Saturation Effects In-Depth with Fabfilter Saturn

This tutorial is an in-depth look at sound design with the built-in saturation and flanger effects and a dedicated saturation VST, Fabfilter’s Saturn.

This tutorial is an in-depth look at sound design with the built-in saturation and flanger effects and a dedicated saturation VST, Fabfilter’s Saturn. In a previous tutorial, macro mapping for effects chains is covered. This tutorial is instead focused on sound design with effects and Maschine’s built-in 808 sounds.

The Classic and Tape modes of Maschine’s built-in saturation effect feature only three encoder controls: Input, Contour, and Drive. These and their effect on electronic bass drum sounds are covered in-depth, along with the effect’s Tube mode, which features more controls. The Classic mode is the easiest to use and produces the most extreme sounds, while the other two are somewhat more subtle but feature lots of sweet spots.

After exploring the extremes of the saturated sounds we created with Maschine’s built-in plugins, using a dedicated VST, Fabfilter Saturn, is covered. Saturn features multiple bands, many more control options, and several styles of saturation ranging from suble tape and tube styles to extreme and unique styles like Saturn’s “Rectify.” Saturn 2 also features much more powerful and flexible modulation sources, as well as a number of different filter designs.

Layering a flanger effect over the saturation effect or Saturn, we create a powerful bass drum sound with a tail that acts like a new melody or harmony line. Combined with the cowbell filter-delay sound from last week’s tutorial, we are well on our way to turning a standard 808 kit into a dynamic sound design project.

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