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Saturation

Thermionic Culture Vulture

UAD / Universal Audio

The Thermionic Culture Vulture is a high-gain valve distortion plugin that emulates the British-made boutique hardware unit, offering studio-grade dual-stage valve processing with three distinct valve topologies for coloring or destroying tracks, buses, and mixes. It captures the authentic circuit response of the original hardware while adding parallel Dry/Wet mixing and stereo linking not found on the hardware.

Key Features

01Three valve topologies: Triode, Pentode 1, and Pentode 2 modes
02Drive control (1-11 range) for input gain into 6AS6 distortion valve
03Bias control for cathode current adjustment from clean to voltage-starved distortion and gating effects
04Overdrive switch providing 20 dB of additional gain
0512 dB per octave low-pass Filter switch for smoother output
06Mix control for parallel processing (0-100%)
07Control Link function for stereo-linked or dual-mono processing
08Output Level control (1-11 range) with optional 5963 output valve overdrive

Things to Try

  • 01Use Triode mode with medium Bias settings (around 0.25-0.3 mA) for gentle warming without obvious distortion
  • 02Engage Overdrive with P2 mode and high Bias current for aggressive effects like gating and stuttering
  • 03Set Mix to 50% for balanced parallel processing of drums or vocals
  • 04Adjust Output Level above 9 to overdrive the output valve for additional harmonic coloration

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