Distortion
Distortion effects add harmonic content by clipping, saturating, or otherwise mangling signals.
All effects in this file expose dry and wet as their last two parameters (Category B defaults dry=0, wet=1 for transform effects). See Effect Parameters Convention for the full spec.
saturate
Tanh saturation - Smooth hyperbolic tangent waveshaping with drive control.
| Param | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| in | signal | - | Input signal |
| drive | number | 2.0 | Drive amount (1-10+) |
| dry | number | 0.0 | Dry signal level (Category B) |
| wet | number | 1.0 | Wet (processed) signal level (Category B) |
Aliases: distort
Warm, tube-like saturation that adds odd harmonics while preventing harsh clipping. Higher drive values increase saturation intensity.
Note: For pure math tanh(x) (hyperbolic tangent), see Math Functions. The saturate() function wraps tanh with drive control for convenient distortion.
// Warm overdrive
saw(110) |> saturate(@, 3) |> out(@)// Heavy saturation on bass
saw(55) |> saturate(@, 8) |> lp(@, 400) |> out(@)// Subtle warming
sine(220) |> saturate(@, 1.5) |> out(@)Related: softclip, fold, tanh (math)
softclip
Soft clipping - Polynomial soft clipper with adjustable threshold.
| Param | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| in | signal | - | Input signal |
| thresh | number | 0.5 | Clipping threshold (0-1) |
| dry | number | 0.0 | Dry signal level (Category B) |
| wet | number | 1.0 | Wet (processed) signal level (Category B) |
Softer than hard clipping, rounds off peaks smoothly. Lower threshold values create more aggressive distortion.
// Gentle compression-like softclip
saw(220) |> softclip(@, 0.7) |> out(@)// Aggressive softclip
sqr(110) |> softclip(@, 0.2) |> out(@)Related: saturate
bitcrush
Bit crusher - Reduces bit depth and sample rate.
| Param | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| in | signal | - | Input signal |
| bits | number | 8.0 | Bit depth (1-16) |
| rate | number | 0.5 | Sample rate reduction (0-1) |
| dry | number | 0.0 | Dry signal level (Category B) |
| wet | number | 1.0 | Wet (processed) signal level (Category B) |
Aliases: crush
Creates lo-fi digital artifacts by quantizing amplitude and reducing sample rate. Lower values create more extreme degradation.
// Classic 8-bit sound
saw(220) |> bitcrush(@, 8, 0.5) |> out(@)// Extreme lo-fi
saw(110) |> bitcrush(@, 4, 0.2) |> out(@)// Subtle grit
saw(440) |> bitcrush(@, 12, 0.8) |> out(@)Related: fold
fold
Wavefolding - Folds signal back on itself when exceeding threshold.
| Param | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| in | signal | - | Input signal |
| thresh | number | 0.5 | Folding threshold (0-1) |
| dry | number | 0.0 | Dry signal level (Category B) |
| wet | number | 1.0 | Wet (processed) signal level (Category B) |
Aliases: wavefold
Classic West Coast synthesis technique. When the signal exceeds the threshold, it folds back, producing complex harmonic spectra.
// Basic wavefold
sine(110) * 2 |> fold(@, 0.5) |> out(@)// Animated wavefolding
sine(110) * (1.5 + sine(0.2)) |> fold(@, 0.4) |> out(@)// Aggressive folding
tri(55) * 4 |> fold(@, 0.3) |> lp(@, 2000) |> out(@)tube
Tube saturation - Asymmetric waveshaping with even harmonics.
| Param | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| in | signal | - | Input signal |
| drive | number | 5.0 | Drive amount (1-20) |
| bias | number | 0.1 | Asymmetry bias (0-0.3) |
| dry | number | 0.0 | Dry signal level (Category B) |
| wet | number | 1.0 | Wet (processed) signal level (Category B) |
Aliases: valve, triode
Emulates triode tube saturation with an asymmetric transfer function. Unlike symmetric saturators like tanh which produce only odd harmonics, tube adds even harmonics (especially 2nd) for a warmer, vintage character. Uses 2x oversampling internally.
// Warm vintage drive
saw(110) |> tube(@, 5, 0.1) |> out(@)// Aggressive tube distortion
saw(55) |> tube(@, 15, 0.2) |> lp(@, 800) |> out(@)// Subtle 2nd harmonic enhancement
sine(220) |> tube(@, 2, 0.15) |> out(@)smooth
ADAA saturation - Alias-free saturation using antiderivative antialiasing.
| Param | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| in | signal | - | Input signal |
| drive | number | 5.0 | Drive amount (1-20) |
| dry | number | 0.0 | Dry signal level (Category B) |
| wet | number | 1.0 | Wet (processed) signal level (Category B) |
Aliases: adaa
Tanh saturation with built-in antialiasing. Uses the ADAA (Antiderivative Antialiasing) algorithm to eliminate aliasing artifacts without oversampling. Suited for saturation on full mixes or high-frequency content.
// Clean master bus saturation
saw(220) |> smooth(@, 3) |> out(@)// Heavy saturation without harshness
sqr(440) |> smooth(@, 10) |> out(@)// High-frequency content stays clean
saw(880) |> smooth(@, 8) |> out(@)tape
Tape saturation - Soft compression with high-frequency warmth.
| Param | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| in | signal | - | Input signal |
| drive | number | 3.0 | Drive amount (1-10) |
| warmth | number | 0.3 | HF rolloff (0-1) |
| soft_thresh | number | 0.5 | Saturation onset threshold |
| warmth_scale | number | 0.7 | HF rolloff amount |
| dry | number | 0.0 | Dry signal level (Category B) |
| wet | number | 1.0 | Wet (processed) signal level (Category B) |
Emulates magnetic tape characteristics: a wide linear region, soft compression at extremes, and subtle high-frequency rolloff. The warmth parameter controls how much the high frequencies are smoothed. Uses 2x oversampling internally.
The advanced soft_thresh parameter controls where saturation begins (lower = earlier saturation). The warmth_scale parameter controls the intensity of the high-frequency rolloff effect.
// Tape-style glue
saw(110) |> tape(@, 4, 0.4) |> out(@)// Lo-fi tape warmth
sqr(220) |> tape(@, 6, 0.8) |> out(@)// Subtle tape coloration
sine(440) |> tape(@, 2, 0.2) |> out(@)// More aggressive saturation with stronger HF rolloff
saw(110) |> tape(@, 5, 0.5, 0.3, 0.9) |> out(@)xfmr
Transformer saturation - Bass-heavy saturation.
| Param | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| in | signal | - | Input signal |
| drive | number | 3.0 | Drive amount (1-10) |
| bass | number | 5.0 | Bass saturation (1-10) |
| bass_freq | number | 60.0 | Bass extraction cutoff (Hz) |
| dry | number | 0.0 | Dry signal level (Category B) |
| wet | number | 1.0 | Wet (processed) signal level (Category B) |
Aliases: transformer, console
Emulates transformer/console saturation where bass frequencies saturate more heavily than highs (magnetic core saturation). Produces thick, punchy low-end while keeping highs relatively clean. Suited for drums and bass. Uses 2x oversampling internally.
The bass_freq parameter controls the cutoff frequency for bass extraction. Higher values include more of the signal in the bass saturation path.
// Punchy bass
saw(55) |> xfmr(@, 4, 8) |> out(@)// Console warmth on synths
saw(220) |> xfmr(@, 3, 4) |> out(@)// Thick transformer saturation
sqr(110) |> xfmr(@, 5, 6) |> lp(@, 2000) |> out(@)// Extended bass range saturation
saw(110) |> xfmr(@, 4, 6, 120) |> out(@)excite
Harmonic exciter - Adds controlled harmonics to high frequencies.
| Param | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| in | signal | - | Input signal |
| amount | number | 0.5 | Exciter intensity (0-1) |
| freq | number | 3000 | Corner frequency (1000-10000 Hz) |
| harm_odd | number | 0.4 | Odd harmonic mix (0-1) |
| harm_even | number | 0.6 | Even harmonic mix (0-1) |
| dry | number | 0.0 | Dry signal level (Category B) |
| wet | number | 1.0 | Wet (processed) signal level (Category B) |
Aliases: exciter, aural
Adds harmonic content to frequencies above the corner frequency only, similar to an Aphex Aural Exciter. Adds presence without low-frequency mud. Uses 2x oversampling internally.
The harm_odd and harm_even parameters control the mix of odd and even harmonics. Even harmonics sound warmer; odd harmonics add edge and presence.
// Add presence to synths
saw(220) |> excite(@, 0.5, 3000) |> out(@)// Brighten with higher corner
tri(440) |> excite(@, 0.7, 5000) |> out(@)// Subtle air and sparkle
sine(110) |> excite(@, 0.3, 4000) |> out(@)// Warmer excitation (more even harmonics)
saw(220) |> excite(@, 0.5, 3000, 0.2, 0.8) |> out(@)