"Ethan Winer" ethanw at ethanwiner dot com wrote in
message
Alan,

The primary reason I want to send my digitally recorded
signals through my
outboard mixer is to add some actual analog warmth

I agree with Rich that this is a misguided notion. If you
like the sound of small amounts of distortion and a
gently rolled off high end, you can do that easily enough
inside Sonar.

Case in point is the following article:

http://www.stereophile.com/features/113/index5.html

"I consistently identified the VTL as being slightly more
forward in the upper midrange, though less "fizzy" in the
extreme highs than the Adcom, for example, which does appear
to correlate with the measured response differences. The
deep bass on the Adcom also had noticeably more energy,
though it was also tighter, being better controlled than the
tube amplifier."

The corresponding frequency response curve (figure 3) shows
a broad rise at about 2.5 KHz ("slightly more forward in
the upper midrange") The broad dip at about 15 Khz probably
explains the "less "fizzy" in the extreme highs".

If that's what you want, all you need is an equalizer that
is easy to set for just a few dB of shaping.

IME it takes so much nonlinear distortion to be audible that
its effect on the perceptions of "analog warmth" are
probably minimal.

OTOH, the Cranesong "Analog Dither" approach which adds
broadband shaped pink or red noise with a bit of 60 Hz hum
probably helps build up the perception of warmth.