Thermionic Culture Vulture
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The original boutique, all-valve, studio distortion tool — exclusively for UAD-2 and Apollo.
A singular, enigmatic piece of all-valve boutique hardware, the Thermionic Culture Vulture is a distortion hedonist's malleable plaything. For more than 15 years, this British-made, studio-grade, high-gain valve unit has provided a palette of vivid distortion colors — from sublime thickening textures to demonic growls of perverted mayhem — on countless genre-spanning recordings.
Now — thanks to an intense multi-year engineering effort from Universal Audio — you can track and mix with the only authentic circuit emulation of this one-of-a-kind valve distortion tool with the Thermionic Culture Vulture plug-in for UAD-2 hardware and Apollo interfaces.Get a full palette of high-gain, studio-grade, dual-stage valve distortion
Dial-in rich harmonic content with three diverse valve topologies — including UA’s first ever pentode tube emulation
Record through the Culture Vulture in real time with Apollo Twin, Apollo DUO, Apollo QUAD, or Apollo 16
Subtly color or utterly destroy existing tracks, buses, or a full mix with the Culture Vulture using any UAD-2 hardware
Get the same sound and controls as the legendary analog hardware with added features like parallel Dry/Wet processing
Mix with artist presets from Tony Maserati, Eric "ET" Thorngren, Rik Simpson, Chris Coady, and more
5-Min UAD Tip
In this video, learn how to easily create midrange warmth on acoustic guitars as well as destroy live drums with parallel processing using the Thermionic Culture Vulture plug-in.
Take a Listen
Dominate your Sources with Three Valve Topologies
The Culture Vulture plug-in for UAD-2 and Apollo interfaces faithfully emulates all of the original hardware’s sonic proclivities and diabolical details, including its three distinct all-valve circuit topologies.
Authentic, All-Valve Circuit
The Thermionic Culture Vulture plug-in captures the natural, “in-between-the transients” dynamic bias response inherent in the hardware's valve-driven circuit — as well as its powerful stereo control set.Use the Drive knobs and Overdrive switches to control the amount of input signal hitting the 6AS6 valves — with up to 20 dB of gain on tap! The Bias controls adjust the incoming voltage, providing dramatic differences in response, from clean to distorted, voltage-starved chatter, and gating effects. Use the Filter controls (9 kHz and 6 kHz) to fine-tune your distortion flavors even further.
Expanded Feature Set for Valve-Soaked Mixes
The Culture Vulture plug-in offers two key features not found on the original hardware. Use the Mix control for parallel processing on any bus, adding gentle valve presence, punch, and grit to drums, vocals, or an entire mix. And with the Link function, you’re afforded a perfectly matched stereo image to save time and preserve balances. While the Thermionic Culture Vulture is not a compressor per se, it can act as sonic “glue” on a bus or an entire mix, deftly teasing out tantalizing sizzle and detail with authentic valve heat.
“I use the Thermionic Vulture hardware on almost every mix, so having a UAD software version was a dream come true. I never thought anyone would be able to mimic the sonic variations of the hardware. I'm obsessed.”
– Tony Maserati (Alicia Keys, Beyonce, Jason Mraz)
“I’m a big fan of Thermionic Culture and own many pieces of theirs to help remove the generic digital DAW sound. I’ll now be using the UAD Culture Vulture plug-in to perform the same function. In short, I love it.”
– Rik Simpson (Coldplay, Portishead, Jay Z)
“The UAD Culture Vulture just became my new secret go-to weapon. The first time I used it to beef up the kick and snare on a Hip Hop track, I knew there was no going back.”
– Ivan Barias (Musiq Soulchild, Jill Scott, Estelle)
“The ‘mighty’ Culture Vulture is one of the best sonic destroyers of all time, and it’s equally useful for bringing life and detail to dull sounds. Now with the UAD plug-in, I can use several instances per song.”
– Chris Coady (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Beach House, Future Islands)
“The UAD Culture Vulture can do all the crazy, blown out sh*t as the hardware. In fact, it’s even better at subtle gaining and beefing up, without getting too shredded. It’s a new/old favorite.”
– Peter Katis (The National, Interpol, Jónsi)
“I love the UAD Culture Vulture on drums, bass, vocals, and guitars. I also found the presets very useful for hearing the versatility and tones this plug‑in is capable of.”
– Jeff Balding (Taylor Swift, The Eagles, Florida Georgia Line)Customer Reviews
T. Bernsdorf
July 22, 2023
Desert Island Plugin
I use this on every mix. One of my favorite saturation plugins to get any instrument to poke through in a mix.
Read MoreC. Hallowes
July 8, 2023
Strengthens unbelievably
I don't know how it does it but this thing is amazing at strengthening weak sounding instruments. Just try it on an acoustic guitar and you can honestly make it rock
Read MoreJ. Russell
May 31, 2023
Great tool!!
I was in a session and we needed some character on a guitar buss. This was perfect!! Big and forward! Didn’t sound and...
Read MoreI. Bandera
January 13, 2023
Mi piace!
Le saturazioni sono molto diverse fra loro. Questo lo rende versatile se pur con un suo carattere abbastanza preciso. Lo si riconosce facilmente ma questo è il bello. Ottimo su molte...
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Key Features
Exclusively licensed by Thermionic Culture Ltd., modeled by Universal Audio
Studio-grade, high-gain valve distortion from a subtle warmth to utterly destroyed
Models entire Class A circuit, including the Pentode-driven input amplifier with bias control, plus valve output amplifier
Three modes of operation including Triode and Pentode modes 1 and 2
Overdrive, Output filtering, plus plugin-only Dry/Wet parallel Mix and Controls linking
Requires a UAD DSP Accelerator Card or Apollo Interface available from authorized dealers worldwide
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Customer Reviews
Thermionic Culture Vulture
T. Bernsdorf
Desert Island Plugin
I use this on every mix. One of my favorite saturation plugins to get any instrument to poke through in a mix.
C. Hallowes
Strengthens unbelievably
I don't know how it does it but this thing is amazing at strengthening weak sounding instruments. Just try it on an acoustic guitar and you can honestly make it rock
M. Verblakt
Amazing
Great to glue mixes together.
J. Russell
Great tool!!
I was in a session and we needed some character on a guitar buss. This was perfect!! Big and forward! Didn’t sound and emulation at all….
c. rosario
My go to for drums
Love it
I. Bandera
Mi piace!
Le saturazioni sono molto diverse fra loro.
Questo lo rende versatile se pur con un suo carattere abbastanza preciso. Lo si riconosce facilmente ma questo è il bello.
Ottimo su molte fonti diverse. Batterie, chitarre, bassi e synth non suoneranno più come prima. ConsigliatoJ. Brännström
Pretty, pretty good.
Best for intermediate levels of distortion. Doesn’t really nail the irregularities of hardware when pushing things hard.
P. Diaz
Color for a good deal!
Heavy on DSP, tiny UI but the sound is good. Hope UA updates their UI’s for the amount they charge.
H. Zsombor
Dope
Dope sounding plugin, lot of clear warmth
B. Sand
Not a great version
Other emulations offer more features with a modern gui. This is outdated.
J. Tabarez
This one delivers
Delivers the goods on the mix bus. Sounds amazing!
J. Szeszel
A bolder Blackbox
Last touch for Bass. I need dry/wet knob only.
B. Flacher
Very good sounding distortion
Pro: for digital it sounds fantastic
Cons: no input gain compensation. Is it that hard?
As usual with uad the handling is years behind.
No reesizeable guiB. Flacher
Best distortion softwsre so far
This is the only one that sounds close enough to my neve 542s without the lowend bump. Great job. Thanky u uad
A. West
Insanely Proper Distortion..
This thing can add so much life to drums, Especially a snare that needs to sit well in a depthy mix.. Love It!
A. Picciafuochi
Magic in 2 steps!
1 - Place Thermionic Culture Vulture on your Bus
2- Adjust the Drive level and the magic is done!I. Papagiannidis
One of the best mixing tools!
Amazing tool for mixing very useful for mixing ! Manipulates every source perfectly!
R. Chiga
Great Box, Great plugin
Very useful. like the real analog box, love it!
J. Welsch
Good but causes audio dropouts
sounds great but causes audio dropouts in the whole cubase pj even with low cpu.
l. furnell
Crunchy
Very useful for thickening my vocals
