I had some acoustic guitar tracks that had a little lack of definition on the lower mids, so... I tried S2, and played with the bias, 50 of gain, and a little tweak in the mix... It was it. I was so impressed that I had to write this review. Don't think this is just a plugin to make grittier sounds or warm up signals, this is a great tool for sound sculpting. It is hard to learn to use it, but totally worth it.
Phil’s Cascade
★★★★★
by 6Rev
Great vst, I’ve been using it for about a year now. The clipping on this plugin is insane, and completely different than anything out there. It’s this wierd in between of hard and soft clip, or rather it’s the hardest soft clipper you’ll find. Even on high distortion settings, you can maintain a tight, coherent sound. And on low settings you get a really pleasant saturation. This and HG-2 are the only distortion plugins that you can almost use on anything. Also, it’s particularly great on low end. Get this plugin.
Phil’s Crunchcade
★★★★★
by The Pooh
A cool and unique plug... just used it on vocals today and it worked great... it’s good on basically anything, with a bit of tweaking. The Only down side I’ve run into is the markings around the knobs are not obvious and take some getting to know... otherwise great sound, nice big GUI, and a lot of fun to use.
Phil’s Cascade
★★★★★
by Marcus Buddy Vincét
This is a valuable addition to our tools kit. Thanks to everyone at Plugin Alliance for the opportunity and for another great deal! ….as always, wishing much success :) MarcusV.
It's not a hyperbole when I say Phil's Cascade is AMAZING!
★★★★★
by JesusReigns
The first time I tried Phil's Cascade when it became available, I almost shed tears of joy at such an analog sound. My hand was shaking on the mouse while I tried preset after preset. I was breathing funny and everything! Owning tube pre-amps and having recorded through them, I am very familiar with how tubes sound. This sounds like real tubes, guys! As simple as that! The nuanced, textured, unpredictable, fat and potentially crunchy sound is realistically produced with Phil's Cascade. If you own or have tried Black Box Analog Design's HG-2 and like it, which is also eye-wateringly fantastic, you need Phil's Cascade. You can use it everywhere. Even in tiny amounts, the cumulative effects make a difference in the final mix. This could be your personal secret weapon. It sounds and behaves like no other plugin I've ever used in my 18 years of computer music making. Do you think your in-the-box mixes sound sterile and thin? Phil's Cascade. Do your interface pre-amps sound cold and small? Phil's Cascade. Do you want to beef up your drum, synth or vocal recordings to make them sound intangibly and inexplicably unique? Phil's Cascade. This plugin is truly special! Plus, are we going to not get excited about how they first designed and built a one-off, hardware unit with exotic components just to base the digital, final version off it? THEY CREATED IT IN REAL LIFE FIRST. That's what happens when craziness, passion and resources come together to materialize something that can only be dreamed of, you know? That seriously makes me giddy! Even at the regular price of $249, you can't find this sound elsewhere. God bless! Peace!!!
Phils
★★★★★
by element4audio
very analoge and real, is almost like a hardware, very usefull if you need give a natural response to a digital record
Amazing value!
★★★★★
by Toscano
From what I understood by the description, this plugin is a digital modelling from a unit that included so many esoteric components that it couldn't be marketed as a stand-alone hardware product. Whatever the marketing or history behind it, what you have here is a saturator-overdrive-distortion plugin that does it right! I've used it extensively to squash well-behaved drum loops; give some analog grit flavour to synth sounds, or even run a vocal doubled track through it to mix it up with the original as a condiment. Whatever your application, it's a very adaptable tool that you can make sound as dark and warm or as cool and in-your-face as you want. I've been using the FabFilter Saturn to achieve similar purposes. The Saturn has better control/routing modulation implementations, but this one (in my opinion, at least) has "the sound". Even purchased at full price this plugin is still a bargain! Highly recommended.
Tip Top
★★★★★
by Ian Ossia
Unusually warm and delightful tone shaper. Top rank.
One of my Favorite Plugins ATM!
★★★★★
by The krusher
This plugin sounds amazing and can be used to tonally shape sound in so many ways. Spend a day getting to know the controls and you really start to appreciate what this plug in can do. I use it on almost every track to add subtle or extreme character!
Best Saturation
★★★★★
by D Lawrence
There are many great saturation plugins out there. This one easily takes the cake. It sounds extremely 3 dimensional. My jaws drop every time I use it. I'm telling you. Don't deceive yourself into thinking this is some normal saturation plugin. Its not. I highly recommend it.