Saturation — harmonic enrichment, distinct from hard distortion (
@audio/effect-distortion).
@audio/effect-distortion is raw/aliased grunge (fuzz, bitcrush, clip); @audio/saturate-* is normalized, oversampled nonlinear shaping meant to sit transparently in a mix.
| Package | What |
|---|---|
@audio/saturate-tape |
tape — HF compression, low bump |
@audio/saturate-tube |
tube — asymmetric, even harmonics |
@audio/saturate-transistor |
console — odd harmonics |
@audio/saturate-waveshaper |
arbitrary/Chebyshev curves |
@audio/saturate-multiband |
per-band drive (Saturn class) |
Industry parity: Ableton Saturator/Dynamic Tube/Roar, FabFilter Saturn, Soundtoys Decapitator, Waves NLS. Quality bar: oversampled nonlinearities (no naive aliasing waveshapers).