What exactly does a "Saturator" do?

kidlogic · Post by **kidlogic** » Tue May 19, 2009 12:42 am

Specifically the one in Ableton Live, but probably in general too. Just curious what the combination of things its doing is...

Sounds a bit like theres some compression in there but also a lot more going on as well.

ascii · Post by **ascii** » Tue May 19, 2009 12:47 am

I'm not quite sure, I know it adds distorted upper harmonics to a sound.
However an exciter also increases the volume in upper harmonics?

Would love to hear an answer to this, as I don't know the exact difference between the two.

MidnightMassDubstep · Post by **MidnightMassDubstep** » Tue May 19, 2009 12:51 am

Not 100% sure I've got the right thing, is Soundgoodizer in FL a saturator? oh no wait, that's an exciter I think... I think all that does is boost certain frequencies resulting in an absolutely horrible sounds for mixing down.

After some googling, I think all it actually is is distortion I think... All instances of saturation I've come across are distortion. Also I think Anteres is just a saturation tube vst or something like that.

So yeah I'm blazed and this is probabally very irrelavent but y'know, at least I put some effort in or something.

notch · Post by **notch** » Tue May 19, 2009 2:19 am

I think it is a filter with an overdrive setting..
I love running bass lines through the saturator to get some instant filth..

AFL · Post by **AFL** » Tue May 19, 2009 2:41 am

It's a form of distortion. Typically found in recordings using tape (1/4", 2" etc) or tubes (tube amplifiers...).

I think....

ninjadog · Post by **ninjadog** » Tue May 19, 2009 3:10 am

It is a way to shape the waveform before it hits the filters, it gives a rich lush character to the sound. I couldent tell you the science behind it, but seems to me that it's similar to a chorus effect.

ninjadog · Post by **ninjadog** » Tue May 19, 2009 5:01 am

Where are all you getting this distortion thing from? What would the clip setting do?

knobgoblin · Post by **knobgoblin** » Tue May 19, 2009 5:20 am

Saturation is just a form of overdrive/distortion. The only real difference between how theses different distortion types work is the way it folds the waveform once its crossed a certain amplitude threshold. So, in a sense, it is a type of compression. The reason tubes, transistors, and tape can be associated with saturation is that they have a finite dynamic range in which they will be linear and once you go out of that range the artifacts of the technology start to affect the signal coming thru them. The harder you push them, the more nastyness they add, because you are going beyond their linear range.

decree · Post by **decree** » Tue May 19, 2009 5:30 am

My take without being near one at the monent, is that it adds that industry term known as (warmth) to the sound through compression and slight distortion

lowpass · Post by **lowpass** » Tue May 19, 2009 6:48 am

Decree wrote:My take without being near one at the monent, is that it adds that industry term known as (warmth) to the sound through compression and slight distortion

Yeah I would say it is based on tube distortion, you feed a signal in and eventually it starts to overdrive, because it has some headroom though being analog it won't completely distort but will compress a little.

The more fed in, the more it drives/compresses. I know that these plug in's aren't analog but they are trying to replicate this sound.

dequo · Post by **dequo** » Tue May 19, 2009 7:07 am

turns mah sine into a square

roqqert · Post by **roqqert** » Tue May 19, 2009 7:29 am

dequo wrote:turns mah sine into a square

this.

macc · Post by **macc** » Tue May 19, 2009 8:44 am

Bloody hell there’s some proper confusion in this thread

I mean… chorus?

KnobGoblin wrote:Saturation is just a form of overdrive/distortion. The only real difference between how theses different distortion types work is the way it folds the waveform once its crossed a certain amplitude threshold. So, in a sense, it is a type of compression. The reason tubes, transistors, and tape can be associated with saturation is that they have a finite dynamic range in which they will be linear and once you go out of that range the artifacts of the technology start to affect the signal coming thru them. The harder you push them, the more nastyness they add, because you are going beyond their linear range.

This is on the money. As stated, it’s a result of the non-linearity that occurs when components are pushed beyond their accepted operating levels. It can be considered a form of compression, the fundamental difference being that there is no time-dependence. You’ll hear them being described as ‘memoryless non-linearities’. Compressors have attack/release controls etc ie. are time-dependent.

Saturation at its most basic is a transfer curve (sometimes called a ‘waveshaper’)– you get a certain signal level in, you get a different signal level out. Here’s the transfer curve for a very soft saturator:

You can see why it would behave as a type of compression as you approach the top of the graph, it ‘levels off’ a bit. It rounds off the top of a sine wave that goes in at unity gain, and redistributes the energy throughout the specturm ie generates harmonics. It is the shape of the transfer curve that determines the distribtion of harmonics generated by the process – there’s not an awful lot more to it than that. Change the transfer curve, the sound changes. If you use a more drastic/dramatic curve then you get a different different waveform/waveshape, ie harmonic distribution ie sound. To take an extreme example, digital clipping. That transfer curve is perfectly linear until it goes flat at 0dB. That flat part makes a sine wave start to look like a square as it is pushed harder and harder.

In 99% of digital saturators there’s no filtering (bar anti alias filtering) or anything like that, it’s simply a matter of choosing the appropriate transfer curve for the purpose, implementing it in the best possible fashion, and then anti alias filtering.

futures_untold · Post by **futures_untold** » Tue May 19, 2009 12:05 pm

DJPavillion wrote:At least I put some effort in or something.

Well done, you get a gold star!

Thank you knobgoblin and Macc for the scientific explinations..

(Two gold stars)

kidlogic · Post by **kidlogic** » Tue May 19, 2009 7:22 pm

Thanks guys! Thats why I love this part of the forum.

macc · Post by **macc** » Tue May 19, 2009 7:45 pm

If I find time then I'll make three pix that explain it perfectly. Time's at a premium but I'll do it if I can!

kidlogic · Post by **kidlogic** » Tue May 19, 2009 8:36 pm

Macc wrote:If I find time then I'll make three pix that explain it perfectly. Time's at a premium but I'll do it if I can!

No rush on that Macc, at least not for me. I pretty much get what its doing from your and KnobGoblin's descriptions. Id like to see em, but dont let it take away from more important things.

3za · Post by **3za** » Tue May 19, 2009 11:30 pm

so thats what the waveshaper does

What exactly does a "Saturator" do?

What exactly does a "Saturator" do?

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