Voxengo VariSaturator

In electronic music, many sounds are very much "upfront".  OTT is what many choose for this purpose.

However, I have found that Varisaturator is much better in place of OTT when it comes to this purpose.  Much more controllable and much smoother (even though OTT is multiband compression and Varisaturator is multiband saturation/inflation) In most cases where I would choose OTT, I am using Varisaturator instead for the same purpose and it does the job much better.  This small change has improved my mixes for electronic music a lot.

Second thing is soft clipping with OVC-128 on buses to smooth and contain, then followed by high end expansion with Soniformer to rebuild some dynamics and transients is an amazing combination.  Smooth, contained and dynamic.

Always finding new relationships and uses with your plugins, thanks!

Varisaturator is such a great sounding plugin that can do so many things beyond saturation and adding harmonics.

When driven hard with a high FX level (hard mode), the dual band inflation can be used like OTT to bring forward the sound.  Some simple rebalancing of the high and low bands will achieve that bright sound, but in a much smoother way.

It can also be used like an EQ.  With the proper crossover frequency and input level, bringing up the FX level on the high band can achieve a lush sounding non-linear high boost that is much more rich, smooth and full than a simple high shelf boost.  I've tried this technique with many other plugins, but the digital waveshaping in Varisaturator is simply the smoothest and richest one!  The valve algorithm is also a nice option to warm up the highs.

The mid/side processing in Varisaturator is also very useful, especially on ambiences.  It really brings out the best in airy stereo signals like nothing else.

The workflow is simple and straightforward to manage the high and low bands.  You can link the controls on both bands with the right click, then individually tweak each band with the left click.

I am still finding many new uses for this plugin, and I don't think I could produce or mix without it!

I just bought this plugin, and have to say it's absolutely brilliant!

For years now, I have been using some plugins that came with my DAW, which I had become accustomed to.  I have always struggled to get my mixes to sound sufficiently loud without making them sound squashed.

As soon as I tried Elephant for the first time, I could hear the difference that this plugin could make to my work.  Elephant is truly amazing - it is incredibly transparent, and the metering and graphing options come in very handy too.

Thanks so much for such a great product!  I'd recommend Voxengo Elephant to anyone who needs super high quality buss compression.