Last and, indeed, least, the Output knob is VTC’s final-stage gain control. The Hi Freq knob sets the cutoff frequency of a high-pass filter, from Off to 250Hz, aiding in the removal of low-frequency noise, should it be required. The Mix control is then used to tweak the distortion by balancing it against the dry signal - it’s of primary relevance to Preamp mode, but not entirely without its uses in Console mode. In Console mode, it models the effect of overdriving individual channels into the mix bus, resulting in the far more subtle ‘gluing’ vibe of an analogue summing bus.

In Preamp mode, it overdrives the preamp, dialling in analogue warmth and colouration up to around 12-2 o’clock, then overt crunch and soft clipping distortion beyond that.

What happens when the Saturation is increased depends on which mode you’re in. With the switches set, operation of VTC largely boils down to manipulation of the Saturation and wet/dry Mix knobs. So, although VMR is never a pain to deal with in any sense, we’d nonetheless appreciate the option to load modules without it. The disadvantage of it - or rather, of having to use it to get access to VTC - is that it’s overkill when all you want to do is fire up a preamp. The advantage of VMR is that it enables you to build your own high-quality custom channel strips and chains, and save them out as complete presets. Up to eight modules can be dragged into the ‘rack’ from a scrolling side panel, and the input signal flows through them in series from left to right. Graphically styled on the API 500 ‘lunchbox’ format, VMR is simply a shell plugin into which Slate’s various analogue-emulating signal processing modules are loaded, including the two EQs and two compressors that come with it, those of the Virtual Console and Virtual Preamp Collections, the Air and Earth EQs, the FG-Bomber “Dynamic Impact Enhancer” and now, VTC. Virtual Tube Collection’s three modules can only be used within Slate Digital’s Virtual Mix Rack plugin, which - fortunately - is a great piece of software in itself.

Slate virtual mix rack bundle