Saturation is an effect that can be used in a couple of different ways. It can be used to add depth to a sound, to fatten it up, to add color, aggression, fullness, harmonics…In this article we’re going to go over some of the best Saturation plugins that’ll help you get the sound that you’re looking for!

Saturation Knob

This is a free one, by a company called Softube. It’s a pretty high-quality plugin considering it’s free, and its got three different saturation types to work with. It also includes a few additional features like a built-in high pass filter and phase invert. Another nice feature of Saturation Knob is that there are 4 different modes: A,B,C, and D. This allows you to try out different settings and quickly toggle between them to test them out. Check this one out here.

Fresh Air

Fresh air is a plugin made by Slate Digital. It's a great way to add some high end to your mix without creating that harshness that an EQ boost can cause. The layout is very simple and easy to use; you’ll notice that there are two knobs, “Mid air” and “High Air”. “Mid air” is more of your mid-high range, while “High Air” deals with the more extreme high end. Fresh Air is a great way to add presence, clarity, brightness, and excitement to your mix. Check it out here.

Saturn

FabFilter is probably a name you’ve heard before, and they make a saturation plugin called Saturn. Saturn has A LOT of features compared to some of the other Saturators on this list, including lots of modulation options. For more about Saturn, visit FabFilter’s website here.

Volcano 3

Here, we have another FabFilter creation; this one is called Volcano 3. What’s great about this plugin is that it offers four analog-sounding filters that can create saturation. The layout is really simple and, like Saturn, there are lots of powerful modulation options. More about Volcano 3 here.

Wave shapers

For Ableton Live users, Saturator is a powerful plugin that lets you apply saturation by making adjustments to the slope of the curve, as well as the input signal. Analogue-sounding saturations are going to have a smoother curve, while the slope for the harsher, digital-sounding saturations will be more extreme. 

KClip 3

Clipping is a technique you can use to make sounds louder and to clip your waveforms, which will create a saturation/distortion effect. KClip 3 uses that clipping technique. The plugin has a nice, user-friendly interface and offers multi-band functionality. Check out KClip here.

Free Clip 2

Free Clip 2 is another plugin that uses the clipping method. It was developed by Venn Audio and is free. There are several different algorithms to choose from, it’s got a nice sound, a simple layout and it’s pretty light on the CPU. Download Free Clip here.

Saturate

Saturate by Newfangled Audio is another high quality saturation plugin which uses clipping. with a relatively simple layout that's worth checking out. Here’s a link to Saturate here.