Overview

RubyTube simulates the saturation effect that can be found in audio equipment with vacuum tubes. This effect is usually hardly noticable but it is responsible for the classic tube sound. Sometimes its just a sparkle on the voice and a slight compression of drums and bass that makes the difference between a neutral recording and a warm and full sounding song.

Simulating tube sound with non-tube equipment is difficult but it is possible. RubyTube is not the first such simulator but compared to other tube simulators and distortion units, RubyTube has a very high resolution and a well-balanced spectrum of harmonic distortion.

RubyTube has two basic modes of operation called ôSHAPERö and ôLIMITERö. In the SHAPER mode the SHAPE knob controls how much saturation is applied, in the LIMITER mode the DRIVE knob is responsible. The difference between both modes is that when shaping, the loss in gain due to saturation is automatically compensated, while when limiting no compensation takes place. Moreover, in LIMITER mode the maximum output level is always kept below 0dB no matter how loud the input is (see the Specifications for graphs of the transfer function). With the OUTPUT knob the output gain can be adjusted in either mode between -20 and 0dB, just in case things get too hot.

See the Examples section for more information on how to use RubyTube in different situations.

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