Dist OPAMP-21 — measured — Pro Audio Plugins

Tonal shaping

—n/a

not measured

Harmonic character

—n/a

not measured

Noise

10.0/10

< floor · scored

Level dependence

-6 dB

heavy · character, by design

Latency

0 smp

factual · not scored

On the bench

48 kHz · 512-block · offline · same procedure for every plugin

Magnitude response

not measured

Distortion vs level

not measured

Latency, reported

48 smp

Latency, measured

0 smp (-48 smp)

Onset

0 smp

Noise floor

below measurement floor

Linearity residual

-6.4 dB (1000 Hz, -12/-18 dBFS)

Processing cost

not measured

Its own background hiss is below what the bench can even measure, so it adds no noise you would hear.

How hard you push it changes what it does (a -6 dB gap between levels) — expected for a saturator, which reacts to input level.

It adds no delay to your audio.

What these measurements mean

read from the numbers above · character / coloring design

On the bench it behaves like a coloring tool, scoring 10.0/10 on how clean its signal path is; its tone-shaping and harmonics are reported as character, not graded as faults. Its own background hiss is below what the bench can even measure, so it adds no noise you would hear. How hard you push it changes what it does (a -6 dB gap between levels) — expected for a saturator, which reacts to input level. It adds no delay to your audio.

Measured score 10.0/10 — signal-path noise floor (the shaping and harmonics are the design's intent, shown as character, not graded). How scoring works.

What people report

sourced sentiment · in our words, not a bench measurement

7.5/10 published & press sentiment, 2 sources · a separate figure from the measured score

Consistently praised

Its SansAmp-style drive is described as rich, dirty and believable, close enough to analogue that reviewers struggled to tell it was modelled.
It's quick and pleasant to work with, getting a good direct amp tone fast without a pile of extra effects to wade through.
Four hardware variants covering original, modern, bass and lead, plus an advanced mode adding filters and a three-band EQ, give it useful flexibility for guitar and bass.

Common criticism

Set against Arturia's more ambitious distortions it comes across as solid but fairly ordinary, doing one job rather than breaking new ground.
Coverage is thin and its remit is narrow, since it's a focused amp and pedal emulation that mostly arrives as part of the larger effects collection.

Sources — Elegant Simplicity ↗ MusicTech ↗

A review score is shown only when at least two independent sources — published reviews or genuine user discussion — return usable text. Launch or announcement coverage alone does not qualify, so some plugins read N/A here while still carrying a full measured score above.

How it sits in saturation

measured score + bench figures, then the sourced review score (separate, N/A if unscored) · alphabetical · not ranked

Plugin	Measured /10	Mag dev	Max THD	Latency	Noise	Review /10
Black Box HG-2	10.0	±1.5 dB	4.986%	32 smp	−182	8.9
Channel G Console	10.0	±0.1 dB	0.000%	0 smp	<floor	8.5
Decapitator	10.0	±5.4 dB	7.929%	63 smp	−163	8.9
Dist COLDFIRE	10.0	±6.5 dB	39.830%	143 smp	<floor	8.8
Dist OPAMP-21	10.0	—	—	0 smp	<floor	7.5
Dist TUBE-CULTURE	9.9	±3.8 dB	51.955%	112 smp	−154	N/A
Escalator	10.0	±0.2 dB	6.177%	0 smp	<floor	7.6
FireCharger	10.0	±2.1 dB	1.585%	8192 smp	<floor	8.0
Lurssen Mastering Console	10.0	±6.4 dB	1.705%	419 smp	−223	7.4
Quad Saturator	9.2	±0.1 dB	2.706%	4 smp	−117	N/A
Saturator X	10.0	±1.5 dB	26.227%	387 smp	−221	8.4
Super VHS	10.0	±3.9 dB	7.124%	1024 smp	<floor	7.9
TAIP	10.0	±2.5 dB	25.546%	63 smp	−165	8.4
Tape MELLO-FI	4.5	±65.8 dB	2.569%	248 smp	−70	7.6