KVR Audio

levm38 · Post by **levm38** » Mon Sep 16, 2019 1:45 pm

Hello

I dont hae budget for saturators like decapitator or fabfilter saturn.
Are there any Free out there worth trying?

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Mon Sep 16, 2019 1:54 pm

Yep. This one sounds great: https://wavearts.com/products/plugins/t ... r-vintage/

This one is nice as well: https://www.softube.com/saturationknob#/

sleepcircle · Post by **sleepcircle** » Mon Sep 16, 2019 1:59 pm

It absolutely obliterates your CPU on any oversampling level but: SGA1566 sounds very good—it's good for turning to max settings and then bouncing to a file for future use.

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

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Mon Sep 16, 2019 2:03 pm

sleepcircle wrote: ↑Mon Sep 16, 2019 1:59 pm And IVGI is a free 1-quarter of Klanghelm's full plugin, SDRR.

Right... i always forget about that one.

andymcbain · Post by **andymcbain** » Mon Sep 16, 2019 2:23 pm

If you don't mind the lack of interfaces and metering, Airwindows stuff... Density is very good, as are the tape emulations.

sprnva · Post by **sprnva** » Mon Sep 16, 2019 2:31 pm

https://klevgrand.se/products/freeamp

levm38 · Post by **levm38** » Mon Sep 16, 2019 2:34 pm

thanks a lot for the fread feedback!

sleepcircle · Post by **sleepcircle** » Mon Sep 16, 2019 2:36 pm

Oh, yes, definitely Airwindows, too. Give Channel7 a try, or Single Ended Triode, Hard Vacuum, or Mojo

For reference, because each plugin models only one specific kind of saturation:
Channel7 is very pure and bright (with increasing phatness as you move past 100%)
Single Ended Triode is pure and warm (the Class A and Class AB sliders are capable of adding extreme grit, possibly up to speaker-damaging levels, so be very gentle with them and do not use A and AB together, only one or the other)
Hard Vacuum sizzles and sings
Mojo thumps and slams

heavymetalmixer · Post by **heavymetalmixer** » Mon Sep 16, 2019 7:18 pm

1) TDR SlickEQ can be used as a saturation plugin alone.
2) Klanghelm IVGI 2.
3) The Drive knob in the Audio Tools Leveling Tool compressor can be used on its own too.
4) Airwindows has many good ones, mostly ToTape 5.
5) Softube Saturation Knob.

It's better not to use the Wave Arts Saturator Vintage, it's literally the CPU-heaviest free plugin ever, even worse than some paid ones.

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Mon Sep 16, 2019 7:22 pm

You're absolutely right. It sounds nicer than most other free saturators, though.

Boone777 · Post by **Boone777** » Mon Sep 16, 2019 8:02 pm

If you don't mind 32 bits: https://varietyofsound.wordpress.com/20 ... -kvr-dc09/
VOS has a lot of other intresting stuff to play with tone.

sleepcircle · Post by **sleepcircle** » Mon Sep 16, 2019 8:22 pm

chk071 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 16, 2019 7:22 pm You're absolutely right. It sounds nicer than most other free saturators, though.

yeah, it sounds great--it's basically a complete and unsimplified circuit simulation, so it's another one of those "get a good-sounding saturation and then bounce it for future use" saturators.

and yeah, i always forget about VOS. Ever since I moved to mac i can't use it any more. :[

levm38 · Post by **levm38** » Tue Sep 17, 2019 6:10 am

wow thats a lot of options, thanks everyone

Obsolete236871 · Post by **Obsolete236871** » Tue Sep 17, 2019 12:57 pm

Often overlooked, but very capable for quality tube-style saturation without taxing the CPU too much:

https://www.voxengo.com/product/tubeamp/

heavymetalmixer · Post by **heavymetalmixer** » Tue Sep 17, 2019 1:00 pm

Izak Synthiemental wrote: ↑Tue Sep 17, 2019 12:57 pm Often overlooked, but very capable for quality tube-style saturation without taxing the CPU too much:

https://www.voxengo.com/product/tubeamp/

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.

Free Saturators?