If you’ve been a Pro Tools user for a while, then you’ll probably know about all the good plugins that come bundled with the DAW.
The DigiRack and the AIR bundles alone are fantastic and will give you all the tools you need to craft a superb sounding mix!

However, there’s a useful tool that’s missing…

A great plugin that’s not included, but should seriously be, is the “Saturation Knob” from the popular plugin manufacturer Softube.
The good news is that you can get it for FREE, right now, in AAX format compatible with both Pro Tools 10 and 11.

Note: this plugin comes already bundled with each copy of Studio One 2, and it’s available for SONAR and Reason as well!

Spice Up Your Tracks

The Saturation Knob is a very straightforward and versatile distortion plugin, meant to add smooth tape-like saturation to the signal it’s affecting, coloring it with some analog overdrive and a hint of compression.
It works great for giving some analog “warmth”, “color” and “fatness” to your tracks, while helping reduce the sometimes too-much-clinical sound of the digital domain.

Just A Big Knob And A Switch

With its big knob, you can dial in the amount of harmonic distortion you want in no time, spacing from just a hint of sauce to spice up your bass to a complete distortion mayhem for your drums.
Aside from the main knob, it comes with a simple 3-toggle switch meant to give you a bit more flexibility. Leaving it on the “Keep Low” position, you can keep the low end of your sound fairly intact, while at the same time overdriving the rest of the signal. Vice versa, you can switch it on the “Keep High” position to preserve the highs. Lastly, the “Neutral” setting will tell the plugin to apply its colors to the whole sound.

A super cool thing is that the Saturation Knob is not CPU expensive, so you can easily put it across multiple tracks if you will. You can even try to emulate a full analog workflow by loading it on every single track!

…And I’ll tell you a secret: I used it in mastering as well with great results! Cara mendownload lagu dari spotify.

Since It’s Free, It Will Sound Bad, Right? Wrong.

Now maybe you’re wondering something like this: “Well, but if it’s free, it won’t sound that good…”. Think again…
This Saturation Knob sounds literally amazing. It’s by far one of the best free plugins around.

On top of that, as said above, the plugin is made by Softube, one of the most loved plugin manufacturers in the world…They have to maintain their good reputation and I don’t think they would have put shame on them by releasing a crappy plugin, even if it’s free.

So what are you waiting for?
Here’s the download link…Go get it now!
I think you won’t be disappointed.

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My Favorite Plugin Lacks Something
(That’s Why I Love It!)

Have you got a go to plugin you use on every single mix? I do. It’s the SSL Channel from Waves. In a few words, this..

Saturation-based effects have always been Softube’s bread and butter, so it was only a matter of time before it brought us a tape emulation.

Tape (VST/AU) is about as simple as this kind of thing gets, sacrificing the configuration depth of, say, u-he Satin, for a simple interface that boils the architectural minutiae of its three modelled tape machines (each complete with unspecified tape) down to a streamlined set of controls that no one’s going to have any trouble getting to grips with.

Deck hand

The three vintage decks in question aren’t specifically named, but A is described as “Swiss” and popular in the 60s, and therefore can only really be a Studer; B is “transformer- based” and thus, we reckon, probably the Ampex ATR102; and C is “British” - an EMI, we suppose.

Switching between them is done with the Type button, and the Amount knob increases the depth of processing - ie, tape saturation - with separate input overdrive available in the Remote Control panel (see below). Like the machines they mimic, each model has its own distinct sound: Type A is the flattest and most versatile in terms of frequency response, while Type B delivers a fairly hefty boost to the lows and highs, and Type C tilts a touch towards the top end.

Remote Control

Nas illmatic full album. Clicking the Remote Control bar down Tape’s right hand edge slides open a panel containing an additional set of parameters.

Speed Stability simulates wow and flutter, dialling in wholly convincing pitch and volume wobbling, and opening Tape up to flanging and chorus effects when used in conjunction with the Dry/Wet mix knob above. High Frequency Trim boosts or attenuates treble response, rather like a shelving filter; while Crosstalk bleeds the left and right channels into each other, profoundly boosting central punch and weight at high settings.

Finally, activating Noise adds in emulated tape noise that increases in loudness and low- end emphasis as the Tape Speed is reduced, but is effectively imperceptible at high speeds; and the Run and Stop buttons trigger very cool tape start and stop effects, the lengths of which are, annoyingly, entirely dependent on the Tape Speed setting.

The Tape Speed knob steps between five settings, starting at the studio standard 30 inches per second, halving down through 15ips and 71⁄2ips, then dropping all the way to 33⁄4ips and the snail-like 17⁄8ips. As the speed decreases, the top end response rolls off, the distortion increases and the signal progressively deteriorates, from bright and smooth at 30ips to dark, lo-fi and fabulously crunchy at 17⁄8ips.

The VU meters respond smoothly and accurately to changes in Amount and Input gain, showing you exactly how hot you’re running your virtual tape, and can be flipped to THD (Total Harmonic Distortion) mode to visualise the weight of saturation being brought to bear.

It’s on, Tape

Having worked the aforementioned Satin deeply into our retro production workflow some time ago, Tape had its work cut out impressing us, but we fell in love with it pretty much instantly. Satin might have the advantage in terms of power and configurability (not to mention its deployment as a delay effect), but Tape just sounds incredible - as close to the real deal as we’ve ever heard.

On the master bus at 30 or 15ips, it warms the mix and glues its component tracks together beautifully, with each Type yielding very different results; while on individual instruments and vocals, it’s ideal for subtle saturation or creative effects, thanks to the slow speeds and wet/dry flanging. Also worth mentioning is that Presonus’ Studio One DAW can load Tape as a Mix FX plugin (called Tape Multitrack), with the Crosstalk control (see boxout) bleeding discrete tracks into each other rather than just left and right channels.

A dazzlingly authentic tape emulation plugin that you’ll want to build into your template DAW project for use on just about everything (particularly if that DAW happens to be Studio One), Tape is unmissable.