Soundtoys Decapitator Analog Saturation Plug-in Reviews

Decapitator is one of the most effective saturation plugins from a light to heavy touch on the dial. And it just sounds so good. And it doesn't require a lot of settings to achieve that perfect saturation to boost the single track or song to better sonic level. I see this plugin being used on top level Pop, EDM, Hip-Hop, etc., songs. This is also a great add on vocal tracks, which is one of my personal favorite uses of this plugin. It can even be pushed extra hard and deliver some destruction/crush level results, if that is what you are after. I like pushing it on accents and transitions. Another plugin you will see often in the top level engineer's toolbox.

Getting serious about recording, I'd heard a lot about using saturation to get that more "analog" sound. On that front, Decapitator delivers. From subtle overdriven saturation to all-out distorted crunch, this thing has range.

Use it on a heavy setting as a vocal effect or on a parallel compression drum bus. Use it lightly on a full mix. You can dial in just about however much grit you want to dirty up a sound to fit in better with the greater mix. Fantastic for adding additional harmonics to a lead vocal or used in concert with compression to glue a mix together.

The 5 different sound profiles can give you wildly different results depending on the source material. The "Thump" switch can work great for enhancing bass on a drum bus (especially the kick drum) and the range PLUS the added "PUNISH" switch adding another 20db of gain can absolutely annihilate any signal you throw through it. The auto-makeup gain and Mix knob are also great built-in features. Without using any presets it's very easy to tweak and understand what the different controls are doing.

This plugin is worth it at full price, but if you manage to get it on sale it's a STEAL.

Decapitator lives up to its name. A great plugin to have in your tool chest.

Turns the "weak" into the "strong."

Love It.

I was producing a song off my EP from 2019 when I first heard this plug-in. Asked for some vocal distortion to spices up a song section, mix engineer threw this on (after a quick intro on what Decapitator was), and I was blown away. Personally, I feel this is a digital plug-in that gives hot competition to an analog hardware piece. So much so, that I had to get it for myself.
I prefer to use it primarily as a subtle saturation tool, but you can get a wide range of distortion from this tool. Whether it's distortion with a bit of a bite or a punishing deliverance — they have a specific button for that too.

This is the best analog saturation plugin I've tried. It's so versatile, I use it on everything; it's great to warm up bass, get richer melodic components, and it's great on a mix bus to give a mix cohesion and shine. Great plugin and great service from Sweetwater, would recommend both 10/10.

Es el mejor saturador del mercado. Lo recomiendo .

This plugin is the most user-friendly (and amazing sounding) saturation I've ever used! I mostly use it for adding a little extra flavor on drums and bass and it really gives it all that glue. Does a great job of filling the cracks in an empty sounding mix.

Definitely get this if you need a little extra something special!

I used the decapitator for about 5 minuets and purchased it right away. It really helps vocals in hip-hop in getting them a little gritty. If you have the money and youre looking for some great plugins. You should get the decapitator!

Desperately needed a good saturation plugin that can adjust from subtle tonal to all out crush. Love the fact that it can be transparent and add subtle texture in a variety of ways. Perfect fit!!

At first I didn't know which saturation plugin to get, so I went on YouTube,Google, and I read different fourms. I even called sweet water a couple of times and they help me out but time. So i went with this bad boy. Man let me tell you this plugin blew me away the stock settings for this plugin is unreal!!!! I only have to make minimum tweaks here and there for the price I paid this is worth every penny. Trust me I would get this plugin and if your unsure soundtoys let you do a 30 day trial on on their PLUGINS. DO NOT HESITATE TO BUY THIS!!!!!!! This plugin will help you with your mixes if you know what your doing.

You just need to buy this to see a whole other side of distorted sounds!

I have been using this since it came out. I used to use a Dolby 361A unit and run the vocals through this. It sort of gave it a drive and made the vocals pop. Once the Decapitator came out I did not need the Dolby box anymore. Does all that and more. Do not mix vocals without this.

If you listen to modern rap/hiphop/electronic/r&b type music this is pretty much standard for vocals. Great plugin. Must have for the studio. All in one package and the different modes are sweet!

My favorite saturation plugin. Adds phatness, makes something cut through, adds energy/attitude. You just can't get what this can do with any EQ or compressor.

Amazing plug to help sounds cut through a mix - synths, drums, vocals, anything! Beefing up the drum buss with parallel distortion is awesome. Demoing = get your credit card out

Everything I anticipated. Great plugin. I do recommend.

I'm recording orchestration with guitars, electronica, and 95% in-the-box. With 60+ tracks finding clarity and separation between my instruments can be extremely difficult to accomplish without the dreaded eq/level crawl that ends up pushing my headroom out the window. I'm finding that saturation coupled with some responsible compression (after subtractive eq/low-cut, etc.) can really make the difference in an instrument coming through the mix without blowing up the levels. I'm using the Decapitator on many tracks now to not only get those tracks through the mix but to also give a less digital feel to my tracks. This plugin combined with Soundtoys' Sie-q has brought my mixes to life. You have to be careful with the cumulative effect, though, and not go too heavy with it at first, unless you really want THAT sound. It's awesome on guitars, bass, even cellos. You could even throw a splash (I'd recommend the Ampeg settings) on the mix bus to warm up the mix. I'd recommend a top-down approach with the mix-bus route (start the mix with Decapitator already on the mix bus) to watch your distortion levels as you begin to add them onto the individual tracks. At the moment, I'm using Decapitator, Sie-q, and Waves j37 in various combinations to achieve my saturation needs, but I could definitely say that you could use only this plugin to get all the combinations you would really need. I also have iZotope alloy and Ozone, but I'm finding I don't use the exciters on those in preference to this plugin. I mention the other plugins in my review to let you know my situation as it may resemble yours (in terms of what you may be using or eyeing to purchase). Overall, I'd say some sort of saturation plugin is pretty much necessary to some extent to bring life back into digital mixes, and Decapitator is one of the best I've used.

I have been working with SoundToys Decapitator for 3 weeks. So far it has added a new dimension to our mixes. On bass and drums it gives a lot of guts and in a hurry. It does not take long to enhance a track to give it a bottom sound that you used to get with analog tape.
After 3 weeks, so far so good

Works ok but I'm not sure I'm using it right