Topos Saturator Plugin

Tutorial | Mar 28, 2025

In this video, I introduced Topos, a new saturation distortion plugin with unique features like a topological view for creating custom distortion curves and detailed module settings for the input filter, amplifier simulation, and speaker simulation. While I appreciate the plugin's design and sound quality, I found the behavior of the settings window slightly annoying as it automatically reverts to the wave view. Despite this minor issue, I recommended downloading the demo version, Topos Play, to try it out, as it's lightweight, affordable, and doesn't require iLok.

You can watch the Video on Youtube

• support me on Patreon
• Topos Website
• earlier: check VISCO

Summary #

Maybe you don't watch the video, here are some important takeaways:

In this video, I'm diving into a brand new saturation distortion plugin called Topos, which was released just yesterday. This plugin is from the same creator as VISCO, a spectral-based drum sampler that I've covered before. Topos offers a unique twist on the typical saturation and distortion effect, and in this video, I'll be sharing what I like and dislike about it.

Starting with the interface, on the left side, Topos features several modules: an input filter, an amplifier simulation, a speaker simulation, and a mixing section. Each of these modules comes with detailed settings on the right side for further adjustments.

The input filter at the top includes low cut and high cut options, along with a through mix control that allows selective distortion of frequency ranges. You can fine-tune peak settings and slopes, effectively using the band splitter or EQ to apply distortion only to desired frequencies. Note that when the through mix is set all the way to the top, the phase remains linear, which is a nice feature.

The signal moves next to the amplifier simulation, which offers multiple presets that simulate different transfer curves. A standout feature of Topos is its topological view, which lets you move between presets (like cassette or vintage tape) to create custom distortion curves. However, one thing I don't like about this plugin is that when you adjust a knob, the view switches back to the wave view, which can be annoying if you want to stay focused on a particular setting.

Topos also has auto gain, which adjusts the volume to compensate for distortion, and a scaler control that I find crucial for making the saturation more subtle, which is how I prefer it. There's a visualization of the coloration, showing harmonic content so you can see exactly what the plugin is doing. The amplifier also has a details page for tweaking other parameters like hard clip and rectify.

Moving to the speaker simulation, this is not just an impulse response but a real-time simulation that lets you tweak settings in-depth, offering complex EQ curves for different emulated devices like smartphones or laptops. The scaling feature applies here as well, allowing for subtle adjustments.

The output section includes flux dynamics and a wet mix, which I hope works as a parameter blend rather than just volume, but I'm not entirely sure. The dynamics control uses an envelope follower to bring back the input signal's original dynamics, allowing distortion without losing dynamics. Flux introduces movement by modulating the amplifier and speaker settings, with options for chaos and random modulation and stereo width.

I demonstrate Topos on a drum and bass bus, but given my basses are already quite distorted, the plugin helps to apply more controlled distortion. The only downside I note is how the window behaves, especially with shifting views; the spectrum analyzers also don't provide much information. However, the interface and sound are excellent overall.

The plugin is priced at $99, but for now, it's available for $79. Additionally, there's a Topos Play version, a smaller, likely demo version that allows you to navigate through the main parameters and get a sense of its capabilities. It’s a small download, no iLok required.

I recommend trying it out, and if you're on Linux, I’d love to hear if it works there. Overall, I think Topos is a great plugin with a thoughtful design and excellent sound quality. If you liked this video, don't forget to leave a like, subscribe, and comment your thoughts. Thank you for watching, and I'll see you in the next video!

Transcription #

This is what im talking about in this video. The text is transcribed by AI, so it might not be perfect. If you find any mistakes, please let me know.
You can also click on the timestamps to jump to the right part of the video, which should be helpful.

[00:00:00] Hey folks, welcome back to another video.
[00:00:16] The day it's about Topos, a new saturation distortion plug-in that just came out yesterday.
[00:00:23] It's from the same guy that did VISCO, I showed you this a while ago, it's kind of an interesting
[00:00:29] spectral based drum sampler.
[00:00:33] So they released yesterday Topos with just kind of the saturation distortion effect with
[00:00:38] some neat or interesting twists and I want to show you what it does and what I like,
[00:00:43] what I don't like.
[00:00:45] So first and foremost, on the left side, you have a lot of modules here.
[00:00:49] You have an input filter, you have an amplifier simulation, and you have a speaker simulation
[00:00:55] and a mixing section.
[00:00:58] And to each of these modules, you have detailed settings here on the right side where you
[00:01:04] can change more things.
[00:01:06] So that's how it works, right?
[00:01:09] So first and foremost, the filter here at the top gives you access to a low cut and a
[00:01:14] high cut.
[00:01:15] And we have also here a through mix, so we can bring in or remove basically the top end
[00:01:20] or the low end and only distort a certain frequency range.
[00:01:25] You can also change here the peak settings, of course, and the slope or whatever you want
[00:01:29] to use there.
[00:01:31] So detailed band splitter or detailed EQ to just sing out certain frequencies and then
[00:01:38] just apply distortion to that range, kind of neat.
[00:01:42] And if you have your this through mix all the way to the top like this, it doesn't change
[00:01:48] the face.
[00:01:49] So it's linear face, which is also pretty neat and nice to know.
[00:01:54] Then we go with the signal from this band splitter here into an amplifier simulation.
[00:02:02] And this is really a simulation, and we have some presets here we can choose from, which
[00:02:08] is more or less some kind of transfer curve that you can see on the right side.
[00:02:16] But there's more to it, you can influence it in multiple ways.
[00:02:21] So the biggest or interesting twist to this is that that's probably why it's called top
[00:02:26] us is that you can access here this topological view of all the distortion presets.
[00:02:35] And you can kind of move around here and settle with something in between so you can create
[00:02:42] your own distortion curve by just putting this here in a place between certain things
[00:02:48] or certain presets you like, right?
[00:02:50] You want to have your cassette, maybe you want to have vintage tape, but you can also
[00:02:54] settle with something in between.
[00:02:56] So so you can, you know, are not bound to any presets with this.
[00:03:02] So this gives you some kind of interesting curve that you can see here.
[00:03:08] And there's also something I don't like with this plug in here is when you go from a knob,
[00:03:15] it just puts you back in this wave view.
[00:03:17] So it's a bit annoying, I just want to, you know, stay with this view, but it's not possible.
[00:03:23] You have to stay on the snob with the mouse.
[00:03:27] So anyway, so we have this transfer curve here.
[00:03:30] And then you can see basically the loudness, how much you change the loudness with this
[00:03:34] curve and how much distortion is applied.
[00:03:37] And there's also an auto gain which compensates for the distortion.
[00:03:42] So you stay in the same volume range.
[00:03:45] So let's use this here on the drum bass bus, right?
[00:03:56] It's way too much.
[00:03:57] And you can see the auto gain pulls down the volume drastically.
[00:04:02] And it's based on the input drive, of course.
[00:04:10] So the auto gain works nice.
[00:04:12] But then you have here the scaler, which is my opinion, the most important part.
[00:04:17] So you can scale the transfer curve, which makes it more subtle.
[00:04:36] So that's how I like my saturation.
[00:04:38] I like it subtle, right?
[00:04:39] So I just pull down your the scaler and just settle with the setting that I really like.
[00:04:58] Basically something fuzzy.
[00:05:18] You can also see on the right side the coloration.
[00:05:20] There's a chart or harmonics, even harmonics, so you can see what it does.
[00:05:25] And if you want to, you can also open up here the amplifier details page and you can dial
[00:05:31] in hard clip and fold and rectify and, you know, really tweak the amplifier how you like
[00:05:38] it.
[00:05:58] And you can see there's also quick help.
[00:06:00] Just over something and it shows you what it does.
[00:06:04] It's, it's, yeah, it's nice design.
[00:06:07] I really like how they did this here.
[00:06:10] In my opinion, it's, it's, it's a good design.
[00:06:14] Let's start us back.
[00:06:21] Yeah, that's enough.
[00:06:25] And then you go from this amplifier simulation into a speaker simulation.
[00:06:29] And that's really important because in most distortion effects or reverb effects, you
[00:06:35] have nowadays just impulse responses.
[00:06:38] This is not an impulse response.
[00:06:39] This is really a simulation and you can tweak every single setting.
[00:06:44] And you have also this kind of view here where you can dial in different filter curves.
[00:06:50] So this is more like a filter.
[00:06:51] You can see it more like a complex EQ curve.
[00:06:55] So let's just enable this here.
[00:06:57] You can see at the filter curve at this position and again, with this scaling feature here,
[00:07:12] you can just dial it in just a tad, just a bit, right?
[00:07:16] To give it a taste of this speaker instead of having this here at, yeah, at full range.
[00:07:25] So let's go here with the, what's the iPhone, smartphone, Walkman, a laptop, right?
[00:07:38] You don't want to have a filter curve of a laptop at full range.
[00:07:45] That's not what you want, but you want to have it maybe in a subtle way.
[00:07:49] I don't know.
[00:08:16] So here again, the detail settings, damping, reflection, the scale of the device of the
[00:08:23] laptop, I guess, position probably of the microphone, I guess.
[00:08:30] So, yeah, detail settings.
[00:08:33] And I think you can also modulate this here.
[00:08:36] So this is not an impulse response.
[00:08:38] That's important to me to actually give you this information.
[00:08:41] This is not just an impulse response.
[00:08:45] It's a real filter and it reacts to the sound and you can modulate it.
[00:08:50] You can twist and turn it and, yeah, nice to have.
[00:08:55] So let's dial us here a bit back a bit more.
[00:08:58] Okay.
[00:08:59] I'll maybe use something different here.
[00:09:21] Okay.
[00:09:32] And then we have the output section, which features your flux dynamics and wet mix.
[00:09:40] And here it says, "Plant between the processed and input sound globally."
[00:09:46] I'm not sure, I guess, or I hope this is actually really a parameter blend and not just a volume
[00:09:54] blend.
[00:09:55] So you're not blending between the dry signal and the wet signal.
[00:10:01] I guess you apply here, or I hope that's what I would do with this plug-in.
[00:10:07] I just would scale all the settings, right?
[00:10:11] So everything is at zero and then you pull it up and then you scale all the settings
[00:10:15] up.
[00:10:17] That's how I would do it, but it's probably not this way.
[00:10:20] I'm not sure.
[00:10:23] Blend between the processed and input sound globally.
[00:10:26] I don't know.
[00:10:27] It's probably just a volume blend, just a dry and wet signal.
[00:10:30] So then we have dynamics here and this brings back the original dynamics of the input signal.
[00:10:37] So it uses, I guess, an envelope follower of the input signal and then it applies the
[00:10:43] volume shape or the wave shape of the original signal back to the processed signal.
[00:10:49] So when you remove dynamics here with the amplifier, you can bring the dynamics here
[00:10:55] back, without removing the distortion, of course.
[00:10:59] So let's try this.
[00:11:06] The right, it's kind of a flat signal because it's super distorted and super shaped.
[00:11:22] So you can leave the distortion on, but you shape the output signal so it matches the
[00:11:28] dynamics of the input signal.
[00:11:31] So you can only apply distortion without removing dynamics.
[00:11:34] So that's the idea behind it.
[00:11:38] And then we have Flux here, which is movement, modulation, kind of.
[00:11:42] We can also look at the details page here.
[00:11:47] So it's a random modulator, chaos modulator.
[00:11:50] You can change the rate and then say, bring this in.
[00:11:55] You modulate settings of the amplifier and the speaker setting here, right?
[00:12:00] You can say how much you want to modulate the amplifier, how much you want to modulate
[00:12:05] the speaker, and it just randomly changes the settings of the speaker and the amplifier.
[00:12:12] So it brings in a bit of movement.
[00:12:15] Not sure what the difference is here between chaos and random, it's just designers.
[00:12:21] So it's a up and down movement, so it's an LFO.
[00:12:25] And if we bring this to 100%, then it's chaotic LFO or random modulator.
[00:12:31] And then you have your difference between left and right channel, I guess, stereo width
[00:12:35] of the Flux modulation.
[00:12:36] So we have, like, on the left channel and the right channel, different modulations.
[00:12:40] So we can also make the signal a bit wider.
[00:13:05] It's probably more interesting on bass sounds, I guess.
[00:13:08] So yeah, so this is on the drum and bass bus here.
[00:13:12] Let's remove this actually here.
[00:13:16] Let's put it on the bass just for some experiments here.
[00:13:21] Let's put it here, top horse.
[00:13:30] It's already distort, I mean my basses are already distort like crazy and so on.
[00:13:40] German bass.
[00:13:53] Let's bring this back.
[00:14:01] Let's only add distortion to this range here.
[00:14:05] Yeah, and then try to use flux here.
[00:14:21] Maybe also to the speaker.
[00:14:32] There you can see how it moves.
[00:14:40] So the only annoying thing with this plugin is actually how this window here behaves.
[00:14:45] I just want to look at these things, at these settings here and they just switch away when
[00:14:51] you leave the knob, which is a bit annoying and also here, these spectrum analyzers don't
[00:14:57] give me that much information actually, so it's not super important.
[00:15:01] I think the only thing that's really interesting is the in/out vector scope here, where you
[00:15:06] have, like, you know, the input signal on the X axis and the output signal on the Y axis,
[00:15:11] I guess, and then you can see how it changes the signal.
[00:15:15] But it's also so blurred, you can't really see what's going on.
[00:15:22] So it's, I don't know, maybe show here something, the harmonics, how many harmonics you add
[00:15:31] and also make this a bit relaxed here when you leave the knob, right?
[00:15:36] I just want to see what's going on here and then it's a bit annoying.
[00:15:40] So this is the only downside of this plugin, how this window behaves.
[00:15:45] But the rest, I think, in my opinion, is very well designed, it sounds good, it makes sense,
[00:15:51] it's also not super expensive.
[00:15:53] Let's look at the website here.
[00:15:56] I think it's 99 bucks, but for now it's 79 bucks.
[00:16:02] And there's also interestingly, down here, a download, which is called Topos Play.
[00:16:08] And I think this is more like a demo version that works forever or something like this,
[00:16:13] I'm not sure.
[00:16:15] So with this version, I think you don't have access to the right detail settings here,
[00:16:20] but you can access all this stuff here, the quick parameters on the left side.
[00:16:24] So it's enough to actually, you know, try it out and see how it sounds, how you can
[00:16:31] use it.
[00:16:32] It's only two megabytes, it's also very small, there's no eye lock.
[00:16:38] So it looks good.
[00:16:40] So why not just download it, give it a try and see how it's something that you like.
[00:16:46] I'm not affiliated with this, by the way, but there's a link in the description, you
[00:16:51] can click and then you can download this and try it out for yourself.
[00:16:56] Maybe give me information here if this works under Linux would be interesting to know.
[00:17:00] I haven't tried it yet.
[00:17:02] Anyway, that's it.
[00:17:05] I think it's a great plugin.
[00:17:07] It looks nice, it sounds great, and that's it for me.
[00:17:11] So if you like the video, leave a like, subscribe to the channel, let me know what you think
[00:17:15] in the comments down below, it's always interesting, and I see you in the next video.
[00:17:20] Thanks for watching and bye.