Spectral Saturation

Parameters

Saturation — How much harmonic content is generated, 0–100%. 0 is no effect (clean pass-through). Higher values progressively add new spectral content — overtone products derived from existing peaks. Subtle settings (10–30%) add gentle “fullness” and warmth without obvious distortion. Aggressive settings (60–100%) build dense harmonic clouds above the existing spectral peaks — closer to harsh saturation/distortion. Note: this generates new harmonic content rather than waveshaping the source, so it sits cleaner than time-domain saturation.

Warmth — Tilts the generated harmonics toward “warm” or “bright” character, 0–100%. 0 emphasizes the brighter, higher harmonics (more aggressive, edgy character — closer to fuzz). 100 emphasizes the warmer, lower harmonics (more tube-like, closer to analog tape warmth). 50 is balanced. Use to dial in the saturation flavor without changing the overall amount.

Decay — How quickly the generated harmonics fall off in level above each spectral peak, 30–90%. Lower values (30–50) produce a sharper falloff — only one or two harmonics generated per peak (cleaner saturation). Higher values (70–90) produce a slower falloff — many harmonics generated per peak (denser, brighter saturation). Affects the spectral richness of the saturation character.

Mix — Equal-power blend between dry (0%) and the saturated signal (100%).

Output Gain — Output level in dB, −24 to +24. Compensates for level changes from added harmonic content.

About Spectral Saturation

Time-domain saturation (the kind in the Saturator and SoftClipper nodes in the Distortion category) works by waveshaping — bending the waveform to generate harmonics as a side-effect. Spectral Saturation works directly: it identifies peaks in the spectrum and adds new harmonics above them, with controllable density (saturation), tone (warmth), and falloff (decay). The result is a cleaner, more controlled saturation character that doesn’t suffer from the level-dependent issues of waveshaping. Use it for: warming up sterile digital sources without adding the muffling that heavy waveshaping can introduce; brightening dull mixes by adding clean upper harmonics; adding tube/tape character to acoustic recordings; or as a “harmonic exciter” alternative. Compare with the Harmonic Shaper (also in Distortion) for precise harmonic-by-harmonic control rather than algorithmic generation.

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