Soak

SOAK is a free tape saturation and harmonic character plugin from Vertex Audio, built to bring the warmth of transformer-coupled hardware to your DAW at zero cost. Inspired by the rich, creamy sound of console channels pushed into their sweet spot, SOAK adds depth, glue, and analogue presence to any source — without ever sounding harsh or digital.

Under the hood, SOAK runs a three-stage saturation engine at 4x oversampling: an asymmetric input transformer stage that generates the 2nd harmonic warmth characteristic of real magnetic iron, a tanh tube gain stage for even harmonic bloom, and an output iron transformer stage that gently shapes frequency response the way real hardware does. The result is harmonic content that sounds like analogue tape and console — not clipping or distortion.

Three tonal modes give you full control over where the saturation hits. Keep High saturates the low and mid frequencies harder, adding body and weight without dulling the top end — ideal for bass, kick, and full mixes. Keep Low drives the upper mids and highs, adding presence and edge while leaving the low-end foundation clean — perfect for vocals, guitars, and synths. Neutral applies full-band saturation evenly across the spectrum for pure console character on any source.

SOAK is free because we believe great tools should be accessible. It's Vertex Audio's gift to the community — professional-grade saturation that holds its own against paid competitors, built to the same standard as every plugin in the catalog.