TarabiaMK2 PRO

Nice, very flexible overdrive/distortion plugin, especially if compared with the "army" of already existing green, black or orange colored pedal simulations.

Useful for some more and widely individually customizable overdrive to distortion sounds.

The Pro version seems to be intended rather for tweakers, looking for their own sounds, as not every setting automatically sounds right or great, but, if properly adjusted, the plugin can really sound very good.

A lot of useful features like adjustable input hp filter, just to name a single one.

Morphing between the different basic voicings works fine, also the blending of the different clipping modes.

Also works well in front of a tube amp plugin (for guitar), but not only, I also tested it with a Taurus, Arp and Hammond plugin and got some convincingly fresh and different sounding results.

Good but not perfect, the tube mode for example offers 8 gain stages, which - in my opinion do not really behave or sound like a real tube preamp with 8 (or less) gain stages. Unfortunately I also miss a little of a tube typical warmth, sweetness and breakup. Good, but generally a little to thin and harsh sounding tube tones for my taste. On the other hand a really good harmonics reproduction, especially in front of another tube amp plugin.

I personally would have liked some more fine tuning options for the tube mode, as it offers much more options to get very different results (activatable cathode bypass capacitors, different cathode resistor values (hot bias, cold bias) different plate resistor values, ...). The lead mode, which I suppose, is or should be a hard clipping circuit also could need some adjustment options, as also the sonic results of hard clipping can vary a lot, depending on different forward voltage, positioning within a circuit, it can work as a typical fuzz but also can only add some fresh bite and a lot in between.

For the clipping section an additional, individually adjustable forward voltage control (0.25 - 3.3 V should work fine (also for the lead mode)) could make this section perfect, as this parameter affects the clipping results more than everything else in my opinion. In reality you have to use the values of existing diodes, but in the digital world you also can exceed these limitations easily.

Nevertheless really recommended, if you look for a plugin, which allows you to shape your own overdrive or distortion sound very individually.

Considering the price, you get a lot of options for the money. Maybe you will not like all of them, but you certainly can find some useful and good sounding ones.

I think, the plugin still can be improved sonically a little and concerning some additional options. Therefore I wanted to give 4 stars, but on the other hand the basic concept is a nice, fresh, creative idea, which differs this plugin from a lot of others, therefore - despite of some personal additional wishes - 5 stars.

Nice, very flexible overdrive/distortion plugin, especially if compared with the "army" of already existing green, black or orange colored pedal simulations.

Useful for some more and widely individually customizable overdrive to distortion sounds.

The Pro version seems to be intended rather for tweakers, looking for their own sounds, as not every setting automatically sounds right or great, but, if properly adjusted, the plugin can really sound very good.

A lot of useful features like adjustable input hp filter, just to name a single one.

Morphing between the different basic voicings works fine, also the blending of the different clipping modes.

Also works well in front of a tube amp plugin (for guitar), but not only, I also tested it with a Taurus, Arp and Hammond plugin and got some convincingly fresh and different sounding results.

Good but not perfect, the tube mode for example offers 8 gain stages, which - in my opinion do not really behave or sound like a real tube preamp with 8 (or less) gain stages. Unfortunately I also miss a little of a tube typical warmth, sweetness and breakup. Good, but generally a little to thin and harsh sounding tube tones for my taste. On the other hand a really good harmonics reproduction, especially in front of another tube amp plugin.

I personally would have liked some more fine tuning options for the tube mode, as it offers much more options to get very different results (activatable cathode bypass capacitors, different cathode resistor values (hot bias, cold bias) different plate resistor values, ...). The lead mode, which I suppose, is or should be a hard clipping circuit also could need some adjustment options, as also the sonic results of hard clipping can vary a lot, depending on different forward voltage, positioning within a circuit, it can work as a typical fuzz but also can only add some fresh bite and a lot in between.

For the clipping section an additional, individually adjustable forward voltage control (0.25 - 3.3 V should work fine) could make this section perfect, as this parameter affects the clipping results more than everything else in my opinion. In reality you have to use the values of existing diodes, but in the digital world you also can exceed these limitations easily.

Nevertheless really recommended, if you look for a plugin, which allows you to shape your own overdrive or distortion sound very individually.

Considering the price, you get a lot of options for the money. Maybe you will not like all of them, but you certainly can find some useful and good sounding ones.

I think, the plugin still can be improved sonically a little and concerning some additional options. Therefore I wanted to give 4 stars, but on the other hand the basic concept is a nice, fresh, creative idea, which differs this plugin from a lot of others, therefore - despite of some personal additional wishes - 5 stars.