Free Saturators?

[Trancit]

One I like quite the most is the saturator in the free Melda bundle:
https://www.meldaproduction.com/MSaturator

Lots of very useable stuff in there...
With the included Waveshaper you can build your own one too...

[crimsonwarlock]

In 32bit there is also TAL-Tube. It used to be my go-to saturation plugin before I moved to 64bit exclusively. Still hoping TAL will make it 64bit.

My current favorite is AXP Softamp 30D. It is 64bit and has oversampling.

[Obsolete236871]

Even more overlooked about that plugin, it's the fact that it has oversampling, though you need to manually activate it. Tbh I just forgot about it, I knew there was one I didn't remember when doing my recommendations.

Indeed. Plus Voxengo Tube Amp has two different tube saturation modes. I found that depending on the material, either one of the two typically works very well.

I also like the free SGA 1566 soundwise, but it's easy to max out the CPU due to the sophisticated circuit modelling going on there. Their commercial plugins are better optimized from what I read.

[Auplant]

I am using GClip a hell of a lot in sound design, it's free, and I don't know of a better tool for high quality clipping/saturation/brickwall limiting

[ohwell]

Airwindows has a killer range of saturators. I agree with the above suggestions. Other ones I use a lot:

- Busscolors4 (Emulates different analogue console sounds, including saturation. Besides Channel7, this is my favorite in the airwindows line for analogue sounding saturation.)
- Guitarconditioner (Try it on non guitar things too.)
- Density (Saturation putty!)
- Fracture (More extreme territory.)
- Loud (“Loud is distortion and demolition of air molecules, modeled.”)

Keep in mind to explore boosting the signal before hitting them. (I like using BitShiftGain (also airwindows) for that, in part because it goes in big increments.)

[Auplant]

I’m curious to try some of these

[codec_spurt]

I am using GClip a hell of a lot in sound design, it's free, and I don't know of a better tool for high quality clipping/saturation/brickwall limiting

GClip is a 'wave-shaping clipper', GSatMax is a 'saturating limiter' with a discrete 'Drive' knob for the saturation. It's in the GVST bundle: https://www.gvst.co.uk/packages.htm


Another great tool is Nick Crow's TubeDriver: https://nickcrowlab.blogspot.com/

32/64 bit. Optional oversampling and sounds very good on a lot of stuff.

[Auplant]

I am using GClip a hell of a lot in sound design, it's free, and I don't know of a better tool for high quality clipping/saturation/brickwall limiting

GClip is a 'wave-shaping clipper', GSatMax is a 'saturating limiter' with a discrete 'Drive' knob for the saturation. It's in the GVST bundle: https://www.gvst.co.uk/packages.htm

Ok fair enough. I get more broad with the term "saturation", and Gclip also has a drive knob.
I like to put different distortions always before a GClip insance, so I keep the volume and clipping of the sound under control.

[codec_spurt]

I am using GClip a hell of a lot in sound design, it's free, and I don't know of a better tool for high quality clipping/saturation/brickwall limiting

GClip is a 'wave-shaping clipper', GSatMax is a 'saturating limiter' with a discrete 'Drive' knob for the saturation. It's in the GVST bundle: https://www.gvst.co.uk/packages.htm

Ok fair enough. I get more broad with the term "saturation", and Gclip also has a drive knob.
I like to put different distortions always before a GClip insance, so I keep the volume and clipping of the sound under control.

I wasn't correcting you as such, just pointing out another option (and stating what it says on the 'info' bits of the plugs).

I'm pretty sure it's doing saturation, some kind anyway. Just like when you really drive a guitar amp and it clips and kind of gets quieter (at very loud volume), if that makes sense. Sometimes when you have an amp at '10' and then kick in an overdrive/distortion pedal, it takes the level down by just brutally brickwalling the output to a square wave. At least that's how I'd describe it, maybe another guitar player/dsp guru could explain it better.

So I would say that GClip is very much a 'saturator' if one wanted to (ab)use it that way. I used it just like that this morning in fact, with GSatMax in front of it. It's compressing, distorting and harmonically enhancing the program material all in one go!

I don't really care about terminology as long as it sounds good.

Anyway, I imagine the term 'wave-shaping' pretty much covers what saturation does as well, turning a sine wave in to a square wave? I might have got that totally wrong - just how I envision it. Wave-shaping usually results in some kind of 'distortion' is all I know. Then again, that 'distortion' can actually make some things sound clearer and stand out more in a mix.

Does it sound good?

Well ok, then...

[no reason why you couldn't just go mad on GClip itself if it does]

[Auplant]

I don't really care about terminology as long as it sounds good.

This is generally the way I look at things as well. I guess GClip itself doesn't give much control over low - mid harmonics, it just clips all of them - which may or may not sound good depending on application. But another trick is to put a compressor or EQ (highpass or highshelf) directly before the clip - it give you that extra bit of control at manipulating the harmonics.

[BlackWinny]

I would add PhreePhuzz as suggestion.

And perhaps it could be good also to look into some waveshapers.

[The Noodlist]

I would add PhreePhuzz as suggestion.

And perhaps it could be good also to look into some waveshapers.


 

+1
Would be better if all models had the same output level.
LVC Audio preamp modules are good, White pre and Ompre, currently on sale.

[Butwug]

And IVGI is a free 1-quarter of Klanghelm's full plugin, SDRR.

Right... i always forget about that one.

Dont try IVGI if you want free. Youll end up buying SDRR

[The Noodlist]

Lil'Plug 

[heavymetalmixer]

Lil'Plug 

The site doesn't exist anymore.