Native Instruments' iZotope is billing its new low-cost plugin Plasma as “the world’s first intelligent tube saturation plugin. Supercharge your sound with dynamic saturation that automatically reacts to your music and adaptively boosts where you need it.” Plasma is the first installment of iZotope's new Catalyst Series, featuring purpose-built, easy-to-use plugins designed to help you quickly solve difficult mix problems. “Flux Saturation” technology adaptively enhances audio by applying tube style saturation precisely where and when it’s needed. Unlike traditional saturators that apply a static effect on everything, Plasma’s dynamic processing offers a more selectively adjustable touch.
Ever since the dawn of rock 'n' roll in the 1950s, musicians have sought after the perfect distortion. Tube amps pushed to their capacity become overdriven and provide a soft clipping sound that is described as adding warmth, depth, and texture to sound. Many musicians use saturation desiring to make digital audio more approximate to the sound of analog tape.
With the four main controls, getting results from Plasma is fast and simple. Flux Saturation identifies which frequency areas need boosting and applies tube saturation to only those areas—and only when itʼs needed. Think of this control as a threshold control like that of a compressor, and you can define the frequency ranges as well. Plasma has 24 target profiles with presets for both mixing and mastering. These presets feature common starting areas, with instrument categories and stye presets. Attack and Release settings help contour the response of the processing. And as it sounds, the Overdrive fader can help you dial in extra crunch. Definitely use your ears with this control, as it can be overdone. The Graphic User Interface visually shows you the amount of processing.
Located above the GUI, Channel Modes and Frequency Handles help add saturation where you want it. The Delta control allows you to solo the processed audio to hear exactly what Plasma is doing. With Channel Modes and Frequency Handles, Plasma can focus processing on specific frequencies, the mid or side channels, and transient or sustain parts of the audio.
Plasma also has 49 presets to offer starting points like bright, deep, balanced, warm and more, so it is easy to find a character that works in combination with the target profiles, depending on what you are doing.
Plasma is a highly cost effective and powerful plugin that offers a unique tube saturation processing. With a little experimentation, it is a powerful and valuable addition to any DAW. $49 MSRP
