Voxengo Powershaper: Saturation and overdrive for your audio tracks
Voxengo has released Powershaper, a new saturation, distortion and overdrive plug-in. The company says that its multi-stage method of saturation can do everything from a subtle presence boost to extreme overdrive. Could Voxengo Powershaper be the solution for all your boosting needs?
Saturation and “warmth” plug-ins are abundant, with numerous contestants offering every flavor from tape saturation to tube overdrive to distortion. Just recently we’ve seen new releases as diverse as Klevgränd REAMP, Process.Audio Sugar, Beatskillz Slam XL, and Initial Audio Analog Pro, to name just a few. Do you really need another one? Voxengo thinks so and advertises the Powershaper as a versatile saturation and drive tool. According to the developers, it does saturation effects, mix saturation, presence boost and extreme overdrive, and of course everything in between. The makers highlight its performance on drums, where they say the Powershaper can retain or even add to the punch, while applying “pleasant coloration and presence”.
Visually, the Powershaper sticks to the tried-and-true Voxengo look. There’s not much to see here, and the controls are pretty simple. To the left, there’s a saturation section with controls for drive, emphasis gain, and bias. In the center, the variation section has controls for boost and variation. On the right, there’s a final output gain and a level meter. If you’d like, you can change the GUI’s color scheme and select one of five color variants.
Compatibility
The Voxengo Powershaper runs on Windows and Mac computers as a VST, VST3, AAX, or AU plug-in. On Windows, it’s available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions.
Price and availability
The Voxengo Powershaper is now available from the company’s website at an introductory price of USD 39.95. You can also make a one-time investment of USD 395.00 for a Voxengo premium membership, which gets you any and all of the company’s plug-ins, indefinitely.