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is it just distortion? people always say add saturation bla bla bla. but i've never seen a saturation plug in or preset. but if it's just distortion then why call it saturation?

saturation is blending 1 thing into another. In audio terms it is related to distortion, usually tape or valve distortion/saturation, the term is slightly misleading but thats basically what it is.

its like making a line with a pencil and then smearing it

jason burns wrote:is it just distortion?

Historically it refers to the level of oxide particles magnetized on tape. Once all particles where "loaded", the tape was saturated, thus causing a change (compression + distortion) in any further audio added. That's where the saturation as in "fullness" analogy comes from.

Generally, what this means soundwise is an unevenly distributed distortion / noise and compression along the frequency spectrum with greater artifacts the louder the program is.

In wonky plugins, it usually means gain, compression and some random junk for flavor.

Distortion doesn't really mean much other than "let's fuck things up ampltitude-wise, preferably upward".

Unempty wrote:

jason burns wrote:is it just distortion?

Historically it refers to the level of oxide particles magnetized on tape. Once all particles where "loaded", the tape was saturated, thus causing a change (compression + distortion) in any further audio added. That's where the saturation as in "fullness" analogy comes from.

Generally, what this means soundwise is an unevenly distributed distortion / noise and compression along the frequency spectrum with greater artifacts the louder the program is.

In wonky plugins, it usually means gain, compression and some random junk for flavor.

Distortion doesn't really mean much other than "let's fuck things up ampltitude-wise, preferably upward".

Word! From what I understaynd, generally it's an attempt at the coloration created by turning the gain up past clipping on analogue gear. Obviously ^his description is better than mine. If you try to turn up something loud an digital gear you get ugly clipping. If you do the similar thing on a desk you get a nice warm coloration. There are infact many plugins that do this.

its like distortion minus clipping easiest to say
fx in kontakt which i noticed not many dubetep heads use
analog wise
recording like a sound to tape mad in the red semi like limiting but not like it

aaaahhhhh. so how is it done without any analogue gear. right now im just sending my drums through a bus with distortion and telling myself it's saturation. am i lying to myself or not.

jason burns wrote:aaaahhhhh. so how is it done without any analogue gear. right now im just sending my drums through a bus with distortion and telling myself it's saturation. am i lying to myself or not.

kontakt has it x wise otherwise psp vintagewarmer
closest to ana;og

jason burns wrote:aaaahhhhh. so how is it done without any analogue gear. right now im just sending my drums through a bus with distortion and telling myself it's saturation. am i lying to myself or not.

Nah, not if it sounds good.

For tape-style compression and non-linear distortion, Voxengo Tapebus and Magix am|Suite are both ace. The latter is pretty new, and a bit pricier, but damn it sounds good.

but for real sound if ya have a hi fi tape deck record into red onto it get concept in your head real quick

On that note, a classic tape trick is to record using Dolby B noise reduction and then play back without it. Gives a nice emphasis on the highs.

Another (ab)use of really old dolby noise reduction cartridges (Dolby A) is to use them on hi hats to tame them nicely. Pretty much all they're good for too.

However, I digress.

saturation is just the kind of distortion that happens when you overload a gain stage w/ too much voltage... the way tape, a transformer, a vacuum tube etc all deal w/ it are the differens sounds and kinds of effect that you can get.

saturation is definitely a form of distortion; a wave starts getting clipped off and turned into a square wave when the amplitude can't get raised any higher. In a digital system, that non-nonsense square wave is nasty digital distortion. tape/tubes/etc all have wiggle room; rather than ugly, some sounds can get more exciting--and a whole lot louder--when saturated.

vintagewarmer is a great emulation of tape and tube saturation; the antares tube plug-in is good as well. scream in reason has some awesome settings, too--

basically 'distortion' is anything that fucks up the original sound based on amplitude, so clipping/bitreduction/saturation are all different kinds.

It's when you get really wet.

metalboxproducts wrote:It's when you get really wet.

is there anything in logic?

i dont have much to add other than the fact that most saturation plugins are trying to mimic analog gear. analog tape, even tube guitar amps... cause a distorting relative to the harmonics. digital clipping, distortion, is not relative to the harmonics of the sound, so it can be deemed "unmusical" but can be useful at times... i suppose

Its called saturation (as in totally filled up) coz the tape gets filled up to capacity with sound.

At this point wierd things start happening to the sound. Some distortion - a pleasing type, but you prob wouldn't want it on everything, opera for example. Some compression / limiting - as the possible dynamic range is exceded at the very very top. And the frequency response becomes more non-linear as you push the tape in ways it was not deigned for.

Different brands of tape respond differently, newer versions like the quantegy red tape can be pushed really hard, and have their own sound.

No plugin (yet) can do this in a way that everyone is happy with. Rupert Neve has an outboard box that simulates it, as do some others, but still, for rock music drums to tape is still freightenly common practice.

Plus tape, can record sub- and super-sonic sounds and that's where all the psychic new age vibe energy jazz magic is.