Blog
Saturation, distortion and the bands between.
How harmonic processing works, how to use it on real mixes, and which plugins do it well, ours and everyone else's.
- Buyer’s guideThe best saturation plugins in 2026, and what each one is forTape, tube, transformer and multiband saturation plugins compared: what each does to your sound, where it shines, and the free ones worth installing.12 min read
- Buyer’s guideThe best multiband saturation plugins, and when you need oneMultiband saturators compared on what matters: crossovers that sum flat, a dry path that lines up, character per band, honest level. Free options too.13 min read
- Buyer’s guideThe best distortion plugins for sound design, bass and drumsDistortion plugins compared by what they do to a sound: clipping, folding, crushing, feedback and filters, with settings for bass, drums, synths and vocals.11 min read
- How-toHow to use multiband saturation on drums, bass, vocals and the master busWhere to put the crossovers, how hard to drive each band and when to blend in parallel: multiband saturation starting points for every source.12 min read
- ExplainerSaturation vs distortion: what harmonics, clipping and aliasing actually doSaturation, overdrive, distortion and clipping are one process at different strengths. How the curve sets the harmonics, and why oversampling matters.14 min read