Saturation / measured

Super VHS

Baby Audio · VST3

10.0/10 Measured score · Measured signal quality · how scored

Tonal shaping

±3.91 dB

strong · character, by design

Harmonic character

7.124%

notable · character, by design

Noise

10.0/10

< floor · scored

Level dependence

-61 dB

subtle · character, by design

Latency

1024 smp

factual · not scored

On the bench

48 kHz · 512-block · offline · same procedure for every plugin
Magnitude responsestepped sine, −12 dBFS
2026-07-17T18:06:43.627820 image/svg+xml Matplotlib v3.10.9, https://matplotlib.org/

Output level vs. frequency.

It shapes your tone by up to ±3.9 dB on purpose — that built-in curve is part of its sound.

Distortion vs level1 kHz, THD / THD+N
2026-07-17T18:06:43.728082 image/svg+xml Matplotlib v3.10.9, https://matplotlib.org/

THD   THD+N. THD is the trustworthy figure; THD+N is method-floor-limited at low levels.

It adds clear harmonic color (7.1% at full level) — the grit and warmth this design is meant to give.

Latency, reported
1024 smp
Latency, measured
1024 smp (matches)
Onset
1024 smp
Noise floor
below measurement floor
Linearity residual
-60.8 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 -61 dB gap between levels) — expected for a saturator, which reacts to input level.

It delays the audio by 1024 samples (21.3 ms at 48 kHz) and reports that delay, so your DAW lines it back up.


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. It shapes your tone by up to ±3.9 dB on purpose — that built-in curve is part of its sound. It adds clear harmonic color (7.1% at full level) — the grit and warmth this design is meant to give. 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 -61 dB gap between levels) — expected for a saturator, which reacts to input level. It delays the audio by 1024 samples (21.3 ms at 48 kHz) and reports that delay, so your DAW lines it back up.

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
7.9/10 published & press sentiment, 5 sources · a separate figure from the measured score

Consistently praised

  • Delivers an instant lo-fi, 1980s-flavored character with almost no effort, folding several effects into one simple panel.
  • The Heat saturation stage draws particular praise as a genuinely good-sounding driver, from subtle warmth up to fizzy distortion.
  • Effects like the Magic chorus, the 'bad hall' Wash reverb and the Drift pitch wander are fun and fast to apply, and the plugin is easy on CPU.

Common criticism

  • Each effect is reduced to essentially a single control, so reviewers repeatedly wish for deeper access, such as variable chorus depth or an adjustable bitcrusher and internal EQ.
  • It competes with more tweakable lo-fi tools, and because it always keeps some dry signal in the output it is less convenient on a bus.

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
PluginMeasured /10Mag devMax THDLatencyNoiseReview /10
Black Box HG-210.0±1.5 dB4.986%32 smp−1828.9
Channel G Console10.0±0.1 dB0.000%0 smp<floor8.5
Decapitator10.0±5.4 dB7.929%63 smp−1638.9
Dist COLDFIRE10.0±6.5 dB39.830%143 smp<floor8.8
Dist OPAMP-2110.00 smp<floor7.5
Dist TUBE-CULTURE9.9±3.8 dB51.955%112 smp−154N/A
Escalator10.0±0.2 dB6.177%0 smp<floor7.6
FireCharger10.0±2.1 dB1.585%8192 smp<floor8.0
Lurssen Mastering Console10.0±6.4 dB1.705%419 smp−2237.4
Quad Saturator9.2±0.1 dB2.706%4 smp−117N/A
Saturator X10.0±1.5 dB26.227%387 smp−2218.4
Super VHS10.0±3.9 dB7.124%1024 smp<floor7.9
TAIP10.0±2.5 dB25.546%63 smp−1658.4
Tape MELLO-FI4.5±65.8 dB2.569%248 smp−707.6
Sponsored · not a measurement

This lane is separate from measured results

No promoted plugins here. Anything in this lane is labeled and never affects the bench numbers or the order plugins appear in.