Best Free Saturation VST/AU Plugins

If you are looking for a best free tube, analog tape saturation VST plugin emulation, check the list bellow and download some great free saturation plugins. Remember, this is not a top, is a list. All plugins posted bellow are good, depends on what you are looking for.

FerricTDS by Variety Of Sound

Inspired by the smooth dynamic shaping capabilities of some high-end reel-to-reel tape recorders, this plug-in simulates three of the most distinctive and much appreciated sonic effects generated by these devices:

DYNAMICS – gently shaping the overall dynamic response
SATURATION – adding extra harmonic-related content
LIMITING – controlling peak performance

Features:

Win32 / VST compatible
state-of-the-art digital signal processing
4x oversampled core algorithms
performance-critical parts are written in assembler
completely SSE-optimized

FerricTDS plugin won 1st place at KVR Audio Developer Challenge ’09.

More Details: FerricTDS

NastyVCS by Variety Of Sound

Built around an entirely new opto-electric style compression unit, NastyVCS offers everything you need to shape your channels dynamics and tone. It offers a dedicated input stage featuring crunchy pre-amp saturation and a brickwall safety limiter in the output stage. Everything is set up to work in zero latency and so be available for hassle free tracking and mixing.

More Details: NastyVCS

TesslaPRO mkII by Variety of Sound

TesslaPRO mkII is a freeware saturation plugin based on stateful saturation algorithms and features an internal expandable ‘color model’ architecture and right from the start five different models are already included being three different ‘console style’ models plus one generic ‘tube stage’ and a ‘tape warmth’ saturation model.

TesslaPRO mkII is a Windows x32 freeware release for VST compatible applications.

More Details: TesslaPRO mkII

Nebula3 Free by Acustica-Audio

Nebula3 Free is a fully functional, feature-limited version of Nebula3 Pro. Nebula 3 aims to emulate a variety of quite expensive high-end hardware audio equipment.

Nebula uses libraries which are created using a sophisticated “sampling approach” making it possible to “record” aspects of the sound of audio devices and play them back. Our sampling process results in highly realistic, complex emulations of many types of audio processing devices that can then be used to process any audio signal digitally, all within a VST plug-in that is compatible with all major DAWs and editing software.

UPDATE: Unfortunately, this plugin is no longer available.

IVGI by Klanghelm

IVGI can deliver very soft and subtle saturation, that feels at home on the master buss. It is equally capable of very dense and dirty distortion effects to spice up single tracks. IVGI’s base sound is comparable to the DESK mode in the big brother SDRR. IVGI plugin is available in both VST and AU plugin fortmat for Windows and Mac.

More Details: IVGI

X-Tube by Xenium Audio

X-Tube is a plugin that simulates tube amplifier saturation effect available as a VST plugin that can be used in Windows 32/64-bit OS with any VST DAW.