John T
I've not done any objective testing on it, but to my ears, it doesn't leave any frequency range completely untouched, wherever you set it. The switch seems to bias it one way or the other, but in practical use, it always comes down to flipping the switch back and forth and using trial and error to get the a sound that does what you want.

 
I agree, John.   When set to "Keep High" there is a bias towards the highs being "saturated", but all frequencies are affected.  The opposite when set to "Keep Low".  I have not often found a situation for using the "Keep Low" setting, personally.
 
For vocals I often use the VX-64 EQ section to apply saturation to only the highs.  Sometimes this works better, sometimes the Softube Knob sounds better.

brconflict, i concur!
 
 
Anyway, Softube seems not to state clearly exactly which mode does what, but a careful read of their comments would suggest that they have labelled the graphic face-plate obtusely. 
 
From the Softube website... "If you want to squash a drum loop but 'keep the bass drum fairly intact', you can for example use the Keep Low mode."
 
I have done some quick tests of this plugin just now and found their instruction to be correct, although they could have worded the modes a bit more pertinently; i myself would have written different wording on the graphics face-plate, something like...
 
1: Hit mostly High freq
2: Hit Full Spectrum
3: Hit mostly low freq
 
The current wording on it suggests the opposite of what it actually does.
 
Anyway, it seems my understanding of this plugin was influenced by only 'one' of the 'two' webpages describing the Softube saturation plugin at the Presonus website; they have used more articulate wording showing that it is not a Tape saturation emulation on another of their webpages: strange that Presonus have two different webpages to explain the ins-&-outs of the Softube saturation Knob... I just found this second load of spiel over at the Presonus website as follows... "The Saturation Knob is an easy-to-use, versatile way to add 'tape-saturation-like' distortion to your tracks. The knob controls the amount of saturation, and you can switch between three different distortion characteristics.
With the switch set to Neutral, the entire frequency spectrum of the sound gets distorted when you turn up the Saturation knob. Put it on "Keep High", and the saturation will mainly affect the lower part of the frequency spectrum, while the top end stays clear. With "Keep Low" selected, the low end will retain its clear sound, and only the high-frequency components of the sound will get distorted."
 
Anyhow, after my own tests i still continue to find this plugin inadequate for the majority of my purposes, it seems to introduce a type of brittle harshness even at the lowest 0.1 setting and yet it doesn't do anything at 0, so it appears that it is more suited to adding aggressive distorted tone when needed, but i definitely have very little use for such an effect.
I would think that the reason Softube gives this away free to Cakewalk, Presonus and Avid for their DAWs is because Softube have deemed it not good enough to sell and that there are 'free' plugins that perform as good and even better, and thus they give it away to these DAW manufacturers to serve a better purpose of free advertising to keep the Softube brand fresh in our minds. 
 
Over at Propellerheads in the "Extension rack" section of their website, there is an official quote from a big-time producer about the Softube offerings which i found quite ridiculous, like the following...
 
"Softube is so good, after using it the first time, I could speak french. Mainly because I kept saying: Pardon my french, but these plugins are f-ing unbelievable! The FET Compressor in particular is probably the warmest, fattest compressor plugin on the market."
 
 
My response to that would be that this guy obviously hasn't used the Slate Digital compressor emulations. Which leads me to ask, is there any such thing as a "Warmest, Fattest compressor"? From what i've heard of Softubes compressors the answer is definitely no! But from what i've heard of Slate Digital, well it really doesn't get any warmer and fatter than that. Slate Digital's compressor emulations are the only ones i would ever dare to call "The warmest, fattest compressor plugins on the market"
 
Secondly, it's strange how Softube requires 330mbs for a single compressor emulation and Slate Digital only requires 80mbs for what is clearly a superior product. Obviously the world of coding emulation algorithms is a jungle.
I also remember Native Instruments have some of their high-end compressor and EQ plugins provided by Softube and i was not impressed with them at all, and that was 'before' finding-out that they were made by Softube for Native Instruments!

I like both the tape saturation and soft-tube plugs.
 
I have one friend I usually put a touch of the soft tube on. He plays a sweet acoustic guitar with a flat pick and it's nice to give his guitar a little bite.
 
It can take some of that fret rattle and make it a bit crunchy... kinda Dave Matthews style.
 
I think it sounds great on that.
 
And I sometimes split a bass sound using a multiband and soloing low and high freqs separately and the applying a touch on the higher freqs.
 
I would miss it for sure if it was gone. I use it on as many projects as I do the CA2A.

jps
Here is a great video showing the Saturation Knob doing its magic in a mix :-))

http://youtu.be/_ALJpZpHWKo

All the best
Jan

Thanks jps for this video connection, I hadn't seen this one before.... Interesting conclusions that he makes in the video with the material he was using it on.
 
That may be the bottom line.... how you use it and on what material.
 

So LA2A I take it you have tested the plugins you mentioned against the actual hardware units they are meant to emulate? May I ask how was this testing done? 

Leadfoot
Here we go again...

What does that mean? When an assertion is made wouldn't it make sense to find out the basis for that assertion?

I didn't mean any offense toward you, John. It's just that this thread is starting to sound similar to LA's thread a few weeks ago regarding "Pro Channel Authenticity".

LA2A
In fact, now that i think about it, i'm gonna contact Slate Digital begging them to do an La2a emulation; 

IIRC the FG-401 from his upcoming VMR release is a modded 1176.

John
So LA2A I take it you have tested the plugins you mentioned against the actual hardware units they are meant to emulate? May I ask how was this testing done? 

 
 
In response to my assertions about Slate Digital plugins another forum member here, SvenArne, commented to another forum member "Normally, I'd agree with you, but in this particular case..?"
 
This forum member was obviously commenting in relation to the credibility of my own assertions, so i will make clear that this whole subject is really only a matter for those who are actually interested in the authenticity of certain plugins, because if you are happy to use plugins that just give you a similar vibe and character of the originals, then it won't be important to you what i have to say, that i understand. Nonetheless, clearly the comments made suggest that some members might not give much credence to my word as a music producer. Therefore lets put it this way, my word would probably not suffice or hold much weight with you guys, obviously my opinion would be of no consequence to you, regardless of any tests i've done, so don't take my word for it, take the word of industry experts instead, i'll show you what they have said; they would be worth listening to more than me, right? Lets see the words of respected industry experts and therefore i'll quote their words to help you understand what i'm saying about the Slate Digital plugins, you might take them a bit more seriously than me. I myself happen to be close friends with a Roland engineering consultant (he works for Roland corporation), and we have collaborated on a few tracks together, and previous to using the Slate Digital plugins, i had told him that i was using 'digital' plugin replications of the LA2A etc on some tracks (i was not using Slate plugins at that time), and although he is a wise man with extensive audio experience that does not mouth-off and get into negatives, he did comment to me that "these digital plugins don't really replicate the sound of the 'real thing'.
 
I was not surprised at all to hear him tell me that because i agreed with him, I already knew that, but anyhow I told him we'll just work with it for now.
 
But also, Rupert Neve himself made some statements not long ago which i will quote for you right here, these words came out of Rupert Neve's own mouth verbatim as follows... "The whole question of digital has been something which has worried me for some considerable time, and i never have thought that digital can deliver the depth and perspective of first-class analog: as we have listened to some of the plugin systems of others, I HAVEN'T BEEN IMPRESSED AT ALL, but having now listened to the VCM technology, this is something which i'm completely convinced that the new VCM technology actually delivers the depth and perspective and sweetness of sound which i've aspired to in analog. I now can't tell any difference between the two!"
 
These statements from Rupert Neve were referring to the Yamaha/Steinberg VCM technology behind some of their recent supplementary plugin offerings, but it proves that Repurt Neve is saying the same thing i have been saying about 99% of digital plugins 'previous' to using the Slate Digital plugins.
Since we have here another statement from Yamaha's own pro-audio website as follows... "Yamaha’s innovative “K’s Lab” division, is a circuit modeling concept that effectively simulates the most detailed characteristics of individual circuit components, right down to capacitors and resistors, resulting in astonishingly realistic circuit simulations that easily outclass conventional digital plugin simulations. But accuracy isn’t the only consideration, the actual musicality is essential as well, and VCM modeling delivers both." 
 
So if you then still want me to qualify my assertions about the Slate Digital plugins, then don't take my word for it, take the word of Stephen Slate himself, either he's lying, or he is only the second person in history to accomplish the same end as Yamaha's VCM technology. Because didn't Stephen and his team say that it was all the modelling of non-linear response characteristics done at the component level, including the distortions and noise and cross-talk etc that they also sought to model, just like yamaha? Well yes, they did say that, and they took the same approach as the Yamaha VCM team, but then after the extensive testing for final approval before release, here are the exact words of Stephen verbatim as follows... "Either we re-create the 'exact sound' of what these machines are doing, or we don't release the plugin! It's either 100% or 0% (meaning we won't release it), we won't 'compromise' when it comes to analog."
 
Jay Baumgardner is a hardcore analog music engineer from way back when, he is a famed Platinum selling producer familiar only with real-world studios, but he said this following statement in response to Slate Digital's plugins as follows... "I now put these plugins on all my mixes, they 'totally nailed it'!
 
The famed mastering engineer Howie Weinberg, said himself that he initially called Stephen crazy for even suggesting that he could emulate the real deal, but after Stephen finished his work and Howie Weinberg took a listen, he said... "You know what, I'm crazy for not believing him, I'm in!"
 
Shall we allow Stephen Slate himself to qualify his own plugins? Lets see what he said as follows... "We don't stop, we don't release these plugins until in 'blind' listening tests people can't tell the digital from the actual analog pieces, and so that's what we've done here"
 
 
So now, I myself for example have used many Tape Saturation plugins of many kinds from Third Party sources, including Nomad Factory "Magnetic II", and yet i knew i wasn't getting the true sound of Tape, but i wasn't the only one who knew this; the head programmer for Stephen Slate, Fabrice Gabriel, said before they started working on their VTM Tape emulation... "Stephen and I were convinced that the sound of Tape was still not authentically modelled in the digital domain, in fact, it didn't seem that anyone had actually captured the essence and feeling of a real Tape machine, we wanted to change that scenario, so we designed an algorithm so close to the Tape sound that you can not distinguish a track recorded to a real Tape machine versus the same track processed with our algorithm"
 
 
Lets see what Sam Inglis said in his Sound-on-Sound review October 11 as follows... "Sound On Sound is not a monolithic organisation, and the half‑dozen or so of us who make and record music have wildly differing tastes like our colleague Hugh Robjohns, I had expected that Slate's VCC would polarise opinion within the office, but perhaps the biggest endorsement I can offer is that it did nothing of the kind. Everyone here who has tried it, regardless of their preferences or style of mixing, has independently reached almost exactly the same opinions I've set down in this review. I'll be using VCC on every mix I do from now on — and I won't be alone...
 
 
There you have it folks, these words hold more weight than anything i might say or any tests i've done. And also, remember, the proof is in the pudding, which becomes self explanatory, and therein lies the answer for the authenticity of Stephen Slate's plugins.
Remember, instead of questioning the validity of my statements, you can use the demos for yourself, and also listen to the previous words of industry experts who have tested Stephens plugins, and i'm sure you'll draw the same conclusions as me. The truth is the truth, right? Let the truth speak for itself. Any company who achieves such high levels of algorithm replication i will always endorse and give kudos to, and it appears that Yamaha and Slate Digital are the only two companies to achieve this. I have heard UAD plugs, i have heard Waves plugs, and there are free plugins that perform as good or even better than these companies, and why? Because these two companies didn't achieve 100% emulation, it's that simple really! If you A/B tests of the La2a emulations done by UAD and IK MUltimedia and Cakewalk, you will hear a big difference between these plugins, a difference in the modelling, which of them got it right? Well none actually. The difference between these plugins is vastly different than the minor inconsequential differences between the actual real-life analog units, so what gives?

LA2A

 
You really are an astonishing poster: You lay the hidden trap, wait.., some replies come in, you post some filler and exposition, wait.., some a little more opinionated replies show up.., AND THEN YOU SPRING THE TRAP!! Going on in an intense frenzy like just now! It's quite a unique deal here on this forum!
 
You clearly have a knack for underhanded verbosity and it looks like you're having the time of your life. How about getting to work on that novel?
 
 

Beepster
This fellow is a sneak and I think I'm going to specifically avoid buying Slate plugs just to spite him.
 

 
Well, I don't wanna live in a world where good, friendly companies like Slate Digital are actually paying internet moles to spearhead complex marketing operations...

Leadfoot

Oh, hey. I was going to PM to thank you for the kind words a few days back but alas you seem to have that option disabled. Sooo thanks. Lifted my spirits and don't worry... I don't foresee going anywhere anytime soon. Cheers.

I don't own any Slate plugins, and based on posts like this, I would never buy one, even if they were a great deal. LA2A has turned me against Slate forever. Your comments make me (personally) not want to ever give Slate a chance.

LA2A
[...]such people are already millionaires[...]

You'd be surprised... An engineer doesn't get royalties, you have to live from day to day on the jobs you get. Your pay is a miniscule part of the money that goes into big-time record production.
 
Kinda reminds me of a thread on GearSlutz where the OP suggested it would be a good idea if the Lord-Alge brothers bought Waves. Then some knowledgable poster came along and stated that Waves' LAWYERS made more money than the Lord-Alges. That was pretty funny...