I can’t think of the last time using a distortion/saturation plugin as creamy, sonically pleasing, dynamic and responsive as Redoptor 2. Unlike most of its competitors which only produce harsh and unnatural digital saturations to incoming signals, Redoptor responds with its real tube amplifier-like circuit.
Redoptor smoothly and dynamically responds to the changes in the volume of incoming audio just like a real tube amplifier while adding ear pleasing harmonics. Those who love the sound of the holy grailed high gain tube amp like myself will instantly fall in love with this plug-in warmth, crunch, responsiveness, and singing overtones. It reminds of a Dumble amp or Eric Johnson’s signature violin-like distortion sound. Although if you want to use it with guitar/bass directly, you might want to add a cab sim plugin after to get a more natural guitar distortion sound. Or you can use this as a distortion pedal before hitting your amplifiers.
The GUI is very clean and organized, it certainly is not the most unique looking but it certainly functions well just like any other D16 plugins in the lineup. The layout is simple to understand from left to right following the signal flow. The pre gain compressor keeps the amount of distortion consistent while the post gain limiter makes sure the signal after the processing wouldn’t be too hot and create digital clipping internally.
You might think it’s designed exclusively for guitarists and I guarantee it’s not. Producers and mixers will also find Redoptor useful for delivering a high-quality distortion, rich harmonics, and attitude it adds to their sounds. During mixing, I often found myself throwing this in parallel to vocals, creating a very edgy, grungy vocal sound that adds attitude to the vocal performance that works well with rock, alternative rock & rap music. The built- in EQ and filters really help to shape the tone and to smooth things out pre and post distortion, but can go the opposite way to make things sound even more extreme.
The creamy tube-like circuit also makes it an ideal candidate to add some analogue flavors to the lifeless digital synths, drum room tracks or even your stereo mix with the built in mix knobs. Blending a bit of that glorious distortion instantly makes your mix or recording sound more expensive.
Long story short, I think the Redoptor is one of those one trick pony that delivers highly sought after tube distortion to nearly perfect. Don’t have to do much to get a great result out of it, start with adjusting the gain, then let the plugin do its magic and tweak to taste from there.