ELYSIA KARACTER
Virtualising a grand’s worth of boutique hardware, this snarling new plugin wants to be your go-to saturator for every channel and bus
Developed by Brainworx in conjunction with hardware manufacturer Elysia, this software emulation of the latter’s lauded “Discrete Class A Saturator” comes as two plugins (VST/AU/AAX): Karacter Mix and Karacter Master. Essentially, the difference between them is that Mix is a linked stereo module, while Master enables independent left/right operation, as well as mid-side processing (see I am the Master below).
Focused and singular in its purpose, Karacter models the electronics of its hardware counterpart to faithfully bring its particular flavour of harmonic distortion to individual instruments, group buses and full mixes.
Karacter assignation
With just four controls to negotiate, getting familiar with the interface takes no time at all. The Drive knob pushes the input signal ever harder into the saturation circuit, and at its highest setting, that’s very hard indeed. The effect of this is, of course, an increase in distortion as the Drive increases, but also a drop in volume level that can be made back up (or pushed further down) with the Gain control. Color tilts the level balance from low-frequency harmonics (ie, bass distortion) fully anticlockwise towards high-frequency harmonics (ie, treble distortion) clockwise, with a flat response at the centre point. Last but not least, Mix sets the dry/wet balance at the output, for parallel processing.
Karacter offers three levels of saturation, selected using the FET Shred and Turbo Boost buttons. With both buttons ‘out’, it’s at its gentlest, the clipping being rounded, symmetrical and soft, and odd harmonics dominating. This is the mode to stick with when you’re looking to warm up a mix or bus.
Depressing the FET Shred button shifts the emphasis to even harmonics, for edgy, asymmetrical tube-style distortion that’s clearly more appropriate for instrumental treatments – guitars, bass, synth leads, etc. And following that up with Turbo Boost (which automatically also activates FET Shred if it’s not already on) steps up a final notch to totally asymmetrical hard clipping of the ‘noise-monger’ variety.
Distorted reality
Between them, the three modes cover a broad spectrum of saturation intensity, and the distortion is gorgeous at all points thereon, from ear-pleasing grit and sizzle through palpable bite and crunch to spectacular decimation and filth. Crucial to all this is the oversampling that Brainworx have worked into the plugin, which automatically switches between 4x at project sample rates below 50kHz (ie, 44.1 or 48kHz), 2x at up to 100kHz (ie, 96kHz), and no oversampling above that (ie, 192kHz), guaranteeing minimal aliasing and artefacts, and thus a consistently solid emulation, no matter what your DAW settings. The downside of this, though, is that the CPU hit is pretty hefty at 44.1kHz – we’d appreciate the option to turn oversampling down or off as we see fit, since it’s not always necessary.
Karacter does a superb job of capturing the sound and feel of a high-quality analogue saturator. Its sonic range is impressive, the Color knob makes it easy to tailor the effect to suit the source signal, and the mid/side functionality is the icing on the cake.