are standard in all of our plugins. Moreover our plugins are the world first (and still the only ones), which support resizable and stylable GUI's.
• Automatic synchronization to host tempo - every oscillator and modulator in the plugin can automatically synchronize to the host providing as natural a sound as possible while not offending other tracks.
• MIDI controllers with MIDI learn - you can map any parameter to any MIDI controller or MIDI keyboard and control it realtime or record and automate it.
• Very fast, optimized for SSE and SSE2 processors.
• Global preset management and online preset exchange - using a title button you can save your settings (which are shared on the computer) so you can easily access these in other songs. Moreover all plugins can automatically share your presets and download presets of other users from our servers (if this feature is enabled). We are building a community and you can be a part of it!
• Fully automatable.

Add Colour with Tape-Style Saturation

Punisher is tape-style saturator with a unique way to control the colouration of the drive effect. You can use it to add flavour and character to synths, vocals and drums, or to entire beats or mixes.

Most saturator plugins have very limited features for affecting the colouration of the drive effect. Punisher uses a unique internal push/pull equalizer curve to tailor your saturation effect to your track. This way you can, for example, only target the high end of a drum beat, preserving the kick transients in a very natural way. Or only target the mid-range of a synth to retain its definition.

Punisher is part of the upcoming denise 'God Mode’ plugin, that allows full control over the internal push/pull equalizer curve and a blend of three different distortion types.

Take a Mint and Sound Better

One Knob Valve Saturation Shaper for Vocals

Easy-to-use vocal saturator with powerful processing hidden under the hood. 

Most one-knobs do one thing and one thing only: they linearly mix in a certain effect to your track. However, VocalMint runs the track through its virtual signal chain and tunes multiple parameters of the voice at once. It does it under the hood and without disturbing your creative process.

Features:

• Designed for voice.
• Perfect for podcasts.
• One knob solution.
• Analogue vibe and dynamics.
• Unique tone shaping.
• Time-saver.

Overview

• Intuitive Yet Complex Tool - Learning to use VocalMint Saturator is a matter of seconds. Yet under the surface this plug-is a powerful beast. It does not only saturate your track, but it also shapes it using its pre-tuned algorithms.
• Saturation - Valve saturation is not a linear phenomenon and therefore neither the taper of the VocalMint is linear. It is cleverly optimized for mixing human voice and it is exceptionally usable across the whole range of the knob.
• Pre-tuned Shaping - Audified did the research for you. Building on their music production experiences, Audified carefully picked the whole saturation chain including equalization and voilá... All you have to do is turn the knob and enjoy the results. The EQ shaping starts subtle but becomes increasingly more powerful when adding saturation by turning the knob clockwise.
• Visual Layout - The plug-in menu can be closed or opened for additional controls such as a Zoom option or a dBU/ dBFS Calibration. The latter acts as a bias of the virtual valve circuit and therefore influences the amplitude at which the saturation starts to be more audible. When set at 0.0 dBFS, the plug-in will saturate less than when calibrated say at -24.0 dBFS. Factory default setting is -9.0 dBFS.

God Mode

Let There Be Distortion

The God Mode introduces a new push-pull technology giving you full control over what frequencies to saturate and distort. Its node EQ graph and linear phase filters allow for unlimited options to shape the colouration of your sound.

The God Mode makes use of a push-pull technology inspired by the legendary analogue Pultec EQ, a passive tube eq from the 50s, widely used in the 70s/80s for both broadcasting and mixing. The Pultec EQ would ‘push’ the gain for a certain frequency range into its tube circuit, and would then ‘pull’ it back again, to smooth out the frequency response. This creates a sound close to the original but with a nice warmth added to the boosted frequency ranges. God Mode introduces a modern version of this technique.

The first step to using God Mode is to boost or ‘push’ certain frequencies in your track that you like to be more saturated or distorted. You can, for example, use one shelf to boost the highs and one peak to boost a certain colour or resonance. Because you push these frequencies harder into the saturation algorithm, they will be naturally more affected by it. The second step is to decide if and how much ‘pull’ to apply to the boosted frequencies. This gives you creative control over the amount of colouration and the option to create a perfectly balanced frequency response for your track. The result: a beautifully saturated signal, specifically coloured according to the frequencies ‘pushed’.

The God Mode doesn't stop there though. It has a ‘live’ mode for recording, that uses regular filters without latency instead of linear phase filters. It has a side-chain to create rhythmic distortion effects, and you can pan the wet and dry sound individually. In addition, one of the three drive effects uses a ‘on steroids’ version of the Tape Analog VM™ algorithm from the Bad Tape. It allows for subtle saturation on the master as well as crazy over the top distortion effects on bass, vocals and synths.

Smart Saturation

Boost X is a dynamic and smart Saturation/Overdrive plugin. Used to make any sound warmer by adding extra harmonics.

Many other Saturation/Overdrive plugins use a static (stateless) algorithm that doesn’t change depending on the audio passed through. These effects rely on a gain boost, when the audio hits a certain threshold then Saturation is applied. They are either on or off and the amount of saturation is heavily dependent on the loudness of the audio passed into them.

Boost X is different, it reacts to the input audio and applies the perfect amount of saturation at the current loudness. This means even quiet sounds can be overdriven without any gain in loudness. Boost-X also compensates for perceived loudness, bringing the loudness down even further so you get nice rich harmonics added to your sound, without destroying the balance of your mix.

Boost X gives your sounds a rich depth and warmth that sits well in your mix, bringing your vocals and instruments to life with a true analog warmth and feel. Get it with Boost X – Dynamic Saturation.

SATV is an analogue modelled saturation plug-in that adds harmonic depth and richness to any track. Equally suited to individual instruments or multi-track drum kits, SATV allows you to effortlessly change the harmonic content and dynamics of your whole mix.

The four selectable saturation models: Transistor, Transformer, Tube and Tape allow a wide range of sound-shaping options, from subtle warming to extreme crunch. The Group control allows all instances with the same number to be controlled as a group, making ensemble changes easy.

Two-Stage Saturation

In a world with so many options for distortion and saturation, where do you turn when you want an effect that really slams? W.A. Production have the solution to your saturation search, with Make Me Scream.

It’s a crazy sounding name for a crazy sounding plugin that contains a 2-stage effect, with 4 different distortion types and 4 alternate timbre modes. The musicality of your audio is maintained with a smart signal follower that shapes the distortion envelope in line with the transients of your track. To get the most from distortion it’s a good idea to feed the module a slightly saturated signal in the first place, so W.A. Production have added an adjustable preamp tube at the beginning of the signal chain. This 2-stage effect results in a far more dramatic sounds then regular distortion, as the initial tube processing gives the distortion a juicy overdriven signal to latch on to.

Of course, W.A. Production also included loads of presets to get your overdrive odyssey off to a flying start. These include settings for vocals, drums, bass, full mixes and even some guitar amp simulations. Use them as jumping-off points to tweak the audio to your taste.

4 Distortion Types

With a range of different distortion types, Make Me Scream can handle tasks from subtle saturation and excitement to batter-the-door-down distortion. The 4 modes are; Analog tube saturation, Soft clipping saturation, Regular distortion & Folded sinus distortion. Each of these 4 types of processing will produce a different character and it’s easy to see which mode you’re currently using with the handy interface graphics.

4 Timbre Modes

Depending on which distortion type and mode you use, you’ll hear the audio mangled in different ways. The 4 mode buttons allow access to different styles of processing, with each affecting the signal frequencies in their own way. These modes are named; Fuzz, Wall, Cliff and Make Me Scream (of course). Fuzz is a balanced mode, Wall creates a more muted tone that concentrates on bass, Cliff emphasises the mid-range frequencies and Make Me Scream mode brings out the higher frequencies.

Preamp Tube & Boost

Prior to the signal entering the distortion module, you can add analog tube saturation with the Preamp Tube slider. Then feed the signal level into the distortion unit as carefully or as recklessly as you like by using the Boost dial. This increases the gain on the incoming signal by up to +40db.

Filtering, Emphasis & Envelope Follower

The smart filter controls allow you to shape your distortion far more musically than more vanilla distortion plugins. Set the filter to High, Low or Bandpass modes and then set the Filter Cutoff to your taste. For example, you might only want to emphasise the highest frequencies on a whole track, or maybe just the lowest frequencies for a snarling bassline. The Emphasis dial sets the level of frequency boost, for a more pronounced effect around the cutoff frequency that you’ve chosen. The Envelope Follower dial makes the plugin react to the transients of the signal, creating a rhythmic and musical auto-wah feel.

Oversampling, Output & Ratio

Set the amount of internal oversampling from the default x1 up to x16, allowing users with enough CPU power to limit the unwanted non-harmonic artefacts in the processed audio. Use the Output slider to compensate for any gain boost or reduction caused by the distortion unit, allowing for very accurate comparisons when A/Bing. Use the Dry / Wet ratio control to dial in as much (or as little) of the distortion as you need. Use a conservative ratio for subtle top-end sparkle or push the dial further to bust your bass bins.

Visual Feedback

The live visual meter to the top right of the interface shows exactly what’s happening to the signal as it’s being processed in real-time. This allows for accurate monitoring each time you decide to make a change to the parameters. The boundary lines at the top and bottom of the meter show when you’re pushing the output signal beyond 0db, so it’s easy to tell the difference between the characterful distortion of Make Me Scream and the digital peaking of the plugin being driven beyond its limit.

Presets

With many included presets, it’s easy to find the perfect starting point for your own journey into distortion and saturation. Tailored to specific instruments, genres and effects, these factory options can be used on many types of audio. The presets include everything from subtle saturation to completely strangled and squashed processing. W. A. Production are real-life producers making creative plugins to help you achieve studio quality processing quickly and easily. Enjoy!

IQ Samples are very proud to present a new plugin, Phat Booster. Simple in use, Phat Booster has a modern scalable design with a PHAT sound. Phat Booster is a one-knob plugin with 4 different algorithms to add fatness and power to your sound.

Expect to find 4 different Algorithms (modes), Tone Fader, Phase Reverse Button and Pre-Fader Filters (Off / 45 Hz cut / 60 Hz cut).

Phat Booster is a powerful tool to add some fatness to basses, synths, drums and even powerful low-end to vocals.

Instant Analogue Magic

The invention of digital audio recordings liberated sound engineers in many ways which were not possible in the analogue era. Even with all the tools at one’s fingertips, musicians and engineers sorely missed the sound and sonics of earlier recordings. The magic that the recording mediums imparted by default and one which was taken for granted.

Reelight Pro is a plugin designed to bring back the authentic tape sounds of not one, but 6 different sought-after Tape Machines at different speeds and levels to bring us even closer to the “reel” sound of tape. With this plugin, you also get access to desirable parameters such as tape speed, bias, input saturation, crosstalk and even the compression imparted by tape as separate controls! The plugin comes with a lot of presets designed to help get you started, or design your own from scratch!

Advanced Dynamic IR (Impulse Response) systems that Tone Empire have developed in addition to DSP modelling, help us achieve the authentic sound of tape machines like never before.

Hysteresis Processing along with a great sounding resolver, help us achieve the “wow” factor!

I/O Section

The Input Gain sets levels from -24dB to +24dB with 0 dB in the centre, This control acts in the same way as on analogue tape recorders, the more gain you increasing, the harder the tape is hit with sound, and create the correct response audible in terms of saturation and compression.

The Lock feature lets a user increase input gain with an automatic gain compensation for an increase in levels in the output. 

The Output Gain sets output levels from -24dB to +24dB with 0 dB in the centre, 

Filters

This plugin features a set of 12 dB/ oct (20Hz to 20 kHz)High Pass and Low Pass Filters using an analogue design scheme for a natural sound. These are Pre-Filters, and effect the sound before the tape algorithms.

Tape Machine Selector

These selectors labelled A-F, let the user select the different Tape Models :

• A - AMPEX ATR 700
• B - STUDER A 812
• C - STUDER A 80
• D - TEAC A2300 SD
• E - AEG TELEFUNKEN M20
• F - REVOX B77 mk2

Speed

Select Slow or Fast speeds offered per tape machine.. these vary from 3 1/2 ips to 30 ips depending on the machine selected.

Bias

This control lets you adjust the Bias of the machine selected and creates a desirable saturation effect in addition to Input Gain Saturation.

Comp

This controls the envelope of the sound like a compressor, allowing the user to emulate the “compression” characteristics of tape. The effect is subtle but noticeable.

Crosstalk

An artefact of multitrack tape machines was “Tape Bleed” or signal bleed, whereas the signal on adjacent tracks also record additionally on each other.. creates a mono-spatial effect.’You can adjust the amount desired for this parameter.

Oversampling

You have the option of 2x-8x oversampling, depending on your CPU power and computer resources, this helps “smooth” the sound and sound even closer to the analogue bandwidth.

Presets

Tone Empire have provided Presets per machine and also some categories, to help the user get started quickly. Tone Empire do recommend using the controls and your ears to shape your own sound!

No Wet/Dry?

Why is there no wet/dry control? Let us answer this for you... To use the plugin and make it sound authentic, adding a dry signal back into the processed signal creates “phasing”.

Moreover, the tape is the final medium of printing the sound! It is intended to be used as a full effect. Tone Empire have already provided all the controls to tweak your sound minimally or as an extreme. 

So, as opposed to having one wet/dry control for the whole sound, you actually control the amount of each effect individually.

Great Things are Timeless

Rewind Back in Time with Cassette

Cassette is an audio plugin that imparts the unique character and sonic imprint of an often maligned recording medium, one that offers a sound like nothing else. This is not a tape machine, this is a time machine.

It's in Our DNA

An entire generation heard the music that shaped their lives on cassette tape. The Wavesfactory team grew up listening to them at home, on the car or on a walkman. They are not perfect, in fact, they are far from perfect. That’s what they love about them.

A Love Letter to Simple Things

This is Wavesfactory's tribute to the sound that shaped their childhood. They discovered the passion for music between quirks and random fluctuations. Watching the meters move as they sang into an old microphone. Red peaks and analog saturation. Rewind, listen again.

No Pencil Needed

Cassette is an audio plugin that emulates the sound of vintage cassette tapes and decks. It has been carefully modelled after exhaustive analysis of a high number of sound signals recorded into real tapes. As a result, you get the same sound and behaviour of the original units.

Magnetic tape is not sterile media. Because of that, it will impart its own sound signature to signals recorded into it. These include a different frequency response, frequency-dependent saturation, high-frequency compression, hiss, asperity noise and much more. Reproduction systems will also induce their fingerprint: wow, flutter, random high-frequency loss, crosstalk between channels, stereo unbalances and other.

All of these little quirks and random fluctuations have been modelled meticulously. Cassette imprints instant nostalgia, movement and analog feel all around in its path.

Cassette has been designed to be fun, pleasant to the ear and true to the medium.

Randomness Under Control

There’s much more power under the hood than what you see at a first glance.

There are 4 sections:

• Tape: I always wanted to have a modular tape plugin in which I could enable or disable each step of the processing.
• Stability: Control how the Stability parameter in the front panel works internally. Includes “randomness” in order to make things unpredictable and analog.
• Extra: More of what makes a cassette sound like a cassette. Including the innovative “Re-Cassette” parameter.
• Artifacts: Control how the Artifacts parameter in the front panel works internally. Includes “Random Snap” for simulating the tape being caught momentarily causing pitch instability.

As you can see in this panel, Cassette uses oversampling in order to get rid of aliasing. The plugin always works at 192KHz sampling rate internally.

What’s your type?

Wavesfactory modelled the four cassettes types available. Each one delivers different sonic characteristics.

• I: was the standard and most compatible tape format. Featured a ferric-oxide coating (Fe2O3). First appeared in the 1960s.
• II: with a chromium dioxide (CrO2) formulation was introduced at the dawn of the 1970s featuring an undeniable increase in high frequency response.
• III: living a short period between the mid 70s and early 80s, the ferro-chrome (FeCr) never made it into the golden era.
• IV: metal-formulated hit the scene at the end of the 70s. Features firmer bass as well as louder high frequencies.

Changing tapes will have an effect in the frequency response of the plugin but also in the saturation, compression, static noise (hiss) and dynamic noise (asperity noise).

Changelog in Version 1.0.1 Update:

• Fixed: Pro / Home / Micro buttons now respond to automation.
• Improved: settings sliders snap to mouse position on click.
• Added: Artists presets from Torley.

Changelog in Version 1.0.3 Update (14.01.20):

Cassette has been updated to version 1.0.3, fixing compatibility issues with earlier versions of macOS.

Shape, sculpt, & saturate—in high-fidelity

Handmade in Los Angeles by Jeff Turzo, Overstayer is something of an underground phenomenon. Turzo started out making gear for his personal use, but word of his exceptional designs spread like gossip down Sunset, and in 2009, Turzo gave the people what they wanted. Overstayer Recording Equipment was born and created a near-fanatical following amongst the in-the-know pro audio crowd.

Softube Overstayer M-A-S plug-ins offer the same saturation and peak-bending capabilities as the hardware in two new, enhanced versions: the do-it-all guru M-A-S and the tone-sculpting Svengali M-A-S Extended. Masterfully modelled, the harmonic shaping duo is a professional mix engineer’s secret weapon for adding energy to tracks, glueing buses, and enhancing mixes. Find faith in high-fidelity. Join the cult of M-A-S

Designed by experts, built on legacy

Softube’s history of emulating professional audio gear is long. After nearly two decades collaborating with premium brands like Weiss Engineering, Tube-Tech, Solid State Logic, Chandler Limited®, and Trident, their track record of recreating classics in software form that sound exactly like their analog counterparts speaks for itself.

The Overstayer M-A-S plug-ins and modules are built on this legacy. Softube precisely modeled, fine-tuned, and A/B tested M-A-S against its hardware counterpart to ensure emulation perfection. The result is the same paramount harmonic shaping as the original hardware with superior Softube-quality sound. Nothing less.

Versatile harmonic shaping

Ever wonder how your favourite modern productions shine without artefacts? With M-A-S, you can increase the apparent volume without getting the timing artefacts associated with compression. It smooths harsh transients and enhances the character and detail of any sound source, bringing it forward—in addition to reducing brittleness in peaks and other unevenness. Designed for ease of use, M-A-S can take the place of compression, limiting, and bus compression on individual tracks and buses by effortlessly balancing mixes.

Authentic emphasis

An exacting replica of the analog unit, Overstayer M-A-S produces harmonics that are as sweet as a large-format console but with exceptional versatility, vim, and vigour. While the hardware offered one emphasis type, Softube expanded that to six.  The original emphasis type—dubbed Classic M-A-S—keeps the fundamental frequencies clean and focuses on the mid to upper ranges. Low Bandwidth concentrates on high and low frequencies and leaves the mids alone. Low Presence homes in on vocal frequencies in the upper mid-range for increased clarity, while High Presence also deals with the vocal frequencies on the lower high-range, adding shimmer and air. Bass Distortion will thin the bass without touching the highs for a transformer-like sound. And Treble Distortion gives an almost tape-like quality that smooths harshness and rounds out the rough edges.

M-A-S Extended Emphasis

Types have their time and place, and the ease of use they offer is undeniable. But sometimes you really want to go soul-deep into harmonic shaping. Enter M-A-S Extended. Instead of Emphasis Types, it offers resonant high- and lowpass filters and a fully flexible 4-band emphasis EQ that gives you added command over the emphasis and allows you to sculpt completely new distortion types. 

Dual and 2ND

For mixes with energy and coherence, both M-A-S and M-A-S Extended feature Dual and 2ND modes. Dual adds a second discrete stage in series to the signal path, spreading the load amongst both stages and creating a more convincingly complex and lively harmonic character. This is clutch when the vocals get dull after the distortion/saturation stage. The 2ND feature shifts the response of the circuitry toward stronger secondary harmonic content to brighten and invigorate the distorted sound.

Amp Room and Modular

In addition to M-A-S and M-A-S Extended, Overstayer M-A-S comes with modules for Amp Room and Modular. In Amp Room, you can play with the M-A-S module as a boost pedal before a guitar amp or as a finalizer to get your guitar track to sit in the mix. Rocking with M-A-S for Amp Room, you can feel it pushing back a bit, almost amp-like. As the final stage before input, M-A-S for Modular will thicken your synth sections. By incorporating the high-fidelity saturation of M-A-S in the sound creation process within Amp Room and Modular, you can produce truly hypnotizing synth, guitar, and bass sounds.

Softube + Overstayer

It’s the classic pandemic story: an email was sent, a reply was made, and the rest, as they say, is history. Fans of Overstayer for some time, it took the solitude of forced confinement for Softube to reach out to the brand. When they did, Softube were jazzed to discover that Overstayer founder and designer Jeff Turzo was equally excited to collaborate. And collaborate they did. Turzo was instrumental in the process of designing the Overstayer M-A-S and M-A-S Extended plug-ins. From the user interface to tuning, the collaborative effort was near total. And totally fun. Creative, cool, and full of mad ideas, Turzo is hip to Softube-style Rock & Roll Science. Softube could not be more proud to bring the first officially licensed Overstayer software into the DAW with their M-A-S plug-ins and modules.

What's included?

Overstayer M-A-S

M-A-S is more than a distortion plug-in. It's a hotshot harmonic shaper. M-A-S's unique Turzo design makes it ideal for use on tracks, buses, mix buses, and masters. The first and only officially licensed Overstayer software, M-A-S's bespoke features and simple interface make for better DAW flexibility and more precise control of emphasis. It gives everything it touches that little bit of edge. 

Overstayer M-A-S Extended

M-A-S Extended is made for delving deeper into harmonic shaping. To get you there, it sports resonant high- and low-pass filters and a fully flexible 4-band emphasis EQ, in addition to the same specs as M-A-S. 

Overstayer M-A-S for Amp Room

M-A-S for Amp Room, the pro audio guitar and bass platform, is straight-up fun. And when you combine it with other studio effects, classic amps, cabs, and pedals, you can easily create studio-quality, record-ready tones. 

Overstayer M-A-S for Modular

M-A-S for Modular, the infinitely expandable modular synthesizer platform, helps you create dazzling synth sounds. Virtually patch it to modules from Doepfer, Buchla, Intellijel, and more to discover new sonic auras.

Versatile Motion Waveshaper

BLEASS Saturator has been designed to energize your basses, crush your drums, explode your leads in a beautiful yet destructive sound saturation. The BLEASS Saturator Effect Plugin features a multi-band gain drive, 9 different WaveShaper algorithms, a Pre/Post Bitcrusher, and a LFO to bring motion to your saturation!

This versatile saturation effect processor comes packed with 40 Factory Presets, from classic stereo Drive to crazy metallic bitcrushed Saturations. A clear User Interface guides you through the different stages of sound saturation while offering you a crispy sound design experience through a mesmerizing dynamic WaveShaper Visualizer.

The Multi-Band Drive Stage allows you to set the Drive up to 60db. Activate the EQ mode and set the range of the Low and High Band Frequency parameters. Move the 3 sliders to set Low, Mid & High EQ Gains up to 60db as well.

The WaveShaper Stage allows you to choose between 9 different Algorithms, from classic “Hard” and “Soft” Clip up to “Polynomial Order 5”. A high definition WaveShaper displays the different waveform Algorithms: view in real-time the effects of the Offset, Depth, Period and Strength parameters, which you can set with the four dedicated controls.

The Bit Crusher Stage can be set to Off, Pre & Post the WaveShaper stage, which gives a high versatility to your sound waveshaping. Set the Depth and rate amounts of bit reduction, which can be modulated by the LFO.

The LFO Stage offers 6 different waveforms, Beat and Sync Free modes, Rate, Offset, Stereo Phase, and Amount which you can visualize thanks to the LFO Stereo Meter. The 12 Modulation targets are: Drive, High Frequency, Low Frequency, Low Gain, Mid Gain, High Gain, Offset, Depth, Period and Strength, Bit Depth, and Bit Rate.

Warm Up Your Sound

Tape recordings have a musical quality that digital mixes often lack. TAIP brings this quality into your DAW. It will add some authentic analogue heat to your tracks, without the need to route any audio outside the box.

Tape plugins are not a new concept. However, this emulation method is. Instead of using traditional DSP, Baby Audio has developed TAIP around an AI algorithm designed to decipher the invisible nuances of analogue circuits.

The result is a truly faithful tape emulation that’s intuitive and creative in use – with some added features to accommodate a modern workflow. Use TAIP to bring a touch of warmth and glue to your tracks, or ‘drive it like you hate it’ as an alternative to your distortion plugins.

Highlights

• AI-powered algorithm, giving you the true warmth and behaviour of analogue tape.
• Flexible feature set, allowing you to create a custom ‘tape flavour’ for any need.
• Use TAIP to add musical saturation and glue to drums, instruments, vocals, and beyond.

TAIP is Baby Audio's creation of the ideal ‘Tape Machine’ for the DAW-era, combining an authentic vintage sound with a modern feature set. Its parameters will let you customize the right tape flavour for any need.

Putting the 'AI' in TAIP

‘AI’ is an overused - and often misused - term. But Baby Audio believe it’s the future of music technology. It just needs to be used genuinely and with a legitimate purpose.

For a hardware emulation project like TAIP, AI offers an alternative - and in Baby Audio's opinion more faithful - approach over the traditional DSP method. Where a normal DSP emulation would entail ‘guesstimating’ the effect of various analogue components and their mutual dependencies, TAIP can use AI / neural networks to accurately decipher the sonic qualities that make a tape machine sound and behave in the way it does. This happens by feeding an algorithm various training data of dry vs. processed audio and teaching it to identify the exact characteristics that make up the difference. Once these differences have been learned by the AI, TAIP can apply them to new audio.

This process may sound overly digital for a plugin that brings an analogue sound. But the reality is that ‘analogue’ and ‘digital’ are two fundamentally different domains. To get a computer to behave (or sound!) in a certain way, it helps to think like it does. Re-creating an ‘analogue-style’ signal path in DSP is thinking about the problem like a human. The AI approach helps to solve the problem like a machine would – for a more faithful emulation.

Presets

TAIP comes loaded with 135 presets created by friends of Baby Audio - including: 

• Mark Needham (Fleetwood Mac, The Killers, Bloc Party, Elton John)
• Max Jaeger (Ariana Grande, Kanye West, Drake, Calvin Harris)
• Eestbound (Travis Scott, Young Thug, Jazz Cartier)
• Rob Kleiner (Sia, Britney Spears, David Guetta, Cee Lo)
• Cesar Sogbe (Prince, David Byrne, Jennifer Lopez)

Display Options

• Switch between three backgrounds (Black / Gray / White)
• Plugin window fully resizable

No Good Mix Goes Un-PUNISHed

After nearly a decade of devastation, the purest form of Heavyocity's iconic effect is now available as a standalone fx plugin. Introducing PUNISH Lite. Pulled straight from Heavyocity's award-winning line of virtual instruments, PUNISH Lite runs the gamut of drive and saturation, pushing your sources from subtle heat to full-on fire. Featuring a studio's worth of analogue punch packed into a single, central knob, PUNISH Lite makes it easy to go from warmth and snap to total destruction.

A Unique Distortion Box

Based on the incredible harmonic saturation found in the Overstayer: Modular Channel “Distinct!” packs all of those rich harmonic characteristics into an easy to use plugin.

Create subtle saturation to warm up drums, vocals, and mix bus, or drive this plugin into oblivion to create crazy fuzz bass tones, distorted vocal fx, and insane synth sounds. Use the added HF and LF knob to shape your sound before hitting the distortion.

Mode Buttons

The mode buttons control the type of saturation / distortion that the plugin will produce. ODD will generate third-order harmonics. Giving you an edgy / gritty sounding distortion. EVEN will generate second-order harmonics. Giving you a more pleasing saturation and rich tone. DIGT is a digital soft clipper. Perfect for drums or mastering. This setting also adds in a bit of high mids to push your through the speakers.

The Controls

For the controls, you will find seven knobs (Distort, HF, LF, HPF, SAT, Input and output) 

• Distort - This is your main controller. Use this knob to add in saturation and distortion based on your “mode” selection. 
• HF - this knob allows you to add up to 12dB of presence and sheen. This module is pre-distortion so you can use it to shape the distortion characteristics.
• LF - this knob allows you to add up to 12dB of low end thump and thickness. This module is pre-distortion so you can use it to shape the distortion characteristics.
• HPF - This is just a simple highpass filter. Use it to highpass your signal up to 420Hz ;)
• SAT - The sat knob allows you to add in additional saturation to your sound. This is a non linear algorithm, so the values of your distort and input knobs will directly affect the sound you get from this parameter. Kiive Audio recommend just playing around with this knob or trying out some of the included presets to hear what it's really capable of.
• Input / Output - These are just standard clean gain knobs to add or decrease volume in and out of the plugin.

Deluxe Lo-Fi Bliss

Tape MELLO-FI is an easy-to-use effect plugin that brings instant chill atmosphere and vintage tape-aged warmth in a few clicks. Kick back and sprinkle sublime lo-fi vibes over your drum loops, vocals, mix bus, and anything in between.

Fun and straightforward to use, Tape MELLO-FI isn’t just a one-trick lo-fi pony. It comes as a feature-rich tool for all musicians and producers to use.

Before sampling, there was tape…

Tape MELLO-FI’s sound and behaviour are inspired by Mellotron V, Arturia's software recreation of the legendary Mellotron instrument.

The combination of tape reels, analog circuitry, and ageing over time gave the Mellotron a distinct sound. Fluttering, grainy, compressed; these qualities have become an endearing part of the ‘Tron sound.

Beauty in imperfection

Take any beat, sound, or project, and instantly inject beautiful nostalgic flavour and endless vibes.

Pitchy flutters, subtle distortion, warm saturation, velvety smooth filtered sounds; Tape MELLO-FI captures the uniquely imperfect behaviour of tape in perfect detail, distilled into a single plugin that you’ll always come back to.

Preset browser

Instantly find the sound that’s in your head with intelligent & streamlined preset browsing. Search with keywords, musical style, and more - you can even save your favourites to quickly recall later.

Resizable GUI

Whether you want the full visual immersion of our classic instrument emulations, or to save precious screen real estate, the interfaces for all of your Arturia plugins can be resized to a scale that suits you.

Instant lo-fi Modulation & Distortion

From the Swedish distortion masters and makers of the acclaimed Tape, Tape Echoes, Harmonics, and Saturation Knob plug-ins comes Dirty Tape. The tape effect you need when you want to get down and dirty and keep the sound quality savage.

Dirty Tape gives you warm, analogue vibes from the moment you load it on a track. Capable of fiercely gritty distortion and saturation, Dirty Tape can also add subtle texture and movement to a sound. Like a photo filter for your tracks, Dirty Tape will take you from static and dull to lively and colourful in a snap.

• A tape dirt machine effect with Softube-quality sound
• Add warm, low fidelity vibes to any sample, instrument, or beat
• From the makers of Tape, Tape Echoes, Harmonics, and Saturation Knob

The Art of Rock & Roll Science

When it comes to creating equipment that improves workflow and offers the highest quality sound, Softube's reputation is rock solid—and long. Their partnerships with premium brands like Marshall, Tube- Tech, Chandler Limited®, and Empirical Labs go back nearly twenty years.

Dirty Tape is built on this legacy of creativity, passion, and attention to detail. Because to create tools that innovate, you have to have heart, soul, and Rock & Roll Science.

Two Knobs Do The Job

With two knobs to regulate all the effects it produces, Dirty Tape makes it simple to add lo-fi, vintage vibes to your mix. The Dirt and Drive controls—based on the Dirt and Drive sections of Softube Tape Echoes—are precision-tuned to dial in the ideal amount of the intended effect. From retro distortion, saturation, and degradation to tape speed variations like pitch modulation, crosstalk, and stereo imbalance to flutter, dropouts, and wow. Dirty Tape delivers it all—with ease.

Calibrate a Custom Vibe

Set the Stereo Mode to Normal or use it De-coupled (dual mono) to have a greater effect on the balance of your stereo image. Adjust the Low Cut Filter to reduce low-end rumble and increase the lo-fi vibes. Dirty Tape’s parameters let you transform the character of a sound to your taste, from nuanced to in-your-face and every rendition in between.

Make Your Beat Pop

Programmed drum loop sounding too clean? Piano loop too hi-fi for your hip-hop vibe? All the components of your beat will sit right in your mix with the perfect amount of warm saturation from Dirty Tape. It lets you add movement, musicality, and a hip lo-fi mood to your beat-making process.

This product supports Extended Features

Softube loves VU meters, Bakelite knobs, and analogue quirks. But they want modern precision and workflow. The answer? Softube Extended Features. Easy-access panels with the innovations you need close at hand.

Versatile Analogue Distortion Circuit Emulation

Saturation is a mix engineer’s secret weapon. Add a little to a vocal, and it pops right out of a mix. Sprinkle some on a snare, and suddenly it’s cracky and full of life. Pile it on drum overheads for an aggressive sound that will grab your listeners by their ears. X-Saturator tackles all these tasks and more with aplomb.

Choose from second-order valve-style distortion, third-order transistor distortion, or blend the two for a perfect combination of tube warmth and transistor iron. Use X-Saturator with a light touch or drive it into grotesque, mangled distortion, which can be tucked back with the Shape control or folded underneath a mix with the Wet/Dry knob. Creamy and warm or biting and fierce, you’ve never heard a saturation plug-in quite like the SSL X-Saturator.

Tape Deck Emulation

Bring your sound back to the golden age of cassette tapes (minus the tangle)

DAW Cassette brings back the magic era of the 1980s by emulating the sound of a tape deck. Saturation, distortion, noise, wobble, it's all there. While there's no real rational logic to it, the sound color gives us chills down the spines, (or it might be the mullet haircut that tickles). Fresh.

Choose your preferred level of cassetteness with the different controls for input/output gain, tape/motor/head quality, and tape/noise type. Now, look in the mirror and get stunned by your new mullet haircut.

Anatomy

1. Quality - Use these controls to set the desired quality of the Tape (magnetic band saturation), Head (frequency response), and Motor (speed consistency).

2. Emul80ies - Different types of cassette tape, as well as Noise reduction emulation.

3. Trim the sound, not the mullet - Input, Output, Mix. Serve chilled.

Flip It

1. Let it bleed - Adjust the amount of channel crosstalk.

2. Bring on the noise - Fine level noise adjustment for every noise taste.

3. Built to tilt - Skew the tape head angle for some nice phase issues.

4. Graphic Equalizer - Four excellent bands for your excellent band.

The Saturator Module of Pumper

Pumper Saturator is going to be your next go-to plugin for distortion and saturation.

The Saturator is second to none in giving your tracks the added warmth and depth that they need. The Saturator also creates a killer edge that you need in a modern world of recording, instant power and body for your sound!

With its easy-to-use graphic interface, you’ll be able to saturate and add some warmth to your sounds with just one knob, it’s just as easy as that. It can go from a light saturation to full-on distortion when you increase the amount of the saturation. It just sounds great on any sounds, including vocals, drums, bass and more!

Tape Construction Kit

We took a journey back to the Golden Age of magnetic tape recording. We wanted to recreate all kinds of tape machines in software, from the ground up. After many months spent on research, measurement and on developing an architecture that would be flexible enough for the job, we knew we had nailed it...

But we couldn't stop there: We added the old noise-reduction systems that were often (mis)used for timbral compression effects. Then more heads and a global feedback path, which made an uber-tape-delay and realistic 'one-shot' tape flanging possible.

Users familiar with analogue recording gear should instantly feel at home with Satin, and digital aficionados will also learn to love the magic of tape – Satin invites you to explore and find out for yourself.

Presets

Satin ships with a wide variety of presets - emulations of classic professional tape machines, cheap 'n nasty tape machines, tape delays, tape flanging/chorus... and a whole lot more!

Gains

The two large knobs adjust input and output levels - probably the most important controls in Satin!

Metering

Precise visual signal level monitoring is ensured through a combination VU & peak meter, with switchable RMS mode and variable reference level.

Delay

2 or 4-tap delay with variable routing, cyclic modulation, feedback filtering and limiter. Easily create beautiful organic space or precisely synchronized, complex patterns. 

Flanger

Unlike regular LFO-controlled digital flangers, this is the real deal. True tape flanging that legendary 'swoosh'! Doing this on a pair of real tape machines takes skill and practice - with Satin, you simply activate the Trigger.

Grouping

In Studio mode, you can assign each instance of Satin to one of the eight groups. Each group will behave as a multitrack tape, 'remote-controlled' from any instance in that group.

Companders

A choice of encoder and decoder circuits brings back the era of noise-reduction systems that were (mis)used for all kinds of dynamic and spectral effects, including the legendary 'A-type vocal trick'.

TapeControls

Satin's speed control is continuously variable from 7.5 up to 30ips - it even re-adjusts the entire machine model as you tweak. Pre-emphasis allows for precise control over transients, tone and fidelity.

Service Panel

Satin lets you get seriously technical whenever you want: adjust numerous attributes of the tape, the heads and the surrounding circuitry. A handy analyzer makes alignments such as biasing easy and precise.

Analog Saturation Modeler

Subtle to extreme hardware-modelled saturation. The secret weapon of top mix engineers.

Saturation - it’s the essence of what makes analog hardware sound so musical and pleasing to the ears. The sound of tubes, transistors, and circuitry being pushed to the limit has long been the key ingredient in great-sounding analog recordings. Engineers use saturation to beef things up, thin them out, give them edge, add warmth, pull elements out of the mix, and create signature sounds.

From the very subtle to the extreme, analog saturation is an integral part of great mixes. That’s why we took our time, studied all the great analog classics, and painstakingly created a plug-in that brings the best of analog saturation to your digital studio.

With five different analog saturation models to choose from, Decapitator is perfect for adding character to every kind of track and instrument in your mixes. We’ve also included a modelled tone control that lets you shape the saturated sound and a mix control that lets you blend in some dry signal for parallel processing without the need for routing and sub-mixes. Combine all of this with the flexibility and reliability of a Soundtoys plug-in, and you’ve got the best of analog and digital together in one essential effect.

Analog Feel

Decapitator is not just a simple approximation of the analog sound. We’ve worked hard to capture the feel of analog gear. Not a static snapshot, but a changing responsive model of all those tubes, wires and transistors. That means you can hear subtle changes as Decapitator reacts to a track and follows the dynamics of an instrument. That’s what analog is all about.

In creating Decapitator, we collected and analyzed both vintage and modern hardware—consoles, preamps, input channels, EQs, compressors and studio distortion units. We picked the pieces of gear we felt had the most distinctive sound and had unique character when used both subtly and at extremes. Then we created painstakingly accurate models and made them instantly accessible. By adding an analog-modeled tone control and mix knob, we’ve opened up the sonic potential of these models even more.

Bad Boy

Decapitator is capable of some wonderfully subtle sounds, but we know that sometimes subtle just won’t do it. That’s why we’ve added the Punish button, which kicks in an extra chunk of gain to push Decapitator over the edge. When you drive it hard it reacts just like great analog gear—it screams in pain.

And we’re not talking about fizzy stomp-box distortion. Decapitator gives you those unique qualities that only come from driving high-end studio gear. Each model has its own sound of beautiful agony when you hit the Punish button and crank it up. Try it on vocals, drums, guitars, synths—anything that sounds a little too polite!

Tube Warmth For Your Mix

Vintage vibe, drive, and the magic tone of the 1567a tube mixer. A beast on bass and drums.

Introducing Radiator, a dual drive tube input channel and EQ, based on the classic Altec 1567A tube mixer from the 1960s.

The original Altec 1567A hardware was a rack-mounted five-input tube mixer with removable transformers, a simple two-knob EQ, an unmistakable green faceplate, and a whopping 97 dB of gain. The sound, by today’s standards, is coloured and gritty, with a heaping helping of good old-fashioned hardware noise. In its day, it was used on many early Motown hits and found its way into the PA racks of countless churches and school auditoriums across the USA.

A Bit of History

The unmistakable green-faced Altec gear, and in particular the 1566A and 1567A, played a big part in shaping the early “sound” of Motown between 1961 to 1964. Songs by greats like The Four Tops, The Marvelettes and The Supremes went through a 1567A mixer to the massive three-track recorder. Ahhh, when life was simple.

These mic preamps and mixers have a very coloured warm sound and are very loud. The EQ is as simple as it gets, with one knob for bass, and another for treble. After Motown, and after much gear came and went, analog diehards began seeking out the 1566A and 1567A as inexpensive sources for real tube sound.

Motown Records Chief Engineer, Russ Terrana, used the 1567A extensively and it became part of the distinctive Motown sound. Producer Matt Wallace was a very big fan. Butch Vig and Billy Bush are also fans.

Radiator brings the classic Altec tube sound to desktop recording rigs, capturing the distinctive warmth and punch of the original hardware. Featuring the modelled bass and treble tone controls from the original unit, a mix control for easy parallel processing, and the saturation and harmonic effects of the original hardware’s input and output amplifiers.

All of these different circuit elements interact, allowing a wide range of tones to be created with just a few simple knobs. Plus we let you decide if the original noise is on or off.

Over the past few years, the Altec mixers have been picked up by recording studios as an inexpensive way to bring analog colour and character to computer-based digital recording. With producers like Matt Wallace of early Maroon 5 fame utilizing the 1567A on their early hits, and now bands like the Black Keys (who had a custom console made from Altec 1567A’s) the demand, and price, for these funky little colour boxes have soared.

Computer recordists everywhere can now get the Altec tube sound – on every input channel, without the hassles of interfacing to esoteric analog gear, and at a much lower cost. Radiator also includes Little Radiator, a simpler single-stage tube pre-amp model based on the Altec 1566A hardware, the little brother of the Altec 1567A.

Adding 5 types of valve saturation to your tracks, preamp is the core effect of the Summing Tube Amplifier series.

The Tube Heart

STA (Summing Tube Amplifier) uses two signal paths, one is processed by modulation or spectral change and the other is not processed. These two signals are mixed on a vacuum tube. That gives “ordinary” effects like Flanger or Phaser, really unique and warm character. 

The valve saturation colour depends on the Mode selection. Changing the type of the tube circuit, affects the tube working point and frequency response.

5 valve circuit modes available 

• P - Presence – the higher amount of mid-high frequencies allows better cutting through the mix. 
• V - Vintage – has smoother highs and more even harmonics. 
• B - Brown – has almost flat response with only light high frequencies roll off and nice higher harmonics punch. 
• W - White – has higher amount of higher frequencies and the ratio between the even and odd harmonics is balanced. 
• L - LoFi – contains less low and high frequencies. 
• We are making our plugins as real as possible with all the natural analog feeling and side effects.

There is some low frequency noise in some tube modes. It is a natural result of the tube configuration we are using in STA.

Your Sound. In Color.

RC-20 Retro Color is a creative effect plugin that adds life and texture to any recording. It easily recreates the warm, cozy feeling of vintage recording equipment, but also works perfectly in any modern production setting.

• Adds life and texture inspired by classic gear
• Great on drums, guitars, keys, bass and full mixes
• Flux Engine adds warm, analog-style fluctuations

6 Unique FX Modules

RC-20's six unique FX modules can replicate everything from vinyl records to VHS machines, adding noise, wobble and dropouts to your tracks. Its raw distortion and crunchy bit reduction will add grit to your bass and drums. The space and chorus effects will make your guitar sing like never before and the filtering effects fit right into the most modern club track.

Flux Engine

Our exclusive Flux Engine adds subtle (or not so subtle) instability and fluctuations to all of the FX modules, providing the character, warmth and analog goodness of yesteryear's best technology.

Magnitude Slider

The Magnitude slider controls the intensity of all processing. Easily accessible all the time — even when browsing presets — it makes it easy to find the perfect sound and processing amount. Automate this control for awesome intros, breakdowns and transitions in your song.

Presets

The included presets for drums, keys, guitars, bass, full mixes and post-production let you get to work right away. The RC-20 interface invites experimentation, and you can access the processing amount of each FX module while browsing.

Valve Saturating Plugin Based on the Circuitry of the Famous U73b Compressor

Almost anything is possible in the digital world. With the right skills and technology you cn create absolutely anything you like... like the U78 Saturator. So we took the circuitry of the legendary U73b compressor and played around a bit to come up with some seriously satisfying saturation!

More than Modeling

To start with, we removed our award-winning U73b Compressor plug-in's compression function. Filters were added, together with the tone control, and, finally, a strong gain control completed the U78 Saturator. We kept the heart and soul of the machine to deliver the beautifully musical tube sound. The result is a saturator that sounds like no other. The U78 Saturator is even better than the real thing, being blessed with the things that dreams are musically made of. 

Features

• Gain - adjusts the input gain of the saturation circuit. (The higher the settings, the more rich the sound that can be achieved) 
• HiPass - sets the cutoff frequency of the high-pass filter, which comes before the saturation circuit in the signal path. (The range is from 30 Hz to 800 Hz - turn the knob to minimum to turn off the HiPass filter) 
• LowPass - sets the cutoff frequency of the lowpass filter, which comes before the saturation circuit in the signal path. (The range is from 1 kHz to 8 kHz - turn the knob to maximum to turn off the LowPass filter) 
• Tone - controls the U78 Saturator's unique tone filter. (Lower settings produce darker sounds with more low frequency content; conversely, higher settings result in brighter, sparkly sounds) 
• Mix - controls the dry and wet signal ratio. (The dry signal is delayed to match the wet signal path latency to prevent phasing issues)

The Presets

The plug-in is mainly intended to be used on bass, drums and vocals, but creativity knows no boundaries. The presets for the device are prepared by experienced producers such as Baby Brown (represented in the preset list with BB initials) or Boris Carloff (BC).

How bad can it be?

Go out of tune and of the grid with the Bad Tape from denise.

The Bad Tape is the next plugin from denise audio. denise like to describe it as a tape harming (#tapeharm) effect plugin. Its focus is on creating extreme tape artifacts... and man does it sound bad. The inspiration for the Bad Tape came from denise team member Enrico 'nrec' Tiberi: “I was using a lot of my old Akai 4000 DS MK2 reel to reel tape recorder pressing the tape to slow it down as an effect and that made me want a plugin that could control how to break the sound without having to use my fingers each time and without all the cables and fuss that analog hardware inevitably brings”.

Combining a good old vintage tape sound with harming features makes the Bad Tape a very creative and versatile tool. Want an “out of tune and off the grid” beat or a wonky drum groove? Just keep the detune button pressed and it will create a tape-stop in real time. Press it shortly for slight slow-downs and speed-ups, or use wow and shake to make it go in and out of tune and go off-grid periodically. Use the mix knob to create tracks that are heavily saturated and detuned, with additional interesting tape artifacts like hiss, squeal and harm. The Bad Tape can be used to colour and detune your whole track, or it can be applied to just one bar at the end of a section to help introduce some variation and lead in the next section of your song.

Bullhorn / Loudspeaker Emulation

Megaphone is a plug-in that emulates a bullhorn/loudspeaker effect, which features two loudspeaker emulations, feedback (slapback) control and a noise section. Megaphone can be used to make any audio source sound as if it’s being played by a bullhorn.

Feedback

Feedback

The feedback section is essentially a slapback effect. When using megaphones, the output of the loudspeaker can be captured again by the input microphone, introducing a delay/reflection and the usual feedback tones (those can be triggered with high gain sources and feedback amount higher than 50%).

Noise:

• ​The megaphone noises can be enabled by the Trigger button. There are two types of noise: Button and Burst. You can balance the mix between the two noises with the Source parameter.
• The button noise is the noise made by clicking on the megaphone button to enable its microphone.
• The burst is the typical background noise of the loudspeaker.
• If the envelope is enabled, the Burst noise will follow the transients of the input signal.

Helper Saturator 2 is also available in the Helper Series 2 Bundle.

Helper Saturator 2 is an audio effect VST plugin professionally designed to apply saturation to the audio signal. Helper Saturator 2 is not just a simple saturation plug-in, it also comes with 2 filter features, 2 types of saturation modules and ability to be able to process 5 different types of audio signal.

With Helper Saturator 2, you have 2 options of saturation to use on your sounds. It features 2 saturation modules, which are Tube distortion and Tape distortion. They both add analog “warmth” to your sounds without over-distorting them. Helper Saturator 2 can be used in varieties of audio mixing cases: you may use it to get good results with drums, bass, and vocal tracks, over sub-mixes and of course over complete mixes.

With its both low pass and high pass filter modules, you’ll be able to cut off unwanted frequencies from the saturated audio signal. The possibilities are endless as you use the filter modules for creative purposes such as crafting new unique sounds. With the input and output gain control, proper gain staging can be done before and after the saturation process. You can choose to saturate different types of audio signal from the audio source – Stereo, Mid, Side, Left & Right.

Some of the greatest recordings of all time come from the analogue age, boasting a warm and pleasing sonic character, but how can this be achieved in the digital domain? Simple - use saturation to add harmonics.

Whether you are using a little to add a touch of warmth, or driving the signal hard to create dirty and distorted sounds, saturation plays a key role in every great production. 

But not all saturation tools are created equal, and all to often producers find themselves stacking a combination of various saturation plugins, to get the sound they are searching for or control the need.

At SoundSpot® we decided that a one stop shop for saturation was needed, and began developing a plugin that would deliver amazing sound quality and character with all the control you need.

The Halcyon boasts a huge amount of control, allowing you to truly tailor the sound of your harmonic saturation. From smooth tape to warm tube and everything in between, the Halcyon can breath life into your productions and make them sound fantastic.

Visual Feedback

Sometimes a little visual feedback can be very useful in making the right decisions in your mix, and whilst we are strong advocates of “Trust Your Ears” we also understand that most listening environments in the age of bedroom production will be far from perfect. 

We felt that in the case of saturation, being able to see what you are adding and where would be extremely useful to most users, so with that in mind, we developed an analyser that displays a second frequency chart, showing the additional harmonics being added.

Selecting Your Range

You won’t always need to add saturation to the entire spectrum of a sound, so we created a simple and quick way to target an area of the frequency range. Just drag the yellow tabs to where you want the effect to begin and end, it’s that simple.

Quick Start Presets

When you’re in a hurry to complete a mix, the quick templates are just the ticket to get you in the right direction. Just navigate through Drums, Bass, Guitar, Synth and Vocal to get a starting point to speed up your work flow.

Mid/Side & Drive Drive Control

So you’ve got the frequency range selected, now it’s time to add the magic. Just turn the drive control up to start adding saturation, then use the mid/side outer ring to obtain the desired balance for the effect.

Attack, Release & Makeup Gain

Saturation is fundamentally compression, and as such the best way to control how it behaves is through attack and release parameters. These controls allow you to create every conceivable kind of saturation you desire. You can even use the Halcyon as a character compressor or a brick wall soft clip limiter, to smooth out vocals or glue sub groups together. You can use the makeup gain control to compensate for the saturation boost if required.

LFO

Movement in your production is crucial in order to keep the listener engaged and using the Halcyon LFO to add movement over time to the just the ticket to keep things interesting. The LFO controls only the saturated signal creating a truly unique effect. This effect yields great rewards on drums, as you can use the LFO combined with range to create a distinct groove to your percussive sounds.

Time to get reel! Softube's Tape plug-in adds cohesion and weight to your mixes. But Tape goes far beyond your average tape machine emulation. It includes three distinctly different tape machine types, and it offers the ease of use and low CPU strain that today's music creators rightfully expect. 

Even in this day and age, it's common practice for computer based professional studios to run their mixes through at least one generation of analog tape. Why? Because even when used subtly, analog tape has a smoothing effect and adds cohesion and weight to a mix—it takes the recording from a collection of individual tracks into a song where everything is connected and works together. With Softube's Tape plug-in, you can have all that and more.

Three Machines in One 

Tape includes three different tape machine types in one plug-in. Type A is based on a classic Swiss high end reel-to-reel machine, known and loved for its precision and linearity. Type B is much more colorful—it's a transformer based machine which adds extra weight and cream to the low end. Lastly, Type C is based on a British tape machine with a distinct vintage vibe.

Ease of Use 

Select your favorite tape machine Type, and adjust the Amount knob to taste. In most cases, that's all you need to do to soak your tracks in analog tape sweetness. Easier still, load up one of the included presets, made by award winning engineers such as Joe Chiccarelli (Beck, U2, Strokes) and Howard Willing (Smashing Pumpkins, Sheryl Crow, Kris Kristofferson).

Feeling tweaky? Why not start by trying the different tape speed settings—you'll find that the slower the tape speed, the more pronounced is the so-called tape head bump, which adds low end to the mix. Or open the Remote Control panel where you can control the selected tape machine's speed stability, crosstalk amount and several other tape-a-liscious features.

Dense Sound, Light on CPU 

Add a single instance of Tape on your master bus to emulate what most computer based studios do today—mix in the computer, then mix down to a stereo tape machine—or go vintage style by adding Tape to every single track in your mix. Yes, your computer will be able to handle it. As most Softube plug-ins, Tape is uniquely light on your computer's processor.

Extras for Studio One Users 

If you run Presonus Studio One, you can not only use Tape as a standard plug-in. Adding Tape to your MixFX slot gives you Tape Multitrack. Tape Multitrack includes all the goodies of Tape, but in addition, you get selectable crosstalk between each individual track—and you can easily control the Tape Multitrack settings from a single interface. The Tape and Tape Multitrack license is one and the same. This means that if you're not a Studio One user but at some future point decide to switch to that DAW, you will already have Tape Multitrack installed, licensed and ready to go.

In Short

• Realistic analog tape sound
• Three tape machine types included
• Easy to use
• Low CPU usage
• Includes Tape Multitrack which can be used in the MixFX slot of Presonus Studio One—adding individual channel crosstalk and single interface control of all tracks

Reel To Reel

Reels is a tape emulation plugin with a built-in echo section and tape-stop effect.

Based on an old Japanese portable tape recorder with a very distinct Lo-Fi analogue sound, Reels emulates all the imperfections of consumer reel-to-reel recorders.

AudioThing has modelled three different 1/4” tape frequency responses and saturations, along with all the analogue imperfections of tape recording/playback.

Reels will add a very rough retro analogue sound to your mixes. If you are looking for a Hi-Fi mastering tape emulation, this is not the plugin for you!

Portable Tape Recorder

Reels is based on a vintage Japanese reel to reel, ironically marked as High Fidelity, found in a distressed state at a local flea market. Most of these consumer tape recorders, also due to their age, produce has a very rough Lo-Fi analogue sound.

During recording or playback, the motor noise somehow bleeds in, along with the usual tape hiss, limiting the actual bandwidth available on the tape.

Reels recreates all the imperfection of consumer reel-to-reel vintage recorders, including:

• Harshness - Harmonic distortion with loss of clarity (mid-range)
• WOW / Flutter - Pitch instabilities due to recording and playback issues
• Ducking - Random volume loss due to tape or rec/play head imperfections
• Crosstalk - The leak between the left and right channels in a stereo signal
• Hiss - High-frequency noise caused by the magnetic particles in the tape
• Motor - Mid-frequency noise caused by the reels motor

Tape Start and Stop

When you press stop on a reel-to-reel player, the tape doesn’t stop immediately. Instead, it gradually slows down creating a pitch down and fade-out effect.

The same thing happens in reverse, if you hit play, the tape gradually speeds up creating a pitch up and fade in effect.

You can replicate this effect with Reels, and you can also change the speed of the start/stop effect.

Tape Modeling

AudioThing has modelled three different tape types, from ruined to NOS (new old stock) state.

The tape types are named after the country of origin: JP (Japan), IT (Italy), FR (France).

• JP - Used tape but with an overall better frequency response
• IT - New old stock but with a limited frequency response
• FR - Overused and badly stored, very bad state

Each tape will affect the sound in different ways, especially at higher feedback settings when using the Echo section.

WOW / Flutter, Ducking and other parameters will also change according to the selected tape, creating different amounts of pitch and volume changes.

Harmonics Analog Saturation Processor

Did you ever try to give a track attitude by adding distortion, but then wind up with a washed out, lifeless sound instead? Harmonics, with its never-before-heard approach to dynamics in distortion, is the answer.

Guitars, vocals, drums, bass, even synths often need some extra grunt to push them over the edge, but distortion can destroy dynamics and cause more problems than it solves. Too little and your sound doesn’t cut through and fill its space. Too much and you lose the light and shade, the attack and decay. Transients blend into tails, and detail and definition go out the window.

But with Harmonics, you get much more than just five awesome-sounding analog distortion models. You also get a revolutionary new approach to handling dynamics during the process of distorting the sound. The input signal is listened to and analysed by the plug-in, allowing the dynamics and detail to be preserved and enhanced even after heavy distortion is applied.

Add to that the fact that Harmonics has five totally different-sounding component-modelled distortion styles, high and low cut filters, a mix knob and more, and you end up with a very powerful secret weapon indeed.

Analog Pro brings to life your digital audio by simulating the way Analog hardware such as tape machines, valves and vinyl turntables warm up and saturate your audio. We recreated the imperfections of playing back audio from a Tape or a turntable via the Wow and Flutter controls. Analog Pro has a variety of user adjustable controls including Noise Level, Noise Type, Impulse Type, Impulse Mix, Emphasis, Stereo, Lowcut, Highcut, Wow, Flutter and Amount, giving plenty of scope for the user to adjust the sound to their liking.

Analog Pro sounds great on real instruments such as pianos and brass and can really make your instruments stand out in your mix, sounding like they are being played back from a Tape or Turntable.

Analog Pro comes with an easy to use and resizable interface, use the Amount knob to control how much Analog Pro affects the signal.

Vintage Tube Overdrive

Valves is a vintage valve emulation plugin with multimode resonant filter and cabinet/EQ section.

The valve section is modelled after classic vintage tubes, with added grit and custom gain control.

The filter section is modelled after a classic ladder filter (2-pole or 4-pole) with low pass, high pass, bandpass and notch modes.

The cabinet/EQ section features a selection of modelled cabinets with classic bass and treble EQ controls.

Warm-Up

With up to 16x oversampling, Valves can be used to add that authentic tube character to your tracks.

Using the built-in Cabinet/EQ section you can emulate several types of guitar amplifiers and further shape the overdrive sound.

The state variable filter features LowPass, HighPass, BandPass, and Notch modes. It can be used pre or post-valve.