$Page Overdrive $TargetName Overdrive *Making an overdrive effect* When the way a signal is scaled depends on how high its value is, in other words scaled in a non-linear way, it will become distorted. This device implements a simple "soft-to hard clipping" non-linear signal distortion, which allows for exploring light overdrive or more heavy "fuzz"-like effects. Overdrive.png -> This example uses the [atan~] object, which applies the arctan, or inverse tangens, math function on every incoming signal value, which soft-clips the signal. When increasing the signal amplitude beyond 1 before soft-clipping it, you get a typical overdrive sound effect. -> By linearly changing the signal's amplitude before the non-linear atan operation and afterwards changing the amplitude back, the amount of distortion can be controlled. -> To illustrate the effect of the Drive parameter on a signal, a sine signal is sent through the same sequence of operations. This is just for display, it does not affect the sound. Looking at the [atan~] help file, you'll see why it is useful as a soft clipper: low values are passed through almost unchanged, while higher values are increasingly scaled down. $Link Find out more about the arctan math function.