Hello,

I'm looking for a distortion plugin, tested some stuff found on the lists through Google and settled on Audiority's Pyros, really good stuff.

Still would like to explore more options, won't hurt having more than one tool in the arsenal. Will also help me explore more possibilities. So if you have any recommendations, I'm all ears.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

The Usual Culprits:

1.Fabfilter - Saturn2
2.Arturia - TUBE-CULTURE [Culture Vulture] | OPAMP-21
3.Izotope - Trash 3
4.Kiive Audio - Distinct Pro
5.D16 Audio Group - Devastator 2 | Redoptor 2

 

Decapitator by SoundToys

 

My go-to for crushing and over-the-top distortion is still Trash2. I'm so used to it and I have tons of user presets I've made for various purposes.

If I only need some light saturation I use Saturn 2 or some other tape/tube saturation plugins.

Even though I mostly use Trash2, I would definitely say that apulSoft apShaper is the best sounding waveshaper out there. I've been thinking about buying it, but I honestly don't use waveshapers enough to warrant spending more money just to get another one. I already have Trash2 and all of the various waveshapers that come stock with Reaper as well as the awesome free JSFX ones (Filther and Squashman by Sai'ke, and Wild Wave Fu by Bang!).

 

In addition to the usual culprits mentioned above:

For a more "analogue" sound + few controls + easy to use:

• AA - JAM/JAM MIX
• Audiothing - Valves
  
• Kush Audio - LG Drive

In the all-digital realm + lots of controls + lots of weird stuff:

• Heavyocity - Fury
• Tritik - Krush Pro
• Arturia - Coldfire

 

+1 for Decapitator and Saturn 2

Black Box Analog Design HG2-MS

Native Instruments Dirt (HUGE secret-weapon. One of THE best harmonics plugins, I can't recommend it enough)

Acustica Pumpkin Pro

Kazrog True Iron (more subtle saturation)

Airwindows has some great options (such as BussColors4 and Desk4)

Overloud Gem Sculptube

Vertigo Sound VSM-4

...and arguably most important of all:

DDMF Metaplugin (specifically for its oversampling algorithm, will help you get much more OUT of your distortion) and DDMF Plugindoctor

 

The usual:
iZotope Trash 2 (and the new one too)
FabFilter Saturn 2
Output Thermal
Mostly multistage multiband modulated monsters :D
Doubt any of these need any explanation.

The unusual:
Camel Audio Camel Phat - used to be THE distortion plugin, but then Camel Audio got bought by Apple for their Alchemy hybrid synth, and the rest of the plugins got left by the wayside
AudioThing Wires - y'all heard of tape distortion, now prepare for METAL WIRE DISTORTION, for dem lost astronaut vibes
Audio Damage FuzzPlus 3 - a heavyweight freebie, requires a little processing afterwards and adds constant DC offset, but the character is :chefs_kiss:
Audio Damage Kombinat Tri - three-band with I think nine unique flavours per band (the fuzz one included), a resonant filter and a kompressor
Creative Intent Tantrum - this thing distorts the *phase* of the sound, which as you know can be represented as a sine function itself, with a very unique and rich-sounding result
apulSoft apShaper - the everything waveshaper, from surgical clipping to separate harmonics to wavefolding to user-defined transfer curves, and also has three filter bands with separate routing and a modulation section
Tritik KrushPro - a bitcrusher, a wavefolder, a ring modulator, a pair of filters, a bunch of LFOs, a step sequencer...
GlitchMachines Subvert - legit don't know how to describe, it has *everything* **twice** and you patch things freely
Inear Display Cruelle - a basic one feature-wise, compensates *very* aggressively with character
Inear Display Regressif - cruelle's angrier brother that hates your guts and has free patching capabilities

Oh, fukken Rift I couldn't make to work on my PC, waiting for a proper crack.

 

Last edited: Mar 15, 2024

Probably NAM or Nebula

 

Trash 3 and Decapitator

 

I have the whole Kilohearts smorgasbord and get by with Faturator or Distortion or a combination of the both.

 

Did anyone mention:

Quadrafuzz

 

Looptrotter sa2rate 2

 

Nani The Distortion plugin i love the asthetics :3

 

Nani The Distortion plugin i love the asthetics :3

 

Nani The Distortion plugin i love the asthetics :3

 

If you really destroy the sound Trash 2, Trash 3, The Beatkrusher, 2B Distobud, Disto::FX come to mind.
If you want your average distortion... see comments above, enough suggestions.

 

Trash and Trash 2 (not experienced enough with 3 yet so can't comment), then apart from that I either go for hardware (being a guitarist, I'm well sorted in that department) or Guitar Rig, now, GR3 isn't perhaps the greatest distortion gadget around as such, but it allows me to customize the signal chain easily. Pre/post EQ and compression with easily split signal between bands.

Audio Damage gets an honorable mention, a lot of their non-distortion plugins go nicely to OD as well, like Dubstation and Rough Rider.

 

OHMICIDE. SATURN 2...and the stock plugin in studio one for distortion

 

Last edited by a moderator: Mar 16, 2024