Measurements

The numbers.

The numbers on this page come from Saturation Box's own offline test harness, run against the shipping code and regenerated for every release. This is version 0.3.2.

At a glance

Latency

1.4ms

at 44.1 kHz, compensated by your DAW

CPU

100+instances

on one M1 before it runs short

Auto Gain

±0.7dB

level held across the Drive range

Mix, parallel blend

0.2dB

flat at 50 % Mix, no comb filtering

Oversampling

176kHz or above

the core rate at any host rate

Harmonics

Drive

Harmonics in dBc re the fundamental; THD in percent. 1 kHz sine at −18 dBFS (operating level), 44.1 kHz, Auto Gain on.
Model	Drive	H2	H3	H4	H5	THD %
Triode	0	−44.9	−83.4	−115.7	−117.0	0.572
	6	−38.8	−71.6	−114.6	< −120	1.14
	12	−32.8	−59.5	−100.7	−114.9	2.30
	18	−26.6	−46.2	−68.4	−67.5	4.68
	24	−25.2	−23.5	−31.9	−39.8	9.11
	30	−15.7	−15.0	−22.1	−32.0	25.7
	36	−10.5	−15.2	−14.6	−41.0	40.8
Pentode	0	−78.5	−78.2	−116.8	−117.4	0.017
	6	−72.4	−66.3	< −120	< −120	0.054
	12	−66.1	−54.4	< −120	< −120	0.198
	18	−58.9	−42.6	−99.1	−91.9	0.752
	24	−50.4	−33.7	−75.4	−65.4	2.08
	30	−44.4	−51.2	−56.8	−30.2	3.17
	36	−43.3	−33.1	−50.1	−18.3	14.0
Tape	0	−80.1	−60.5	−93.9	−91.6	0.095
	6	−76.3	−51.8	−97.8	−82.7	0.258
	12	−72.8	−42.3	−99.7	−69.2	0.768
	18	−70.5	−32.1	−88.9	−58.1	2.48
	24	−72.5	−22.7	−79.3	−60.2	7.37
	30	−86.0	−16.1	−77.8	−31.7	15.8
	36	−82.2	−12.7	−85.6	−22.3	24.6
Transformer	0	−118.7	−117.0	−118.8	−118.4	0.000
	6	< −120	< −120	< −120	< −120	0.000
	12	< −120	−97.2	< −120	−106.7	0.001
	18	< −120	−61.3	< −120	−70.9	0.091
	24	−119.6	−28.3	< −120	−40.6	3.96
	30	< −120	−13.7	< −120	−27.8	21.1
	36	< −120	−10.5	−118.0	−16.9	33.9

Distortion as you turn Drive

Total harmonic distortion across the Drive range, 1 kHz sine at −18 dBFS (operating level), 44.1 kHz, Auto Gain on. One scale for every panel; hover to read any setting.

Drive24 dBTriode9.11 %Pentode2.08 %Tape7.37 %Transformer3.96 %

Triode

Pentode

Tape

Transformer

Harmonic signature at Drive 24 dB

Second to fifth harmonic, in dB below the fundamental. Even orders (H2, H4) read as warmth, odd orders (H3, H5) as edge.

TriodeH3 −23.5 dBcPentodeH3 −33.7 dBcTapeH3 −22.7 dBcTransformerH3 −28.3 dBc

Triode

Pentode

Tape

Transformer

Also measured

Latency is 61 samples at 44.1 and 48 kHz, 49 at 88.2 and 96, none at 176.4 and 192, and is reported to the host so it is compensated.
CPU at Drive 24, 44.1 kHz, one instance, share of one M1 core: Triode 2.8 %, Tape 2.9 %, Transformer 3.2 %, Pentode 5.9 %. Across the M1's eight cores that is more than 100 instances; at 96 and 192 kHz about 4 to 5 % each.
Auto Gain holds pink noise at −18 dBFS within 0.7 dB across the whole Drive range on every model. Mix is flat within 0.2 dB through Low Cut and High Cut at a 50 % blend.
Aliasing: the worst in-band spur on a 15 kHz tone at −12 dBFS and Drive 36 is −45 dBc (Pentode), −59 for the Triode. That is the harshest test, not a mix setting.
Oversampling follows the host rate: 4x at 44.1/48 kHz, 2x at 88.2/96, none at 176.4/192, linear-phase. The core always runs at 176 kHz or above.
Noise floor at Drive 0, under signal: Triode and Pentode −93 dBFS RMS, Tape −75 (the datasheet's 73 dB below MOL), Transformer −97. Vintage raises them to −85 / −70 / −91. The noise is gated to signal, so silence stays silent.
The Transformer is nearly clean at 1 kHz until its line amplifier clips above Drive 24; its saturation lives below 100 Hz, where a 20 Hz tone at operating level reads 0.016 % THD, rising to 1.4 % at +24 dB.
Switching models mid-signal produces a transient no louder than −88 dBFS on silence. Fast automation sweeps land within 4 % of slow ones on every parameter.

Method

Every number here is produced by the plugin's own offline test harness against the shipping code, on an Apple M1, and regenerated for each release. This is version 0.3.2.

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