Soundtoys Decapitator Plugin (Download)

Saturation—it’s the essence of what makes analog hardware sound so musical and pleasing to the ears. The sound of tubes, transistors, and circuitry being pushed to the limit has long been the key ingredient in great-sounding analog recordings. Engineers use saturation to beef things up, thin them out, give them edge, add warmth, pull elements out of the mix, and create signature sounds.

From the very subtle to the extreme, analog saturation is an integral part of great mixes. That’s why we took our time, studied all the great analog classics, and painstakingly created a plug-in that brings the best of analog saturation to your digital studio.

With five different analog saturation models to choose from, Decapitator is perfect for adding character to every kind of track and instrument in your mixes. We’ve also included a modeled tone control that lets you shape the saturated sound, and a mix control that lets you blend in some dry signal for parallel processing without the need for routing and sub-mixes. Combine all of this with the flexibility and reliability of a Soundtoys plug-in, and you’ve got the best of analog and digital together in one essential effect.

Decapitator is not just a simple approximation of the analog sound. We’ve worked hard to capture the feel of analog gear. Not a static snapshot, but a changing responsive model of all those tubes, wires and transistors. That means you can hear subtle changes as Decapitator reacts to a track and follows the dynamics of an instrument. That’s what analog is all about.

In creating Decapitator, we collected and analyzed both vintage and modern hardware—consoles, preamps, input channels, EQs, compressors and studio distortion units. We picked the pieces of gear we felt had the most distinctive sound, and had unique character when used both subtly and at extremes. Then we created painstakingly accurate models and made them instantly accessible. By adding an analog-modeled tone control and mix knob, we’ve opened up the sonic potential of these models even more.