The interface
The screenshot is the shipping interface, rendered by the shipping code. Press I in the plugin to toggle the same control descriptions as cursor tooltips.
User manual
Valve saturation with the box drawn open: transfer curve and harmonic fingerprint on screen.
Saturation plugins call it character and put it in a black box. Less Tube draws the box: the transfer curve on screen, a live harmonic fingerprint, and a bias control that trades even harmonics against odd, predictably, because the curves are symmetric by design.
Two more models, Pentode and Vari-Mu, arrive later as a paid addition. Triode and Iron stay free, and nothing you save today will ever remap: the model parameter reserves all four slots from day one.
Run the installer for your platform. On macOS the AU and VST3 versions install for all users; on Windows the VST3 installs under Common Files. Factory presets install into your user preset folder and are never overwritten: presets you save land in the same folder and stay yours.
| macOS presets | ~/Library/Application Support/MixLess/Presets/Less Tube |
| Windows presets | %APPDATA%\MixLess\Presets\Less Tube |
The screenshot is the shipping interface, rendered by the shipping code. Press I in the plugin to toggle the same control descriptions as cursor tooltips.
| DRIVE | Drive: how hard the signal is pushed into the valve. Level is compensated, so this changes character, not loudness |
| MODEL | Triode: soft, even-harmonic warmth. Iron: transformer, saturates the lows first |
| BIAS | Bias: slides the valve's operating point. Off centre makes even harmonics (warmth), centred leaves only odd ones (edge) |
| TONE | Tone: chooses WHERE it saturates, negative drives the lows into the curve, positive the highs. The output is not tilted |
| MIX | Mix: blend with the dry signal for parallel saturation (time-aligned) |
| OUTPUT | Output trim after the valve |
| PLACE | What the valve touches: the whole signal, only the mid, only the side, or one channel |
| BYPASS | Click-free bypass |
| TRANSFER | The valve's transfer curve. The dashed diagonal is no change; the dot shows how far up the curve the signal is driven; bias shows as the curve leaning off centre |
| HARMONICS | Live harmonic fingerprint at the current level: amber = even (warmth), teal = odd (edge). The needle sums it into one EVEN/ODD balance, it is what BIAS trades |
| AUTO G | AUTO G: loudness-matched output (K-weighted), honest A/B against bypass |
| DELTA | DELTA: hear only what the plugin adds (output minus dry). With bypass on it goes silent, the proof bypass is transparent |
| MB | MB: split into three regions, each with its own valve. Placement rests while this is on; latency does not change |
| MB X1 | Low/mid crossover (LR4, sums flat) |
| MB X2 | Mid/high crossover (LR4, sums flat) |
Choose Triode, set Drive around 8 dB and Bias around 45%. Watch the harmonic display: the amber (even) bars grow as Bias rises. Pull Mix back to about 85% so consonants keep their edge, and leave AUTO G on so the level stays honest.
Choose Iron: it saturates the lows first. Push Drive until the transfer curve shows the signal reaching the bend, then use Tone toward the negative side to focus the saturation further down.
Press DELTA: you hear only the difference between input and output. Adjust Drive and Bias while listening to the delta, then release it. With Bypass on, delta plays silence, which is the proof that bypass really is a passthrough.
| Formats | AU, VST3 |
| Latency | 48 samples, reported exactly |
| Oversampling | 4x, polyphase FIR |
| Models | Triode, Iron |
| Factory presets | 6 |
| Channels | mono, stereo, mid/side placement |
Questions and problems: [email protected]. Legal notices, the privacy notice and third-party licences: mixlessaudio.com.