Virtual Tube Collection: Tube-Style Saturation Plugins by Slate Digital

London is based on vintage tube circuits from Europe. It sounds big, warm and bold in the lows and low mids, with a slightly smooth top end and a thickness in the transients that stays short of aggressive. It suits fattening up tracks in preamp mode and adding analog body to a full mix in console mode.

New York draws on vintage tube circuits with some influence from New York solid state discrete designs. It is aggressive in the mids and tighter in the lows, which gives focus and punch, especially in boost mode. Slate Digital presents it as a strong choice for many genres in console mode on the master fader.

Hollywood is the most colorful of the three, with air, depth and a large bottom end. It is well suited to boost mode on tracks and can turn a flat mix into something fuller in console mode.

In preamp mode, Boost can be applied across tracks to add color and take away some digital cleanliness. Preamp saturation and distortion work on drums, vocals, guitar and keys, and the mix knob lets you blend the saturated signal back with the dry signal for more thickness and warmth on vocals, snare, toms, the drum bus or the whole mix.

In console mode, the plugin can sit as the first insert on the mix bus to add weight, glue and analog color. The same saturation can be used in a mastering chain to reduce peaks in a warm and punchy way. Dial in the saturation first, then find the blend with the mix knob.