Do you want to add that distinctive warmth, grit or analog character to your audio without spending any money? Saturation plugins are the go-to tool for adding the rich harmonic tones of anlog gear to your digital audio recordings. If you’re looking for heavyweight distortion, to subtle harmonic enhancement, saturation is the key to breathing life into your tracks. So, if that all sounds good, we’ve selected the 6 best free saturation plugins that deliver professional sound, making them must-haves in any producer’s toolkit. Let’s take a look!

MSaturator

The first of our free saturation plugins is MSaturator, a perfect plugin for having precise control over harmonics and saturation depth. Its rich saturation adds warmth and character to audio, and also brings advanced features like mid/side processing and deep modulation options for more experimental use cases.

MSaturator by Melda Production

IVGI

IVGI offers soft, subtle saturation that’s perfect for the master bus, as well as dense, dirty distortion effects for individual tracks. The plugin responds dynamically to your input, with modeled fluctuations that adapt based on the drive setting, ensuring the sound remains clear. Stereo tracks benefit from its modeled crosstalk behavior, and the plugin’s Controlled Randomness adds a lively, realistic saturation character by modulating internal processes. IVGI provides easy-to-use controls, including an ASYM MIX knob for adjusting signal symmetry and a RESPONSE control for tweaking saturation frequency. Best of all, IVGI is free, so give it a try!

IVGI by Klanghelm

Saturation Knob

Saturation Knob is an easy-to-use, analog-style tool for adding distortion to your tracks. The knob controls the amount of saturation, and you can choose from three distortion styles. In Neutral mode, the whole sound gets distorted. Keep Low mode, only the low frequencies are affected, keeping the high end clear. In Keep High mode, the treble is distorted while the low end stays clean. This gives you a range of distortion options to fit your needs.

Saturation Knob by Softube

BPB Saturator

BPB Saturator is a free, user-friendly plugin that combines both tube and tape saturation styles. It adds depth and thickness to audio, making it great for everything from subtle warmth to heavy saturation. Its minimal interface and versatility make it a perfect tool for both beginners and pros looking for analog-style sound.

BPB Saturator by BPB

Tube Saturator Vintage

This plugin emulates real tube circuitry, giving it accurate analog saturation sound. It’s perfect for adding tube warmth and character to individual tracks or entire mixes. Its detailed modeling and fidelity make it ideal for anyone who wants an authentic vintage tube tone.

Tube Saturator Vintage by Wave Arts

Chow Tape

The final free saturation plugin is great for adding lo-fi warmth, tape compression, and vintage colour to mixes. Chow Tape is a tape saturation plugin that offers deep control over tape emulation. It’s flexibility and accurate modeling makes it one of the best free tape saturation options available, suitable for both subtle and extreme effects.

Chow Tape by Chowdhury DSP

Remember – RouteNote Create subscriptions start from as little as $2.99. You also get 10 FREE credits to spend on samples along with access to our FREE sample pack bundle when you sign-up!

try free