Variety of Sound releases TesslaPRO mkIII, a freeware saturation and signal coloration tool in VST plugin format for Windows.
TesslaPRO mkIII is yet another excellent saturation tool from Variety of Sound, the developer behind some of the finest freeware plugins on the market.
We already covered some of Variety of Sound’s must-have plugins like FerricTDS mkII and ThrillseekerXTC mkII. If you loved those, here’s another excellent saturator for your mixing and mastering toolkit.
On the product page, Variety of Sound explains that “The Tessla audio plugin series once started as a reminiscence to classic transformer-based circuit designs of the 50s and 60s but without just being a clone stuck in the past. The PRO version has been made for mixing and mastering engineers working in the digital domain but always missing that extra vibe delivered by some high-end analog devices.”
TesslaPRO mkIII does several things to your audio. It saturates the signal while polishing the transients and enhancing the stereo field. All of these colorations are subtle but become more noticeable when you use multiple instances of the effect across the mix.
The saturation simulates the characteristics of vintage transformer-based circuits. It’s quite delicate, but you’ll instantly feel it when applied to a track. You can also experiment with using the effect on the master bus as a slight mix enhancement.
The interface is intuitive, with four control knobs, a pair of buttons, and a VU meter. However, it’s still a good idea to read the included user manual, as it explains how to get the best results with TesslaPRO mkIII.
The developer states that TesslaPRO mkIII is a complete overhaul of the previous version. It was designed to bring more analog-like qualities to the signal while reducing the audible distortion.
Another significant upgrade is the compatibility with 64-bit plugin hosts on Windows. As you may know already, Variety of Sounds used to be 32-bit until recently. Thankfully, almost the entire collection is now compatible with the latest DAWs.
On the other hand, Mac-based producers still can’t use these plugins as they’re Windows-exclusive. But don’t worry about it too much, as Airwindows offers a similarly epic collection of macOS-compatible freeware plugins.
TesslaPRO mkIII is available for free download from the product page linked below. It’s an instant download – there’s no registration involved.
Looking for more saturation tools? Check out our free BPB Saturator effect and best free saturation plugins list.
Download: TesslaPRO mkIII
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10 Comments
Origin Maker
onWowww… That’s some news…
Bani
onOff topic question: can’t mac users insert this plugins through the free waves studio rack?
Bthelick
oncan it load other windows software?
Or are you confusing vst with windows exclusivity?
alex
onThis is a great plugin. The only one left to be updated is my favorite one – ThrillseekerLA. It works flawlessly bridged in Reaper, though, so I can wait. BTW, I’ve noticed that x64 version GUIs flash for a split second during the plugin scan or project load in Reaper (which x32 ThrillseekerLA doesn’t do), but I don’t know if that can even be considered a bug since it doesn’t cause any issues. But I’d still like to know what causes that behavior, of course :)
Tomislav Zlatic
onYeah, ThrillseekerLA is amazing. Although FerricTDS is still my absolute favorite from VoS.
pacmusik
onalso need to update my favorite, thrillseeker VBL. VOS announced that they will be updated before the end of 2022
Animus
onDon’t forget about SlickHDR!
MRG
onYou had me at “no registration involved”. Wait, that’s the end of the article. Ah, who am I kidding, you had me at “Variety of Sound”.
Tomislav Zlatic
onIt’s double trouble!
pacmusik
onalso need to update my favorite, thrillseeker VBL. VOS announced that they will be updated before the end of 2022