klanghabitat®

Saturation

klanghabitat — Sun, 05 Jan 2025 18:41:18 +0000

Saturation

Saturation in mixing and mastering refers to a type of distortion that adds harmonics to an audio signal. It can be used to enhance the warmth, character, and perceived loudness of a track. This article is about to explain the guts of saturation in answering 5 questions.

What is Saturation?
Why do we use Saturation in mix and mastering?
How does Cassiopeia create Saturation?
Why is Cassiopeia so transparent sounding?
How can I use Saturation in my mix?

What is Saturation?

Analog equipment such as tape machines and tube amplifiers naturally introduce harmonic distortion when processing audio signals, which can add a pleasant warmth and richness to the sound. Saturation plugins or hardware processors attempt to emulate this effect by adding controlled amounts of harmonic distortion to the audio signal.

In other words the fact that analog audio equipment is mostly non linear crates distortion by any means. So saturation is nothing else then distortion but in a more gentle/subtle way. During the last years more and more producers/mix engineers tried to get back to a more characterful and dense mixes while introducing/allowing saturation in their mixes since digital audio processing is by default pure linear.

Why do we use Saturation in mix and mastering?

Saturation is used in mixing and mastering to add warmth, richness, and character to audio recordings. Saturation is a type of distortion that adds harmonic content to a signal, giving it a fuller and more lively sound.

It can be used to emulate the sound of vintage analog equipment or to add grit and texture to a digital recording. Saturation can also be used to control dynamic range and prevent digital clipping. When a signal is saturated, the peaks are compressed, which can help to prevent clipping and allow for a higher overall level without distortion.In mastering, saturation can be used to glue together multiple tracks and create a cohesive sound. It can also be used to add a sense of depth and dimension to a mix. Overall, saturation is a powerful tool that can be used to enhance the sound of audio recordings and bring out their full potential.

How does Cassiopeia and Lyra create Saturation?

The answer might be quite simple but its implementation might be different. First of all cassiopeia uses vacuum tubes. To be more specific triodes. Vacuum tubes tend to gently fade into saturation way before they really clip. Better said compared to transistor or digital clipping a tube does a soft – clipping.

The graphic below shows that the black line clips right when the ceiling is reached. Compared to the purple line we can see that the clipping is introduced “earlier” so the harsh edge limited and formed as a much smoother/softer curve.

hard vs. soft clipping

The graphic below shows different levels of clipping. And this is actually how cassiopeia and lyra work. The ceiling (maximum headroom) is lowered when the saturation knob is turned counter clock wise. This is quite similar to a limiter. The resulting effect is a transformed waveform from a sine wave towards a more rectangle shaped waveform with smooth edges.

The result of bending the wave form is a harmonics frequency spectrum which is qualitative illustrated below according to the wave forms.

Why does Cassiopeia and Lyra sound so transparent?

To answer this question we first need to take a look at the block diagram of cassiopeia & lyra.

The saturation is not performed on the entire freq. spectrum as shown in the signal flow. Before the Saturation (Tube) there is a Tilt Filter with a center freq. of 500 Hz. This filter is lowering the low mids about – 6 dB and lifting mids and highs + 6dB. After the saturation there is another tilt filter in reverse. Which makes the response nearly flat.

block diagram cassiopeia/lyra

This has mainly two reasons:

1. The Bass freq. are not touched/destroyed/mudded to much by the Saturation but higher freq. are more enhanced and make the tube react more on them.
2. The Saturation is taking more care of the transient to “fatten” these while leaving low freq. intact.

original vs. saturated signal

The overall result is that cassiopeia & lyra sound quite transparent unless you are not going to intense with the saturation and intensity (dry/wet). In the plugin (color knob) the center freq is adjustable/sweep-able and it was initially created to find the sweet spot for the hardware of 500 Hz which works in most scenarios very well and is fixed in the HW. We did not wanted to build a stomp box rather more a subtle saturator which keeps the quality of the incoming signal intact. – So you just hear it when you turn it off.

how can I use saturation in my mix?

There are several ways to use saturation in your mixes. Here are some common techniques:

Saturation on individual tracks: You can use saturation plugins on individual tracks, such as drums, vocals, or guitars, to add warmth and character. Try experimenting with different saturation settings and levels to find the right balance.
Saturation on buses: You can also apply saturation to buses, such as a drum bus or a vocal bus, to glue together the elements and create a more cohesive sound. This can also help to control dynamic range and prevent clipping.
Saturation on the master bus: You can use saturation plugins on the master bus to add a sense of warmth and richness to the entire mix. However, be careful not to overdo it, as this can result in a muddy or distorted sound.
Parallel saturation: You can use parallel processing to add saturation to a mix without affecting the original signal. Simply duplicate the track or bus, apply saturation to the duplicate, and blend it with the original using a send or mix knob.

When using saturation, it’s important to use your ears and listen critically to the results. Don’t be afraid to experiment and try different settings to find what works best for your mix.

How to fix resizing

klanghabitat — Sat, 23 Mar 2024 10:35:02 +0000

How to fix resizing

In case the plugin is no longer able to be resized via lower right corner there is a way to solve this.

Depending on the OS the file cassiopeia.settings needs to be manually deleted from disk. The file is found depending on OS at the following paths.

Operating System	Path
MacOs	/Users/username/Library/Application Support/cassiopeia.settings
Windows	C:\ProgramData\cassiopeia\cassiopeia.settings

Step1: Close any DAW currently hosting Cassiopeia

Step2: Locate the file cassiopeia.settings depending on your OS on disk and delete it.

Step3: Start your DAW and load cassiopeia. It will now load with the default size.

Cassiopeia V2.0.0 – MK II

klanghabitat — Sat, 23 Mar 2024 10:17:00 +0000

Cassiopeia V2.0.0 – MK II

Klanghabitat brings you Cassiopeia MKII – saturation made simple. Cassiopeia MKIIplugin will give you mutliple instances for the fraction of the price of the real deal.

This update is free to all owners of Cassiopeia the plugin mk I.
Key Features

Based on our 500-series saturation unit; Cassiopeia & lyra

Unique circuit

Smooth Saturation

Works on a wide range of applications

So what’s new? First of all we redesigned the GUI from the ground up, now resizable to fit pretty much any resolution from small to extremely large screens. We still wanted the plugin to be simple and intuitive so you’ll find all of the standard controls from the past but with one!? new feature – the harmony screw, which will blend in even harmonics making the saturation inline with more traditionally sounding saturation units.

We would like to celebrate this occasion with a discount period where you can purchase Cassiopeia MKII for a discountet price.

Cassiopeia MK II | Now 29 €| 49 € Standard Price
The promotion period is set from the 22th of March to the 22th of April 2024.

Read more about our products:https://www.klanghabitat.com/

Cassiopeia – V1.0.4 – selective oversampling

klanghabitat — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 14:47:54 +0000

Cassiopeia – V1.0.4 – selective oversampling

We have implemented selective oversampling in version 1.0.4. This makes it possible to operate the plugin in 4x, 8x, 16x oversampling.

just go and check it out.

changes V1.0.4 :

Implementation of selective Oversampling
minor bug fixes

Updating your product

klanghabitat — Sat, 17 Dec 2022 16:30:02 +0000

Update Procedure for current users depending on situation:

You have a User Account created during Checkout: Just login on our website and download the latest version from your User Account under “Downloads”.

You have No User Account created during Checkout but want one (recommended): Create a user account and come back to us (purchase@klanghabitat.com) with the created username/email and the ORDER NO of your initial purchase. Then we get the chance to associate this ORDER NO with your newly created user account. After 24 hrs come back and proceed with “1”.

You have No User Account created during Checkout and don´t want one: Follow the link in the email you received after your initial purchase. This link is still valid and allows you to download the latest version of the product.

INSTALLATION: In all cases it could be necessary to delete already existing instances of the plugin form the system plugin directories. Please look into the user manual for more information if your DAW is not loading the new version immediately after the installation.

Cassiopeia – V1.0.3 – AAX support

klanghabitat — Fri, 16 Dec 2022 15:27:19 +0000

Cassiopeia – V1.0.3 – AAX support

We are stoked to report that we now support AAX for MAC & WIN. We where actually so impressed by the overwhelming resonance of the plugin that we worked really hard to make this happen. Furthermore we reworked the GUI a bit and also remember scaling information trough out all instances.

just go and check it out.

changes V1.0.3 :

- GUI Size saved trough all instances

- Uppgrades GUI (better graphics, GUI shows correct verion)

- implementation of tooltips

- AAX support (macOS & Win)

- minor bug fixes

klanghabitat launched first plugin as VST/AU

klanghabitat — Thu, 08 Sep 2022 16:40:39 +0000

FIrst plugin (VST/AU)

Yeah it´s finally out. Cassiopeiea is now a VST/AU plugin on macOS and Windows.

It was a long way to go for us, but we finally did it. Our first plugin was launched 1st. sept. We modeled this plugin after the original hardware unit. The hardware unit in API 500 series format will be released in fall 2022.