Saturate User Guide
Saturate User Guide
Newfangled Audio
www.newfangledaudio.com
I
Contents
3 Navigation Bar 7
3.1 UNDO/REDO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.2 A/B COMPARE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.3 LIBRARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.3.1 SEARCH and FILTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.3.2 PRESET LIST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.3.3 PRESET INFO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.3.4 PLUGIN UI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.4 PRESET SELECTOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.5 SAVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.5.1 PRESET NAME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.5.2 SET AS DEFAULT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.5.3 HEART ICON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.5.4 SAVE BUTTON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.5.5 EXPORT BUTTON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.5.6 PLUGIN UI and DESCRIPTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.5.7 CATEGORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.5.8 AUTHOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.5.9 TAGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.5.10 DESCRIPTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.6 SETTINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.6.1 INSTALLED VERSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.6.2 USER GUIDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.6.3 SHOW METERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.6.4 BRIGHTNESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.6.5 OPENGL GRAPHICS RENDERING . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.6.6 COLOR SCHEME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.6.7 PRESETS FOLDER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
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3.6.8 DEFAULT SETTINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.7 Resize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
5 Conclusion 22
III
1
Chapter 1
Newfangled Audio
Saturate
2
Saturate is a saturation plug-in made popular as the final Spectral Clip-
per stage in the Elevate plug-in. Saturate as two controls which belie
a sophisticated signal processing engine which allows it to overdrive a
signal without effecting the tonal balance or allowing the signal to get
"tubby". This makes it ideal for overdriving an entire mix, but it works quite
well on individual instruments as well. Consider placing it after Punctuate
to transparently treat the transients that you may have boosted.
3
Chapter 2
Installation and
Instantiation
4
2.2 Activating Your License
To activate and manage your plug-in licenses you’ll need to install PACE’s
iLok License Manager software which you can download from http:
//www.ilok.com. If you don’t have this software installed, please down-
load and install it now.
Once you have installed and launched iLok License Manager you should
be able to log in to your account by clicking the large "Sign In" button
in the upper left hand corner of the application. Once you have, you
should be able to see available licenses by choosing the Available tab
at the top of the iLok License Manager application. If you have success-
fully registered your plugin, your Saturate Native license will be available
in this list. Please activate this license by dragging it to either your com-
puter or iLok dongle listed on the left. When you do so, you will be asked
to confirm the activation, and you will be able to see it by clicking on the
location you have chosen. At this point your license is activated.
5
2.5 Removing or Uninstalling your Plug-In
We’re sure you’ll love your Newfangled Audio plug-ins, but if you ever
want to remove them from your machine it’s as easy as removing the
following files.
For Mac:
• Macintosh HD/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/<Plug-In Name>.component
• Macintosh HD/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/Newfangled Audio/<Plug-
In Name>.vst
• Macintosh HD/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/Newfangled Audio/<Plug-
In Name>.vst3
• Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/Avid/Audio/Plug-Ins/Newfangled
Audio/<Plug-In Name>.aaxplugin
• /Music/Newfangled Audio/<Plug-In Name>/
For Windows:
• c:\Program Files\Common\Steinberg\VST2\Newfangled Audio\<Plug-
In Name>.dll
• c:\Program Files\Common\VST3\Newfangled Audio\<Plug-In Name>.vst3
• c:\Program Files\Common\Avid\Audio\Plug-Ins\Newfangled Au-
dio
<Plug-In Name>.aaxplugin
• My Documents\Newfangled Audio\<Plug-In Name>\
6
Chapter 3
Navigation Bar
At the very top of the plug-in is a navigation bar which allows you to
undo and redo changes, access the preset librarian, settings, and man-
age several other global features of the plug-in.
3.1 UNDO/REDO
On the far left is an UNDO and REDO button. After changing any plug-in
parameter in the plug-in interface the UNDO button will activate. Press-
ing it at this point will undo this action. At this point the REDO button will
become active, and pressing it will redo this action. Multiple levels of
undo are available and you can move back through several changes
to reach an earlier state.
7
3.3 LIBRARY
The Library button launches the Preset Librarian which can be used to
explore the plug-ins presets based on any combination of category, au-
thor, tags, or favorites.
8
3.3.2 PRESET LIST
The bottom of the Preset Librarian shows the list of presets which match
the current criteria. It displays the FAVORITE status using a heart icon, the
preset NAME, the preset CATEGORY, the preset AUTHOR, and the preset
BANK. You can sort the list by any of these. The up and down arrows on
your keyboard will allow you to toggle through the presets.
3.3.4 PLUGIN UI
The center left of the Preset Librarian displays a miniature version of the
plug-in UI. This plug-in UI is not editable, but it is live and will show you
the current settings of the plug-in, as well as any meters. We’ve found it
incredibly useful to see this display as we’ve toggled through presets to
get a sense of what each preset does.
9
In the center of the navigation bar is a dropdown preset selector. Click-
ing on this preset selector will show you the plug-ins presets in several
views.
1. All will show you all the presets in alphabetical order.
2. Favorite will show you all your favorite presets in alphabetical order.
3. Filtered will show you all the presets which correspond to the cur-
rent filter in alphabetical order. This filter is set up in the preset librar-
ian.
4. Underneath these the presets are displayed according to their Cat-
egory, as assigned when a preset is saved.
Once you load a preset from this dropdown list the Left and Right arrow
buttons allow you to toggle through the selected subgroup in order. For
more advanced preset selection click the LIBRARY button to enter the
preset librarian.
Additionally, if you like the sound of the current preset you can click the
heart icon to set the loaded preset as a favorite. If a loaded preset is
modified the heart icon will become an asterisk and the preset name is
italicized, indicating that the current sate no longer matches that of the
saved preset.
3.5 SAVE
The SAVE button launches the preset save screen where you can save a
preset and assign categories, tags, and descriptions, as well as set the
default state of the plug-in.
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3.5.1 PRESET NAME
This field sets the preset name. There can only be one preset with a
given name.
3.5.7 CATEGORY
Set the category for the preset you are saving. A preset can have only
one category. If the preset doesn’t fit into any of the existing categories
you can use the [+] button to create a new one.
The existing categories are based on those that are found in the existing
presets. If you create a new one it will appear in this list with an "X" on it.
If you decide not to use the newly created CATEGORY you can remove
it by clicking on the "X". However, once the preset is saved this category
will be permanent and available to all newly saved presets, unless you
delete all presets which use it.
3.5.8 AUTHOR
The AUTHOR section allows you to add your name and a url if you main-
tain a presence on the web. This will be automatically populated with
the information from the last saved preset, so you will only likely need to
enter it once.
11
3.5.9 TAGS
You can add any number of TAGS to a saved preset. These TAGS will
allow your preset to be found in the preset librarian. It’s best to add the
tags that apply to the preset, and don’t add the ones that don’t. You
can create a new tag using the [+] button.
The existing tags are based on those that are found in the existing pre-
sets. If you create a new one it will appear in this list with an "X" on it.
If you decide not to use the newly created TAG you can remove it by
clicking on the "X". However, once the preset is saved this tag will be
permanent and available to all newly saved presets, unless you delete
all presets which use it.
3.5.10 DESCRIPTION
If desired you can add a short description to the preset. It’s best to use
this field to add information about what a preset is for, or any hints for a
user about how to use it.
3.6 SETTINGS
The SETTINGS button pops down a settings page which contains addi-
tional options.
12
3.6.1 INSTALLED VERSION
This displays the version number that is currently installed. If you are run-
ning the latest version it will tell you. If there is an update an UPDATE
button will appear. Clicking this button will bring you to the downloads
page where you can get the latest version.
13
3.6.4 BRIGHTNESS
The BRIGHTNESS control will control the brightness of the glow in the
RADAR control, the envelope graph behind the LEVEL DETECTOR sec-
tion, and the curve graphic behind the CURVE section.
3.7 Resize
The bottom right corner of the UI will allow you to resize the plug-in. To
change the default plug-in size drag the plug-in to the desired size and
save over the default preset.
14
Chapter 4
Saturate has only two main controls, as well as a couple helpful controls.
They are all described here.
4.1 Controls
Saturate has several control types, including horizontal sliders, rotary knobs,
drop-down menus, and toggle and radio buttons, all of which have tool-
tips which will give you more information about their function if you hover
your mouse above them.
In general, all sliders and knobs can be double clicked to type in a
specific value, option-clicked to return them to their default value, or
command-clicked or control-clicked to enter a vernier mode for fine
tuning.
Where appropriate, many controls have a related on/off button which
will deactivate this control, or even the entire section.
15
4.2 Global Parameters
4.2.1 INPUT AND OUTPUT LEVEL AND BAR METERS
The left and right hand sides of the plug-in have matching vertical bar
meters which display the INPUT (on the left) and OUTPUT (on the right)
levels in levels in Peak (horizontal ticks), RMS (solid bar and numerical
display), and Peak Hold (numerical display) formats. These meters are
always present in the display and clicking the Peak Hold section, or by-
passing the plug-in will clear the held peak value.
Above the INPUT meter is a knob for the MASTER INPUT LEVEL, and above
the OUTPUT meter is an AUTO button which will allow you to automati-
cally compensate for the level change introduced by the DRIVE con-
trol, or not. Alternatively, by clicking the down arrow next to this button,
you can select a knob to manually set the MASTER OUTPUT LEVEL. The
MASTER INPUT LEVEL is just before the INPUT meter and the MASTER OUT-
PUT LEVEL is just before the OUTPUT meter. With the AUTO button off the
DRIVE control will add gain to your input signal. With the AUTO button
on the DRIVE control will saturate your input audio without adding any
16
gain by reducing the headroom available to the signal by the DRIVE
amount.
Finally, Saturate includes a GAIN REDUCTION meter which shows the
amount of GAIN REDUCTION being applied by the saturation algorithm,
and shows the peak amount of GAIN REDUCTION as a text value above
it.
4.2.2 ACTIVE
The ACTIVE button is located near the top left of the plug-in UI near the
NEWFANGLED AUDIO label in the header. It activates or bypasses all the
processing in the plug-in.
4.2.3 ∆
The ∆ symbol engages Delta Listen Mode. When you toggle this but-
ton we subtract the plug-in output from the input to show only what is
changing in the processor. Think of this as what the process is removing.
Careful use of this can be a powerful tool to hear what the plug-in is
doing to your audio.
4.2.4 ANTI-ALIASING
ANTI-ALIASING
The ANTI-ALIASING button will turn on the oversampling and the aliasing
reduction engine. If you’re clipping or saturating harmonic material this
will avoid the generation of enharmonic overtones which can create
a "cloudy" or "muddy" sound, however, if you’re clipping transient ma-
terial this is not needed. With ANTI-ALIASING engaged the clipper will
no longer strictly limit the output to the set CEILING value. If this causes
a problem you can either reduce the CEILING control or engage the
HARD LIMIT button.
HARD LIMIT
The HARD LIMIT button will engage a secondary hard clipper after the
anit-aliased clipper, which will make sure that the output never goes
above the set CEILING value, even with ANTI-ALIASING on. This HARD
17
LIMIT mode will introduce a small amount of aliasing, but less than if ANTI-
ALIASING was never engaged. If you’d prefer to avoid any aliasing you
can leave this off and reduce the CEILING control instead.
DRIVE
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DETAIL PRESERVATION
CLIPPER SHAPE
The SHAPE parameter changes the shape of the gain curve from soft to
hard. This clipper uses an ideal set of shapes which allow for maximum
boost with minimal added harmonic content. When DRIVE is 0 dB no
gain is being provided and the soft and hard SHAPEs are exactly the
same.
SYMMETRY
The SYMMETRY parameter increases the hardness of one side of the clip-
per shape while decreasing the hardness of the other side. This creates
an asymmetrical saturator which will generate even harmonics in addi-
tion to the odd harmonics generated when the shape is symmetrical.
These even harmonics give a rich sound that most people find pleas-
ing, and which some people claim are the secret of a lot of vintage
gear.
CEILING
The CEILING control sets the maximum level at which Saturate clips the
output audio. With ANTI-ALIASING off the output will never go above
the CEILING. with ANTI-ALIASING on the output might go slightly above
the CEILING. You can correct for this by either reducing the CEILING or
turning on the HARD LIMIT button.
METER TYPE
The METER TYPE radio buttons select whether the main meter area dis-
plays the GAIN CURVE DISPLAY or the WAVEFORM DISPLAY.
19
GAIN CURVE DISPLAY
The GAIN CURVE DISPLAY sits below the parameters section when the
GAIN CURVE button is selected, and shows their effect on the gain curve.
This GAIN CURVE is the mapping of input signals on the x-axis to output
signals on the y-axis. As the DRIVE is turned up the GAIN CURVE gets
steeper in the center to show the applied gain. As the SHAPE param-
eter moves from SOFT to HARD the shape of the GAIN CURVE changes
to describe the resulting curve. The real-time values of input and output
are also mapped to the GAIN CURVE DISPLAY to show you how hard
you’re hitting the distortion algorithm. You can adjust how hard you’re
hitting the algorithm with the INPUT LEVEL control.
20
WAVEFORM DISPLAY
The WAVEFORM DISPLAY sits below the parameters section when the
WAVEFORM button is selected, and shows how the Saturate algorithm
clips the incoming audio. The input audio waveform (scaled by the de-
sired gain) is shown in yellow with the output audio waveform in blue on
top of it. This way, when the output is lower than the gained up input
you can see the yellow peak out from behind the blue. This allows to to
see how the Saturate algorithm is effecting your audio.
21
Chapter 5
Conclusion
22
Chapter 6
23