Briefly, it compresses, expands, distorts ( gently and severely ), limits, harmonically enhances, puts 'vwoomv' type tails on bass drums and a whole lot more .... and it only has 6 controls! ... here it is
The character of the product is as dependent on the input as anything else ... a bit like an amp really. I wont go as far as to claim this is am amp sim, nor that it emulates valves/tubes, but it gets close... at least to 'valve sound' tranny amps I've used in the past .... you decide!
The thrust of this device is the exponential waveform 'squish' achieved by feeding back a rectified version of the input to the gain control network .... so the gain is attenuated according to the ampliy=tude of the input itself .... very much like what a valve amp does. The attenuation therefore has no defined threshold ( as in a compressor ) but will increasingly 'act upon itself' the more signal is fed in.
Below a certain level, the signal is amplified ... again, depending on its level ... low level signals are amplified more ( particularly with the 'cleaner' control high, and the 'squish' control low ) until the 'self attenuation' ( squish ) catches up with it.
So, lets say we feed in a triangle.
A low amplitude triangle will be amplified without deformation .... if not, the 'cleaner' control will give it a break til it gets too big for its boots!
As it gets bigger the 'squish' starts to act ... and the amplitude becomes progressively attenuated ... at first it becomes a bit like the Popes hat
( on both the pos and neg cycle ), then if the input is increased, or more 'squish' applied, The peak becomes rounded ... like valve clipping ... then the triangle becomes very like a sine, and, push the input and the squish, and it gets very squarey! .... by now its sounding more distorted than compressed!!!
So to the other controls ( yeah we can ignore the output .... thats just a boring ol' volume control! )
'Cleaner'. Holds off the 'squish' so you can enjoy the expansion of lower levels ... adds attack to signals... makes a bass played with fingers more like it's been played with a screwdriver!
'Meaner'. Turns the signal back on itself ( a bit like when a valve runs out of electrons to fire at the anode ... when driven inadvisably hard! ... except this beast doesn't just 'zero' ... it goes to the dark side!)
..in extremes, adds harmonics in its wavewarping routine ... but in gentler settings, works on the peaks of waves adding a soft trebly distorted/rich edge
to the signal.
'Obscener' ... I'm not gonna explain, devs will suss it, musos will love or hate it, and anyone else will try it out and find its got something! ... adds dirt to bass, grunge to bass drums, and holy shit to everything else!
OK, this is a long post, but before I let you have ChoobiGrip, I have to say .... SEND ME SOME MONEY! ....
... only joking, I dont want any really ... just want to say this beast does not work like a compressor/limiter ..... although it can! ..... Because it works on waveforms rather than envelopes, the expansion achieved on lower level signals is not affected/compromised by any attenuation/distortion achieved on the higher parts of the signal .. you can crush the top, but anything lower, depending on its level, will be treated differently .. proportionately ... depending on your settings!Oh, go try it and tell me and others what it's all about ... I thought I knew, but what do I know?
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