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Average Price: $197

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Description

Transform your digital mixes into warm, analog masterpieces with the Soundtoys Decapitator. This powerful distortion plugin replicates the soulful essence of analog hardware, bringing the richness of tubes, transistors, and circuits straight to your digital workstation. Whether you're looking to add subtle warmth or push your track to the brink with extreme saturation, Decapitator offers a versatile range of options to suit your creative needs.

Dive into the depths of analog saturation with five meticulously modeled hardware styles, each offering a unique character that echoes the subtleties of vintage and modern equipment. The Punish button is your best friend when subtlety just won't cut it, delivering an extra dose of gain that transforms polite tracks into bold, dynamic statements. From vocals and guitars to drums and synths, Decapitator provides that signature analog touch that makes your music stand out.

With its thoughtfully designed interface, Decapitator offers intuitive control over your sound. The analog-modeled tone control allows for precise shaping of the saturation, while the mix knob facilitates seamless parallel processing. These features, combined with the reliability and flexibility of a Soundtoys plugin, ensure a seamless integration of analog warmth into your digital mix.

Key Features:

  • Five distinct analog saturation models based on renowned studio hardware
  • Unique Punish button for high-gain saturation
  • Analog-modeled tone control for nuanced sound shaping
  • Mix knob for easy parallel processing without complex routing
  • Compatible with macOS and Windows, supporting VST2, VST3, AU, and AAX formats
  • Supports sample rates from 44.1 kHz to 192 kHz
  • Requires a free account at ilok.com (no physical USB iLok needed)

Product specs

Software Type Saturation effects
Platform Mac, PC
Upgrade/Full Full
Download/Boxed Download
Bit Depth 32-bit, 64-bit
Format AAX Native, VST, AU, AudioSuite
Authorization Type iLok Account required
Hardware Requirements - Mac Intel processor
Hardware Requirements - PC Intel compatible processor
OS Requirements - Mac OS X 10.10 or later
OS Requirements - PC Windows 7 SP1 or later

FAQs

What kind of saturation effect does the Soundtoys Decapitator provide?

The Soundtoys Decapitator offers an analog saturation effect, simulating the warmth and character of classic analog hardware. It allows users to add subtle warmth or intense distortion to their audio tracks.

Is the Soundtoys Decapitator compatible with my DAW?

Soundtoys Decapitator is compatible with most major DAWs, supporting formats such as AAX Native, VST, AU, and AudioSuite. Ensure your DAW supports these formats for seamless integration.

Does Soundtoys Decapitator require an iLok account for authorization?

Yes, an iLok account is required to authorize the Soundtoys Decapitator. However, a physical iLok dongle is not necessary; you can authorize the software directly to your computer.

Can I use Soundtoys Decapitator on both Mac and PC?

Yes, Soundtoys Decapitator is compatible with both Mac (OS X 10.10 or later) and PC (Windows 7 SP1 or later) systems, requiring an Intel or Intel-compatible processor.

What are the standout features of the Soundtoys Decapitator?

The Soundtoys Decapitator features five different analog saturation models, a tone control for shaping the high and low frequencies, and a mix control for blending the dry and wet signals, offering versatile sound shaping options.

Geoff Manchester

Geoff Manchester

Soundtoys Decapitator: Why is everyone in love with this thing?

Video thumbnail for Soundtoys Decapitator: Why is everyone in love with this thing? by Geoff Manchester

Soundtoys Decapitator: Why is everyone in love with this thing?

Geoff Manchester

Geoff Manchester

Video thumbnail for (Vocals) Mixing | Using Soundtoys Decapitator On A Lead Vocal by Puremix

(Vocals) Mixing | Using Soundtoys Decapitator On A Lead Vocal

Puremix

Puremix

Video thumbnail for Decapitator - 808 Kick by soundtoys

Decapitator - 808 Kick

soundtoys

soundtoys

Video thumbnail for Why Pro Mixers Are OBSESSED With Decapitator by Plugin Alley

Why Pro Mixers Are OBSESSED With Decapitator

Plugin Alley

Plugin Alley

Video thumbnail for A deep look to the DECAPITATOR by Soundtoys- Guide tutorial by XNB

A deep look to the DECAPITATOR by Soundtoys- Guide tutorial

XNB

XNB

Reviews

PROS

  • Offers five distinct emulation modes for varied sound coloration

  • Features a "Punish" button for aggressive 20dB signal boost

  • Excellent for both subtle saturation and intense distortion effects

  • Includes integrated low- and high-pass filters for sound shaping

  • Highly versatile, suitable for vocals, drums, bass, and synths

  • Easy-to-use interface with auto-makeup gain and mix knob

  • Enhances sound with analog warmth or digital grit

  • Popular among top-level engineers and producers

  • Can replace physical gear for live performances

CONS

  • High CPU usage when used on multiple channels

  • Some users prefer other plugins for saturation effects

Owner Insights

We analyzed real musician discussions from forums and Reddit to find what players love, question, and tweak about Soundtoys Decapitator.

Features and functionality

  • The Decapitator lacks an oversampling option, leading to noticeable aliasing issues according to some users.

    Source
  • The Decapitator's various settings (A, E, N, T/P) mimic specific hardware preamps, providing versatility in tonal applications, like using the N setting for vocal preamps.

    Source
  • Devil-Loc acts as a highly aggressive limiter with distortion, ideal for thickening drum room sounds, particularly effective in metal and rock genres.

    Source

Value and pricing

  • Soundtoys Decapitator often goes on sale significantly below its $200 price, with bundle deals offering greater savings during holiday promotions.

    Source

Comparisons

  • Audio Assault Head Crusher is frequently recommended as a budget-friendly alternative to the Decapitator for similar distortion and saturation effects.

    Source
  • Arturia's Culture Vulture model and Soundtoys Decapitator offer different tonal qualities, with some users preferring Arturia for its dynamic and EQ circuits.

    Source
  • Decapitator's A mode emulates the tube preamp from a vintage tape recorder, distinct from true tape effects like Kramer Tape, which emphasize tape saturation and wow&flutter.

    Source

Use cases and applications

  • Many users consistently apply the Decapitator lightly on bass and vocals, enhancing tracks by subtly altering brightness or darkness.

    Source
  • Decapitator excels on drum busses, providing a crunchy texture that enhances the drum mix's cohesion and impact.

    Source
  • It's effective for creating aggressive tones in EDM bass genres, helping sounds cut through the mix with added saturation.

    Source
  • Ableton's Drum Buss and Roar in Multiband are recommended for drum processing and general sound enhancement, respectively, offering viable alternatives to Decapitator.

    Source
  • Radiator excels when cranked on kicks and toms, leveraging its EQ section to enhance brightness, providing a unique tonal option compared to Decapitator.

    Source

User experience

  • Despite being widely used in studios, some owners find little differentiation from other distortion plugins, questioning its necessity in their workflow.

    Source
  • E mode in Decapitator introduces amplitude modulation via DC clipping on bass-heavy signals, adding a unique texture to the sound.

    Source

Software and compatibility

  • For Ableton users, the new Roar plugin is touted as a strong alternative for distortion effects, providing impressive results without needing additional hardware.

    Source

Critic Reviews

Soundtoys: A Swiss-Army Knife for Harmonic Distortion: Pete Weiss Reviews Soundtoys Decapitator | Tape Op Magazine | Longform candid interviews with music producers and audio engineers covering mixing, mastering, recording and music production.

tapeop.com

Soundtoys Decapitator is a versatile saturation plug-in that excels in delivering a wide range of harmonic distortion. It’s praised for its ease of use, with minimal learning curve and intuitive controls. The plug-in offers five distinct harmonic styles, modeled after classic hardware, providing users with flexibility in sound shaping, from subtle warmth to aggressive distortion. The inclusion of user-friendly features like the Mix control for blending wet and dry signals and the Auto switch for consistent gain levels is particularly appreciated. While the sound quality is commendable, the real standout is its convenience and adaptability in various mix scenarios. Overall, Decapitator is a valuable tool for enhancing tracks with rich harmonic textures, making it a staple in many mixing projects.

positive

Sound Toys Decapitator & PanMan

soundonsound.com

Soundtoys Decapitator is a powerhouse for analog-style saturation and distortion, delivering exceptional warmth and character. Its intuitive interface and automatic output level adjustment make it user-friendly, while its diverse algorithms offer versatility from subtle warmth to aggressive distortion. Though not a guitar amp simulator, it's impressive on bass and drums, offering rich tonal possibilities. The lack of cons in the review underscores its quality. Soundtoys' Decapitator stands as a must-have for those seeking a blend of ease and sonic depth, securing its reputation as a top-tier plugin.

positive

Soundtoys Decapitator | Grade-A Saturation - Produce Like A Pro

producelikeapro.com

Soundtoys Decapitator stands out as a top-tier saturation plugin known for its versatility and ease of use. It captures the essence of analog warmth, offering five distinct styles modeled after classic hardware units. The plugin excels in adding character and richness to digital recordings, from subtle enhancements to intense distortion. However, some users have noted minor aliasing issues at lower sample rates, though these are typically inaudible. Despite this, Decapitator remains a highly regarded tool for both mixing and mastering, praised for its ability to emulate analog saturation's charm and complexity.

positive
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5.0 out of 5

Based on 6 Reviews and 54 Ratings

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the_last_factory

Something to warm up or incinerate your signal with

I have two dirt pedals that I utilize to either beef up my signal or absolutely destroy it, but when I don't want to go through the trouble of hooking up my outboard gear to setup I just open up Decapitator. It's one of those saturation/dirt plug-ins that can be used with subtlety to add warmth to your tracks or you can be abrasive by initiating the "punish" button and turn your signal into a glitchy fuzzed out mess. It goes great with everything and I'll probably be using it in place of my Life Pedal when I tour or play shows in town.

freezeetch

Endless distorted joy

I can't begin to express how much I love this plugin and I've barely had time to use it. It feels like it has unlimited possibilities and can give you any kind of distortion tone you could possibly want, from subtle and warm to severely mangled, and yet everything sounds musical somehow. Magic!

P

PUNISH IT...!!!

The 'Decapitator' by Soundtoys is one of my favorite 'Saturators'... it has 4 different modes and all of them have unique sonic character... Try it on BASS.... !!! In fact, insert it into the chain of your main bass track and then PUNISH IT...!!!

T

Usable

Good saturator, but to me, there are better plugins, like Softube's One Knob or Gem Sculptube.

tommyvarekai

Inspiring, Incredibly useful

The Decapitator from SoundToys is incredible, I use it on all my synth tracks, really adds a fantastic "color" to the sound that compliments whatever project i'm working on. One of the best plugins ever!!

torturecrush

SATURATION RULES EVERYTHING AROUND ME

I don't know what else to say other than that.

Artist usage

Add artist
See how Rik Simpson uses Soundtoys Decapitator

Rik Simpson

Singer, Guitarist

The Darktones

...
Verified via Soundonsound

There are a couple of tracks of live brass treatment, and they’re all going through the Decapitator and [Virtual Mix Rack] VMR and are edited to make them sound like a sample

See how Cardi B uses Soundtoys Decapitator

Cardi B

Rapper

...
Verified via Soundonsound

Used on Cardi B's vocals for "Bodak Yellow", as mentioned by mix engineer Evan LaRay in this February 2018 Sound on Sound interview. An image of the "VOX 1" settings can be found here.

In his mix of ‘Bodak Yellow’, Evan LaRay used almost identical vocal chains on two auxiliary busses. The ‘Vox 1’ chain includes FabFilter’s Pro-DS de-esser and Waves’ C4 multiband compressor, plus the Waves CLA Vocals plug-in and SoundToys’ Decapitator saturation processor.

The main ‘Hook’ and ‘Verse’ vocal tracks have similar plug-in chains, incorporating the EQ3 seven-band, Waves CLA-76 and Waves De-esser, though the ‘Hook’ also has FabFilter’s Timeless 2 delay. LaRay explains, “The EQ on the ‘Hook’ has a high-pass, around 100Hz, and I’m also cutting 3dB at 300Hz, because the vocal sounded a bit muddy, and again 3dB at 4kHz, because there was a piercing frequency there. The CLA keeps the peaks in check, and the de-esser again takes some higher frequencies out, at 4270Hz, and the Timeless is another favourite plug-in. I think in general the FabFilter plug-ins are extremely dope. I wanted the ‘Hook’ vocal to stand out from the ‘Verse’ vocal, so I used a stereo delay preset, and then tweaked that. The presets on the FabFilter plug-ins are pretty good: you just run through all of them and then choose the best one. In this case I lowered the width and the wet value of the stereo delay preset, and that sounded good and gave the hook its own space. The three plug-ins on the ‘Verse’ track do pretty much the same.

“The ‘Inout’ tracks that are below the ‘Hook’ and the ‘Verse’ are vocal doubles. They are words or lines we use for emphasis and additional power on these lines and words. They come from one of her original vocal takes, which I just cut and cleaned up. Both ‘Inout’ tracks have the Waves RCompressor, just containing these words and lines so they don’t overwhelm the ‘Hook’ or the ‘Verse’ vocal, and then the FabFilter Pro-Q2, taking out some high frequencies, again to make sure it doesn’t clash with the leads, and also cutting below 200Hz. And there’s a delay on these tracks to put them in a slightly different space from the lead vocal tracks.

“In addition to the two ‘Inout’ tracks, both the ‘Hook’ and the ‘Verse’ tracks are also accompanied by an ‘Ad Libs’ track, which were some ad libs Cardi had recorded with Mike over at Krematorium. Mike had also set up a separate aux track for these ad libs, which is ‘Vox2’, and I liked that and kept two of the plug-ins he had on that: the [Avid] Sansamp for some distortion and the SoundToys Panman. I then added the D-Verb and the [Waves] CLA Vocals. I adore the CLA Vocals. I use it on every track I work on. When I don’t use it, the vocals sound completely different. I’d love to know what exactly it does! Finally, the inserts have the Waves L1, just to control the peaks.

“The other tracks — ‘EXF1’, ‘EXF2’, ‘EXF3’ and ‘EXF4’, are because I prefer to create a new track if I want to have a specific effect on specific words or phrases. I prefer doing that to automating the effects on a track. Automation is great, but I tend to only do volume automation. So I copy audio to another track, and then put the effect on that, and in this case I created four different effects tracks with four different delays. ‘EFX1’ is the main one, and has the same three plug-ins as the Verse tracks — EQ3 three-band, CLA76 and Waves De-esser — just with the EQ3 cutting more of the high frequencies. Then there’s an eighth-note ping-pong delay from the Waves H-Delay, and then a D-Verb set to ‘hall’ with 7s decay and a 15ms pre-delay. ‘EFX2’ has another H-Delay delay, ‘EFX3’ the Timeless 2 delay, and ‘EFX4’ again has the H-Delay plus a D-Verb.”

All the main vocal audio tracks go to LaRay’s ‘Vox1’ aux group track. This, he explains, has “A FabFilter Pro-DS de-esser, then the Waves RCompressor controlling the peaks, the Waves C4 multiband compressor boosting the high end and containing the lows in her voice, so it doesn’t cut through too much, and Waves CLA Vocals. Again, it’s really making my vocals sound good. I push the Pitch fader to stereo, spank it on the compressor, also push up the treble to brighten it up, turn the reverb down to ‘tight’, and lower the delay by 9dB because my own quarter delay is my main vocal delay, and it sounds great. There’s also a SoundToys Decapitator, to add more harmonic distortion, and then there’s the Waves RVox. That was supposed to be the final plug-in on the insert, but then I realised the vocal was still peaking too much once she began rapping loudly, so I put on the L1 [limiter] to control that.”

The ‘special sauce’ in Evan LaRay’s mixes comes from a parallel aux channel containing a blend of compression, saturation, EQ and other processors. Key ingredients are Waves’ PuigChild compressor and PuigTech equaliser.

The ‘Vox1’ and ‘Vox2’ tracks also each have a Trim plug-in on an insert, and sends to the ‘Verb’ aux and to the ‘ELR’ (LaRay’s initials) track. “I put the Trim on all my tracks at the end of the vocals, and at the end of the beat, because the vocals actually began distorting in places. These two tracks were too hot, and I wanted to make sure they had a good level before going to the ‘Sub Print’ track. I have the ‘ELR’ aux track in every session. It’s most of all parallel compression, but I also always try out new things with distortion, exciters and things like that, and I label that ‘ELR’. In this case it really is the ‘ELR’ track that makes the vocals cut through the mix.

“The compression on the ‘ELR’ track comes from the Waves PuigChild 670, which is a great compressor, and it’s compressing a lot, so the vocal stays right there in the middle. The signal is then going to the PuigTech EQP-1A, which is boosting some low end to add some warmth to the vocals, and some 5kHz, and then the Waves Aphex Vintage Aural Exciter, set to AX Mix 6, for some added crispness and clarity, then the EQ3 seven-band to control the low mids, and another De-Esser cutting 4398Hz, to finalise the vocal sound. The L1 also helps keep the vocals in the same place. Finally, the ‘Verb’ send on the ‘Vox1’ and ‘Vox2’ tracks goes to the ‘Verb’ aux, which has the Waves RVerb, and that pretty much glues everything together.”

See how Ryos uses Soundtoys Decapitator

Ryos

...
Verified via YouTube

In this video at 24:35 can see SoundToys Decapitator

See how Adam Anderson uses Soundtoys Decapitator

Adam Anderson

Keyboardist, Music Producer

Hurts

...
Verified via Soundonsound

"The distinctive plug?in processing that gave rise to Hurts' signature drum sounds was based around three specific plug?ins: Sound Toys' Decapitator, Logic's Enverb and Waves' Sound Shifter."

See how Tom Hades uses Soundtoys Decapitator

Tom Hades

Music Producer, DJ

...
Verified via YouTube

In the video titled "Create a full techno track from scratch with Tom Hades – FROM THE ARCHIVE," at the 4:59 mark, Tom Hades is shown using the Soundtoys Decapitator plugin in his track.

See how Sanjay C uses Soundtoys Decapitator

Sanjay C

Singer, Keyboardist

...
Verified via YouTube

At 3:34, he mentions decaptiator

See how Kove uses Soundtoys Decapitator

Kove

Music Producer, DJ

...
Verified via YouTube

10:37 - Kove pulls up this plugin that he has used on a kick attack layer.

See how shallou uses Soundtoys Decapitator

shallou

Music Producer

...
Verified via LANDR Blog

"I think having a few workhorses is better than running down pages of plugins to choose from. It helps me create quick presets for more consistency across projects. These are the plugins I use, very basic: [...]"

See how Huxley uses Soundtoys Decapitator

Huxley

Music Producer

...
Verified via YouTube

In the MusicRadar Tech video titled "Huxley on creating I Want You – The Track," Huxley uses the Soundtoys Decapitator plugin at the 09:56 mark.

See how JAKKO uses Soundtoys Decapitator

JAKKO

Music Producer

...
Verified via YouTube

Decapitator can be seen in JAKKO's mixer.

See how MJ Cole uses Soundtoys Decapitator

MJ Cole

Keyboardist, Music Producer

...
Verified via YouTube

In the video titled "MJ Cole: In the studio with a UK garage legend – FROM THE ARCHIVE (2017)" by MusicRadar Tech on YouTube, at 13:07, MJ Cole is seen discussing the use of the Soundtoys Decapitator plugin in the production of his track "Pictures In My Head."

See how Friction uses Soundtoys Decapitator

Friction

Music Producer, DJ

...
Verified via Photo

Within the plugins open on his project in this video the soundtoys plugin can be seen

Used With

Based on how musicians on Equipboard use Soundtoys Decapitator, it is most commonly used with the following gear.

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