apShaper Input Saturation request

[Everglide]

Hi Adrian,

Could you please consider adding the ability to increase (and decrease) the input gain with pure 2nd or third harmonics (or other saturation curves like Cubic or Quintic)? This would substitute to traditional dB input function.

With a simple hamburger menu at the bottom of the Input section, select between: dB, 2nd, 3rd or more

I made a quick and lazy mock up to illustrate the concept. Please ignore the animated values res: 4k, 8k… etc.

As indicated in the apShaper emulation thread, this will help with greater control when creating (and recreating ) subtle harmonic processors.
 

[Pflugshaupt]

I think I don't fully understand the goal of this. One thing I know for sure is that we need to keep the input gain knob changing dB.. obviously wave-shaping is very level dependent and that makes input gain a requirement at all times. However there would be extra space below if you can convince me why such a control is needed.
I think what you want is a harmonic shaper stage in front of the saturation stage.. but that's already possible using the harmonic shaper which has optional saturation stages at both in- and output. Those are technically identical to the single saturation engine.
Can you tell me what's not possible using those, but would be enabled by adding separate 2nd 3rd harmonic controls?

[Everglide]

Inflator-Native-v-apShaper-Percentages.gif

Here is a comparison between the Native Inflator (pink) versus the Hyperbola Inflator (salmon). The main difference being the stronger third harmonic.

My request for input saturation is to massage the sound by increasing or decreasing harmonics prior to the main saturation. While the current input has -60dB and +20dB, the input could be driven with Chebyshev polynomials or cubic/square function etc. while still being repented as dBs, perhaps with a milder +3dB or +6dB range dependent on the selected function. The key is that input can always be represented as -/+dB

While the current Chebyshev polynomials can clip in / clip out with Tape, Classic, Dist, Hyper, the range is narrow and harmonics can get out of control fast. Versus subtle massaging into paired back saturation profiles of Tape, Classic, Dist, Hyper is much more appealing. It's all about control

I am bouncing ideas here and I'm not convinced myself that this is the most elegant solution.