WaveArts Tube Saturator

[mojobone]

This deceptively simple plugin is fast achieving secret weapon status in my signal processing arsenal; I need to thank that feller in TapeOp that said it was worth five times the price, I'd have paid a good deal more than that for what this thing does. You'll need a robust processor to do much of anything, it's the biggest resource hog in my collection and pretty much won't work in realtime; I have to render one track at a time, but it allows me to be satisfied with inside the box mixing, something a lot of plugs have claimed to do, but failed. It simply removes digititis. If you've ever run a signal through a high end hardware tube limiter without actually liimiting anything just to get it to come out more organic, that's the sound, only without the additional weight you'd get from the heavy iron transformers. There's a Fat switch that provides a very similar subtle thickening, if you need it, and a switch that activates a Baxandall EQ, which is utterly unlike any digital EQ I've ever encountered; nothing surgical about it, just three bands of broad strokes, but it doesn't make my teeth grate when I want to add bass, mids or trebles, rather than subtract them, though the Baxandall can do that right smartly as well. WaveArts claims that it takes a great deal of horsepower to accurately emulate what goes on inside a tube, and the proof is in their pudding; I haven't heard a better plugin that didn't require an accelerator card. Highly recommended. http://wavearts.com/products/plugins/tube/

[cardell]

Yes, I'm not surprised by what you are saying. I tried the demo some months ago and I was blown away!

Stuart

[Kolstad]

Looks exciting! At the moment I experiment with EZ mix for this kind of stuff, when I don't want to use parrallel comp., but might try a tube plug in the future.

Electronic Musician also had a runthrough of some current options of saturation plugs: http://emusician.com/signalprocessors/s ... n_plugins/

[teleblaster]

Downloaded the demo, first impressions are WOW! These guys get it. Punch and Clarity are the hallmarks of boutique tube gear, and this plug seems to have it in spades. I don't know how long the demo lasts for, but this is a no brainer once that times out. I'll skip meals if I have to.

Great find.

[mojobone]

Thank you, sir! It's a pleasure to be of service.

[mhoward]

Yea, I love my WaveArts plugins... I have MasterVerb and TrackPlug. I got the Tube Saturator demo and loved it compared to another (maybe Antares) I tried. I've had good experiences with their support, too.

[Kolstad]

I think I'm getting one of them saturation plug's soon. Wonder how the WaveArts' holds up against SoundToys Decapitator? http://www.soundtoys.com/product/Decapitator/ Are you experienced?

[Dwayne Russell]

Thanks Mojo

I might have to check this on out. I use this stuff allot in the place of EQ

I even made a video about it:

http://dwaynerussell.org/mixing-master-class/

It's the second video down from the top

[mojobone]

GREAT NEWS! The original version is now available for free! http://wavearts.com/products/plugins/tu ... 20software

I upgraded to version 2.0, which also sounds great and has a 12AU7 emulation in addition, (less bite, more glow than a 12AX7) and has a way lighter CPU hit. The free version, you might have to freeze tracks, but it's so tremendously useful, it's a total no-brainer. Dead useful for putting just the right amount of hair on a too-clean synth or bassline, plus a thousand other tasks. You can argue with the functionality, but you can't argue with the price.

[cardell]

Thanks Mojo!

Stuart