Saturate
SATURATE
introduces a unique form of dynamic
distortion that occurs when a loud signal is
recorded to tape, overwhelming it.
It’s called a magnetic hysteresis loop and it
doesn’t really matter how it works, but it is kind
of cool: the magnetic structure of the tape
essentially shifts, altering any future sounds
that are recorded.
The
SATURATE
knob mathematically recreates
this effect.
Much of the sweep is subtle to capture the
authentic felt-but-not-heard vibe you would
usually hear in tape recordings. But feel free to
blow things out – you’ll find mis-biased and
gnarly textures at the extreme.
The amount of saturation will vary based on your
instrument. You can use the hidden options to
match the input gain to your setup, or access a
high gain setting for heavier distortion (pg. 15).
Try turning everything else off and using
Gen
Loss
like an overdrive.
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Recording onto tape leaves an impression on magnetic material.
Future recordings are distorted by what the signal did in the past.
SATURATE
and
MODEL
are interactive. The tape
models come after saturation in the signal flow
(pg. 44), molding and filtering the distortion.
Each model will exaggerate certain parts of the
saturation while suppressing others.
