The sound of an indie legend
Porta.pre delivers the legendary sound of the 424 preamp: rich colorful cleans, gritty overdrive, and blown-out fuzz.
The tone that defined 90s lo-fi and drives today’s indie guitar scene. Iconic on guitar, equally colorful on bass, drums, and synths.
✓ No rare gear. No $250 pedals. The 424 tone, instantly.
The 424, reborn in your DAW
The raw, mid-forward crunch that turns the simplest sound into something urgent and alive. Hear it in action in the demos below.
Not warmth. Character.
Most plugins promise generic “analog tube warmth.” Porta.pre isn’t one of them. It’s the 424 preamp in all its imperfect glory: colorful, raw, and one of a kind. Whatever you run through it, Porta.pre injects grit, color, and energy.
Three fast ways to use Porta.pre
Crunchy indie guitars
The raw, mid-forward guitar crunch the 424 is legendary for, from rich cleans to blown-out fuzz.
Color on drums & bass
Great on snare and drum rooms, and adds weight and grit to bass that sits a track right in the pocket.
Energy on synths & more
Inject harmonic drive and one-of-a-kind character into synths, keys, and anything that feels too polite.
One knob. Infinite
indie character.
- ✓424 preamp model — authentic emulation of the classic 424 input stage
- ✓Harmonic drive — from subtle color to fuzzed-out destruction
- ✓One-knob control — fast and intuitive, with no menus
- ✓Dynamic gain staging — responds like real hardware
- ✓Auto gain keeps levels consistent while you dial in drive
The machine that built bedroom recording
The 424 Preamp
The cassette multitrack that brought home recording to bedrooms and garages everywhere. Entire genres were born on it, from Springsteen’s Nebraska to underground hip-hop to DIY indie.
Mid-forward & alive
The 424 stood out for its raw, mid-forward preamp that could turn the simplest sound into something urgent and alive. Porta.pre captures that exact character.
The harmonics this thing generates is unreal!
DNI could gush about sauce and warmth and analog sounds. What matters is a plugin I can apply functionally in day-to-day mixing that’s simple to control and delivers the edge I’m after. Porta.pre is exactly that.
TAIt’s the vibe machine I’ll reach for again and again. Crunchy guitars, great on snare and drum rooms, even bass. The Porta.pre is pure indie charm with real utility.
JMThe Porta.pre has my other saturation plugins looking for a new job. It’s crazy how subtle to harmonically extreme it can be. And like all the Audio Hertz plugins, I can’t stop staring at it!
CWPorta.pre isn’t just a preamp plugin. It delivers the harmonic richness of hardware, restoring the character and vibe every track craves.
TBHear Porta.pre in action
Audio demos
Dry vs. Porta.pre on guitars, drums, bass, and more. Press play and hear the 424 character in context.
Try Porta.pre in your own session
The demo is fully featured except for brief periodic silence. Save your sessions, settings, and presets — then unlock them later with the full version.
Compatibility
Stack the character
Porta.pre brings the 424 grit. Pair it with the rest of the Audio Hertz lineup for tape flavor and tube warmth — or get everything in Bundle 7.
VHS Home Video Flavor Box
Run Porta.pre’s grit into VHS for warbly tape saturation, hiss, and worn analog character.
AM.pre Tube Preamp
Ampex 351-style tube warmth and harmonic color to round out your tracks alongside Porta.pre’s edge.
Best valueAudio Hertz Bundle 7
All 7 Audio Hertz plugins in one bundle, including Porta.pre — about $21 per plugin.
Ready for that 424 sound?
Download the free trial and run Porta.pre in your next session, or grab the full version for $39.
