But serious, guys, i kinda stopped using saturation plugins to get things louder. Yes, i still use a lot of saturation, but more for subtle tone enhancement, even prefering analog modeled eqs which give the color without having THD at a louder thresholds. Because when you're mixing loud those harmonics get in the way too early when you push the final limiter, on my experience. The only saturation i use to get things louder are the StandardClip on my drums and the Inflator on the 2buss, beucase it acts like a first limiter, before the final one.

 

Sir Audio StandardClip.

 

for many years I used Sonnox - Inflator, then I just discovered Newfangled - Invigorate, I only use the saturation & waveshaping and gets me the same results as the inflator but way less chirping and sound less bright.

 

You know you can turn autogain off right?

 

U He Satin, The Oven

 

softube tape

 

SuperSat and Mix Console models in Toneboosters Barricade 4 (which basically can be used in unrestricted free demo mode).

Thank me later!

 

StandardClip, set nice and soft (rounded curves). But I don't like the interface much.

 

Their free Saturation Knob plugin is nice for this. Sometimes clean saturation is all you want; which is convenient because that's basically all this one does.

Another free one I like is Szechuan Saturator. Not much about it is subtle. https://codalabs.io/szechuan/

 

I really enjoy that smooth, somewhat browner than ocher saturation of Kush Transformer Model N. It takes me there. I'd buy it in a New York minute if it wasn't iFokt.

 

Last time I checked, Saturation Knob created aliasing like nothing else. Really bad. The only saturation plugin I found was worse was the freebie one by Klevgrand. Really bad and audible!!

 

Not an issue for "DAW with oversampling" users :D

 

If you are after perceived loudness from a saturation plugin there is one and only one plugin and look no further.
Black Box from PA.

You can hear it in action along the reactions of Jaycen Joshua and Reid Stefan (who follows Joshua step by step imo) at the relevant tutorials (Mixing with the Masters series (can't remember which one exactly right now) for JJ and Mastering with PA plugins (or something like that) for Reid).

Hearing is believing. Very hard to comprehend what it does!

JJ says something like "You cannot beat me in loudness if you haven't the Black Box"

If it's the top choice for JJ...

 

I have both versions of PA's Black Box plugin and never really gelled with it. The gain staging is a total mess and you have to turn up the first saturation stage (pentode) in order to be able to use the second (triode). And then there is another saturation gain (I don't even understand what it's really doing). All these stages adding gain, which you have to manually compensate for and if you make slight changes to the settings, you again have to manually adjust the output gain. And then there is an additional input knob and one called "density". I have no clue how to get a proper, gain-staged signal out of this box tbh.

 

I recently discovered the X-saturator plugin by SSL Native, thought I'd give people here a heads up on it. It's really good. I'm in the honeymoon period atm so take me with a grain of salt, but it might replace P42 Climax as my go-to for subtle saturation that adds something special without being obvious about it

I had previously dismissed it due to not loving the SSL Fusion Vintage Drive plug but thankfully discovered it again due to a recommendation from a mastering engineer I trust

I used it on a master last night. It's surprisingly 3D for a plugin, nice sense of depth, I'm excited to use it more. Can only imagine it would be great in mixing situations too. Worth adding to the toolbox

 

bx_limiter

 

Pulsar Modular - P42 Climax
VoosteQ - Model N

 

For myself PSP Vintage Warmer is a revolutionary discovery, it has limiter and saturation... Man, one plugin to rule them all. Pleasant saturation if you are careful and it gets nice volume perception/loudness while retaining the peaks. All PSP are genius plugins. Fabfilter Pro L on the end of chain on master bus if you use it for final mix. No chances for mistake.
My observation and use.

 

I just start to use Strymon Deco for tape saturation, and I like it. Anyone?

 

Not sure why people are recommending clippers..anyways. Sonnox Inflator, Ursa DSP Boost(more of an upwards comp, but its done with no time constants, so technically a saturator), Boom Library Uberloud, most plugins that model diode and op-amp Line and MIC stages if done properly and not just clip e.g Mic channel in UAD API Vision Channel Strip, and Century Tube channel strip