Overview

SPL’s TwinTube is one of those magical devices that make subtle changes which result in a huge improvement in your tracks.

Simply adding a bit of TwinTube’s analog tube warmth can dramatically improve vocal and instrument tracks. Many times you will need less EQ-ing after applying TwinTube to brighten or fatten things up.

TwinTube also increases perceived loudness without changing actual gain, making it an incredibly useful tool to have in your signal-processing arsenal.

All the character, tone, and utility of the hardware version is available as an Analog Code plugin. As with all of SPL’s Analog Code plugins, the TwinTube is an exacting software model of the original analog hardware processor.

TwinTube combines two essential tube effects in a single processor: saturation and harmonics processing. Both stages process the signal separately, so you can apply them individually or combine them.

Harmonics processing can be applied to four different fundamental frequency bands to improve presence and clarity with minimal affect on signal levels. The saturation control behaves similarly to tape saturation, adding warmth and density, regardless of sound source.

Features

  • Precisely modeled plugin version of SPL’s analog tube effect processor
  • Tube and tape saturation effects
  • Increase perceived gain without increasing level
  • Subtle coloring to dramatic distortion with a simple knob tweak.
  • Works magic on a wide variety of signals including vocals, acoustic guitars, drums, brass, and more

Audio Examples

Industry Reviews

  • Soundprank/Colin E. Fisher

    Soundprank/Colin E. Fisher

    Anjunabeats, Armada, Enhanced Music

    This plugin delivers vacuum tube saturation for days, from subtle warmth to dirty grunge, it sounds fantastic on digitally harsh sounds, and absolutely KILLS on vocals and brassy… Read More

  • Ethan Mates

    Ethan Mates

    Engineer (Linkin Park, Red Hot Chili Peppers, J-Lo, Tupac, Tom Petty)

    Saturation is one of the most important keys to mixing in the box, particularly heavier music, and this plug delivers tons of tube vibe and thickness for days!

  • Thomas Gold

    Thomas Gold

    Producer/DJ (Armada, Axtone, Protocol, Revealed)

    One of my "go to" tools for warming up a sound. I just throw it onto a channel and I can instantly get a warmer, thicker sound. I can easily dial in more harmonics and saturation to taste. Simple… Read More

  • James Wiltshire

    James Wiltshire

    Producer (Freemasons, F9 Audio)

    Anyone working with digitally sourced material needs this in their production life. It just spits out vibe.

  • IRKO

    IRKO

    Multi-Platinum Award Winning Audio Engineer (Jaz-Z, Pitbull, Kanye West)

    I have used the SPL Charisma on a lot of records. When I found about the TwinTube plugin I was like "YEEEAH!!" And so boom -- it’s my to go-to plugin for horns. A must have. It is also great for… Read More

View All Industry Reviews

Customer Reviews

  • argarg

    ★★★★★
    by rgrega
    gareagrgar

  • Great

    ★★★★★
    by Gurgel
    Sound great fast and easy!

  • Twin tube- fantastic saturation

    ★★★★★
    by Beautiful Harmonics
    This is clearly one of the most beautiful saturation plugins out there. It shapes up the tone of vocals, kick drum or any other instrument really well. Adds a ton of character and fills up your sound… Read More

  • Excelente “Vitalizador”

    ★★★★★
    by Kelvin Diniz
    Adiciona harmônicos de forma perfeita, muito útil pra dar calor e tonalidade em instrumentos que você já cansou de tentar “clarear” com um EQ. O saturador é muito bom mas prefiro usar em… Read More

  • Sounds great, questionable interface.

    ★★★★☆
    by DP
    I know it's just copying the hardware, but it blows my mind you would decide to use the two button configuration for selecting harmonic frequency. It would have taken less GUI space to just have a… Read More
View All Customer Reviews

Specifications

Supported Plugin Formats
AAX DSP, AAX Native, AU, AAX AudioSuite, VST2, VST3

Supported Operating Systems
macOS 14 down to macOS 11
Windows 11 down to Windows 10

Mac
Intel, or Apple Silicon

PC
x64-compatible CPU

System Requirements
Display resolution: 1440 × 900px or 1280 × 960px or higher
Memory: 2 GB RAM

Downloads

With the Installation Manager you can select, download & install all the Plugin Alliance products. Select any and all formats you need for your system! Mac & PC.

TwinTube Installers

Installation Manager

Manuals

ChangeLog

TwinTube

SPL TwinTube - Changelog

Version 1.18.1 (Oct 9, 2023)
- General: fixed CPU spikes on Mac OS

Version 1.18.0 (Aug 15, 2023)
- General: added native Apple Silicon compatibility for AAX
- General: added macOS Ventura support
- General: improved plugin loading time in the DAW
- General: fixed issue causing Logic to crash when closing the plugin UI
- General: improved font drawing behavior

Version 1.17 (Mar 15, 2022)
- General: added native Apple Silicon compatibility for VST3, VST2 and AU
- General: added macOS Monterey support
- General: added Windows 11 and Windows 10 21H1 support
- General: discontinued Windows 7 support
- General: discontinued macOS 10.9 and 10.11 support
- General: fixed metering behavior in block sizes of 2048 samples and higher

Version 1.16 (Mar 22, 2021)
- General: Compatibility with Logic on Apple Silicon devices via the Rosetta-2 layer
- General: Fixed possible artefacts when freezing or bouncing tracks in Pro Tools
- General: Fixed automation highlighting disappearing in Studio One
- General: Improved license dialog visibility in dark mode

Version 1.15 (May 27, 2020)
- General: Qualified for use with the Windows 10 May 2020 Update
- General: VST3: Fixed potential hangs in a DAW upon loading
- General: Fixed logical issues in undo / redo behavior
- General: Fixed UI resizing issues in Ableton Live on Windows
- General: Fixed audio processing initialization issues on amp and delay products

Version 1.14 (Nov 06, 2019)
- General: Qualified for use with macOS 10.15 Catalina
- General: Qualified for use with Windows 10 November 2019 Update
- General: Fixed plugin validation in Logic under macOS Catalina
- General: Fixed preset name restore in Logic when reopening a session
- General: Fixed opening authorization dialog triggering automation
- General: Improved instantiation times for plugins
- General: Improved license functionality and branding for subscription
- General: Removed 32-bit support on macOS and Windows

Version 1.3 (Jul 10, 2019)
- General: macOS 10.14.5 Update compatibility
- General: Windows 10 1903 Update compatibility
- General: Fixed activation issue in Windows hosts set to non-English language (e.g. Cakewalk)
- General: AU: Fixed issue with increased CPU and memory on reopening UI
- General: VST3: Fixed issue with adapting to host knob mode, and now prioritizing linear
- General: VST3: Fixed issue with VST3 preset permissions
- General: VST3: Improved synchronization between parameter states and some UI functions, e.g. toolbar reset

Version 1.12 (Nov 16, 2018)
- General: macOS Mojave compatibility
- General: Windows October 2018 update compatibility
- General: adding Windows High DPI support for VST2/3 plugins
- General: Fixed potential crashes in Cubase and other VST2 / VST3 DAWs
- General: Fixed potential CPU spikes and audio dropouts
- General: Fixed rendering in Pro Tools on the start of a session
- General: Fixed missing presets in Wavelab and other VST3 DAWs
- General: Improving keyboard control, fixing issues with catched keys preventing it from passing through to DAW
- General: Fixed parallel use of host sessions (e.g. with Live)

Version 1.11 (May 24, 2018)
- General: Microsoft Windows Redstone 4 compatibility
- General: Added computer keyboard control for plugin parameters
- General: Fixed Mouse scroll wheel not working in Windows 8
- General: Fixed an issue where plugins will not validate or load after a certain amount of plugins have been loaded (Windows)
- General: Fixed visual GUI freezes when adjusting DAW parameters, meters, analyzers (Mac)
- General: Fixed possible issue with Pick Pack licenses
- General: Small licenser stability fix
- Added Pro Tools Multi-Channel support

Version 1.10 (Oct 23, 2017)
- General: Mac OS High Sierra compatibility
- General: Fixed possible crash on online activation (Mac OS High Sierra)
- General: Fixed Logic Pro X not validating AU plugins (Mac OS High Sierra)
- General: Fixed CPU spikes and crashes with Cubase (Windows)
- General: Fixed bug that could lead to "AAE -6 error" in ProTools (Windows)
- General: Fixed crash with FL Studio
- General: Fixed crash when cross-opening plugins in various hosts
- General: Fixed crash when using mixdown in Audition
- General: Fixed crash in Final Cut Pro
- General: Fixed delayed parameter handling and crackling issues in Cubase with VST3
- General: Fixed bug where plugin settings were not saved in Harrison Mixbus
- General: Fixed bug that led to AAE error -9317 in ProTools when instantiating plugin
- General: Fixed bug where plugins did not render properly when "x ray" option is enabled in Sonar
- General: Modifications to factory presets were lost when reopening session
- General: Fixed mouse wheel behaviour with second monitor setup (Windows)
- Some plugins: Value labels do not appear every time when clicking on parameter in UI
- General: Faster instantiation time for plugins (Windows)
- General: Adding support for automation highlighting in Presonus StudioOne

Version 1.9.1 (Dec 20, 2016)
- General: Mac OS Sierra compatibility
- General: Fixed automation issues in AU and AAX
- General: Fixed license dialog use of special characters
- General: Improved AU preset support
- General: Performance improvements

Version 1.9 (Apr 1, 2016)
- General: Major UI codebase update
- General: Fixed possible crash when authorizing plugin
- General: Added gain reduction meter support for StudioOne 3
- General: Installers show version info in Windows "Programs And Features"
- Added EUCON pagetables

Version 1.8.4 (Jan 18, 2016)
- General codebase update
- Removing RTAS/TDM/VENUE 32-bit format support

Version 1.8.3 (Jul 18, 2015)
- General codebase update

Version 1.8.2 (Jun 22, 2015)
- General codebase update

Version 1.8.1 (May 27, 2015)
- Fixed wrong installation path for 32-bit Win VST plugin version

Version 1.8 (Nov 18, 2013)
- Licenser update (V3): Fixes and new features
- Prevent wrong mouse wheel behavior in 32-bit hosts on 64-bit Windows (Windows bug) (87, 95, 156)
- Fixed keyboard events after text input in Pro Tools Windows (325)
- Fixed parameter value display in VST3 (330)
- Fixed toolbar triggering automation (335)
- Fixed window size issues (279, 327)
- Fixed possible preset issues in Pro Tools 11 (312)
- Fixed AAX Audiosuite latency compensation (311)

Version 1.7.3 (?)
- decreased AAX DSP load

Version 1.7.2 (Jul 05, 2013)
- fixed for Pro Tools 11
- fixed bypass

Version 1.7.1 (Jun 28, 2013)
- fixed installer for 32-bit Windows

Version 1.7 (Jun 21, 2013)
- added support for Pro Tools 11
- licenser update: fixes and new features
- fixed automation with VST3 offline processing

Version 1.6 (Apr 05, 2013)
- otimized performance
- fixed issues with possible high CPU load
- AAX DSP version improvements
- fixed Avid related issue in Pro Tools 10 that could lead to sporadic crashes
- fixed issue that could lead to values jumping in Ableton Live

Version 1.5.2 (Jan 16, 2013)
- added support for high resolution displays (e.g. Apple Retina)
- licenser: improved Pro Tools activation

Version 1.5.1 (Oct 31, 2012)
- fixed potential TDM automation issue under Mac OS
- licenser: minor fixes
- licenser: fixed activation issue under Mac OS 10.5 / Pro Tools 8
- licenser: fixed potential crash in online activation under Mac OS
- licenser: fixed issues with USB stick activation
- licenser: fixed file handling with offline activation

Version 1.5 (Oct 16, 2012)
- Added AAX DSP

Version 1.4.2 (Jun 22, 2012)
- Licenser update: added toolbar and USB activation
- Fixed response issues in AU format
- change company string to Plugin Alliance

Version 1.4.1 (Jan 28, 2012)
- Resolved DAE/AAX AudioSuite incompatibility
- Fixed audio problems with certain licenses

Version 1.4 (Jan 2, 2012)
- Added presets
- Added AAX Native
- Added 64-bit support
- Added Plugin Alliance Licenser