Description

A 'not-so-serious' emulation of some of the distortions that you may get in digital processing systems.

Ironic distortion has four sections, although the final section (on the far right) is just the Input monitor/switch and the 'Reset' button. The three main sections provide the aforementioned distortions: Aliasing, Quantisation Noise, and Mains Modulation. Each section has controls at the top, graphic displays showing the spectrum and a scrolling sonogram, and a combined level meter, gain control/fader and Mute switch. The gain controls let you adjust the mix of distortion types, and the Mute switch allows you to switch them in and out quickly whilst developing a specific set of settings.

Version 0.02 changes the 'Mains Modulation' to replace the low-pass filter with a 'Drive' rotary control because I found that I was always opening up the filter anyway, and there wasn't enough 'Umph'. This modification sounds much more like the sound that I associate with problems like faulty power supplies and hum loops, and could be used maliciously to upset recording studio engineers...

Version 0.02 also adds in preset storage, and should store settings between sessions in Live. I freely admit that this isn't my strongest skill area!

I haven't seen very many distortion devices that use spectral mirroring (but I'm sure that the Interweb will prove me wrong very quickly, and I get shown several Facebook groups devoted to specific aspects of a diverse, active and enthusiastic 'expert practitioner'-driven ecosystem...), and so that's why this is labelled as 'experimental'. It may even be unusual, in which case: enjoy!

I would normally give some notes on possible applications, and for distortion, then one school of thought would be to use it carefully and sparingly, at low levels, rather like pepper on food - a 'less is more' approach. However, I am well aware that distortion can also be used like tomato ketchup, mayonnaise, sugar, sprinkles, whipped cream and other accompaniments where 'more is better' approach is favoured. You may use either, both or any combination as you desire.

It seems that there may be problems on some platforms (or versions of Live) with the saving and recalling of parameter settings of version 0.01 and 0.02. Version 0.03 is an attempt to fix this...

As they almost say on TV adverts: "Your audio may go up and down in value, quality and appeal, whilst alternative devices with similar and different functions are also available."

(BTW, I'm always interested in feedback from users, and these often result in new or revised devices...)