Cytomic "The Scream" stomp box distortion plugin

[bmanic]

Just downloaded the latest version of The Scream (1.2.13 mac version) and it seems realtime oversampling is bugged somehow. As soon as I go past 2x oversampling (in a 48kHz project) the channel volume changes drastically from left to right, or vice versa.

EDIT: Very weird! I can't duplicate this bug any more. I simply restarted Reaper and now it works.

[bmanic]

Got another bug that is reproducible in Reaper.

I'm having difficulty entering stereo values in the schematic. Quite often it's not possible to enter the right side numbers to the end, giving me no possibility of entering the actual denominator (u,n,k etc).

For instance if I use randomize stereo 100% and then try to manually type exactly the same value that is already there, it doesn't allow me to enter the full string as it is. Usually cutting of the last letter.

Also I can't add a value in the middle of an already existing string. I can only start from the highlighted string which deletes the existing values and lets me start typing from scratch.

[andy-cytomic]

Got another bug that is reproducible in Reaper.

I'm having difficulty entering stereo values in the schematic. Quite often it's not possible to enter the right side numbers to the end, giving me no possibility of entering the actual denominator (u,n,k etc).

For instance if I use randomize stereo 100% and then try to manually type exactly the same value that is already there, it doesn't allow me to enter the full string as it is. Usually cutting of the last letter.

Also I can't add a value in the middle of an already existing string. I can only start from the highlighted string which deletes the existing values and lets me start typing from scratch.

Ahh, sorry about that. It looks like I've set the maximum number of characters to 10, which really needs to be around 20 or so to handle stereo editing of values so there is room to move. I'll fix this in a new release soon. I've also fixed the warmup for the MD mode a bit - the updated solver thumped at around -24 dBFS, but I've got it down to -60 dBFS, which is about as good as it gets for the method I'm using. Full HD mode is silent on warmup.

[andy-cytomic]

News: The Scream v1.2.14 is available for download. The VST2 64-bit folder is now remembered by the installer

The Scream v1.2.14 (24 Jan 2025)
https://cytomic.com/product/scream
• Fix: can enter 20 characters now in schematic view text editors to enter values
• Fix: warmup of MD now de-thumps to -60 dBFS (was too loud at -24 dBFS). Use HD or HD Render to get silent warmup

[zvenx]

Thanks Andy.
rsp

[jtsterays]

Ever since you ported all your stuff to JUCE 8 iirc, Dragging sensitivity with shift on is way slower and if I drag too fast sometimes the knob just jumps to a further values. This is not exclusive to your plugins though, Tone Projects have the same issue. I tested Ableton's Glue just to make sure and it was normal.

[andy-cytomic]

Ever since you ported all your stuff to JUCE 8 iirc, Dragging sensitivity with shift on is way slower and if I drag too fast sometimes the knob just jumps to a further values. This is not exclusive to your plugins though, Tone Projects have the same issue. I tested Ableton's Glue just to make sure and it was normal.

Shift scroll / drag is for very fine movement, and has an acceleration mechanism built in. If you find the drag action too fiddly please try the scroll action and see if that's better for you. The Glue Compressor device in Live has a UI written by Ableton, and all knob action is completely different to the plugin version.

[coroknight]

I'm getting a UI bug in Bitwig on windows 11. The UI window won't load for specific instances of the plugin in my project. If I create a new instance the UI loads fine, but it seems like sometimes a setting gets saved incorrectly and the plugin UI won't load permanently even if I reload my DAW.

When I load up the Bitwig debug logs I see this:
[2025-5-10 22:50:20.503 BITWIG_PLUGIN_HOST Cytomic The Scream error] IPlugView::getSize returned invalid size: 0, 0
[2025-5-10 22:50:20.503 BITWIG_PLUGIN_HOST Cytomic The Scream error] Could not get initial size of plugin before opening window

[andy-cytomic]

I'm getting a UI bug in Bitwig on windows 11. The UI window won't load for specific instances of the plugin in my project. If I create a new instance the UI loads fine, but it seems like sometimes a setting gets saved incorrectly and the plugin UI won't load permanently even if I reload my DAW.

When I load up the Bitwig debug logs I see this:
[2025-5-10 22:50:20.503 BITWIG_PLUGIN_HOST Cytomic The Scream error] IPlugView::getSize returned invalid size: 0, 0
[2025-5-10 22:50:20.503 BITWIG_PLUGIN_HOST Cytomic The Scream error] Could not get initial size of plugin before opening window

Sorry to hear there is an issue. Can you please email support@cytomic.com from your Cytomic account email so I can look into it further?

[sinan_166]

Hi Andy !

After years of tinkering with it, I can honestly say The Scream is my favorite plugin of all time. It's simply mindblowing.

Now, as someone who doesn't know a single thing about electronics, I wanted to ask if there's any kind of documentation (pdf, video etc.) that allows to get a glimpse on what each component does, and which kinds of modifications create which kinds of changes to the sound.

I spend hours and hours tweaking everything, but I have no idea what I'm actually doing And sometimes it can be really frustrating to find a tone that's 95% almost there, but not knowing how to achieve that last 5%.

I check this thread out once every year or so, and unless I'm wrong, there isn't a "The Scream for Idiots" kind of document, is there?

So if you have any guidance to offer, I'd be more than grateful

Thank you for your amazing work !

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

You can probably start with these:





but a basic understanding of electronics is needed. Another thing you can do is play with the basic controls and change the LPF and HPF and see which values change on the schematic. Or open multiple instances on different tracks and load up different mods, and compare what changed in the circuit.

Other than that, you're going to need to learn a bit about electronics.

[meloco_go]

Hi Andy !

After years of tinkering with it, I can honestly say The Scream is my favorite plugin of all time. It's simply mindblowing.

Now, as someone who doesn't know a single thing about electronics, I wanted to ask if there's any kind of documentation (pdf, video etc.) that allows to get a glimpse on what each component does, and which kinds of modifications create which kinds of changes to the sound.

I spend hours and hours tweaking everything, but I have no idea what I'm actually doing And sometimes it can be really frustrating to find a tone that's 95% almost there, but not knowing how to achieve that last 5%.

I check this thread out once every year or so, and unless I'm wrong, there isn't a "The Scream for Idiots" kind of document, is there?

So if you have any guidance to offer, I'd be more than grateful

Thank you for your amazing work !

Check this out https://www.electrosmash.com/tube-screamer-analysis

[andy-cytomic]

Hi Andy !

After years of tinkering with it, I can honestly say The Scream is my favorite plugin of all time. It's simply mindblowing.

Now, as someone who doesn't know a single thing about electronics, I wanted to ask if there's any kind of documentation (pdf, video etc.) that allows to get a glimpse on what each component does, and which kinds of modifications create which kinds of changes to the sound.

I spend hours and hours tweaking everything, but I have no idea what I'm actually doing And sometimes it can be really frustrating to find a tone that's 95% almost there, but not knowing how to achieve that last 5%.

I check this thread out once every year or so, and unless I'm wrong, there isn't a "The Scream for Idiots" kind of document, is there?

So if you have any guidance to offer, I'd be more than grateful

Thank you for your amazing work !

It's great to hear you're liking The Scream

I recommend starting with the MODS panel, and have the schematic open when doing so as the changes are updated so you can see where those components are.

Then I recommend reading TheScream-Manual.pdf (in every download) as it contains all the information you are after, including a full circuit breakdown in what I hope is an approachable and practical manner. I focus on the cutoffs of the high and low pass filters throughout the circuit, and where things get distorted, as these are the most important things to know to understand the tone of the pedal.

[sinan_166]

Thanks to everyone who took time to answer, some really good material you guys provided

I'm gonna try and dive as deep as my ignorance will allow. I guess I'll never understand every bit of every tweakable parameter, but that's okay

[andy-cytomic]

Thanks to everyone who took time to answer, some really good material you guys provided

I'm gonna try and dive as deep as my ignorance will allow. I guess I'll never understand every bit of every tweakable parameter, but that's okay

In the manual there are many plots of frequency responses, and explanations of gains, and soft clipping that occurs, but in the end always use your ears as no-one listening to your productions will know any of that!