Where to start

Set the difficulty to Easy — only Drive will be active. Press New Round, toggle between Target and Yours, then adjust the Drive knob until the amount of grit and saturation matches. Watch the Output Waveform — it reddens as the signal clips. Press Check Match when you're ready.

Use custom settings to test one parameter at a time or any combination of parameters.

What to listen for

Drive — how hard the signal is pushed into distortion. Low drive adds a subtle warmth or "edge"; high drive produces aggressive, heavily clipped grit. As you raise it, the waveform's peaks flatten and turn from green to amber to red.

Wet/Dry — blends the distorted signal with the original clean signal. 100% wet is fully distorted; 0% is dry. Blending the two is common in parallel distortion processing to preserve the body of the original while adding edge.

Tone — a post-distortion EQ tilt. Positive values brighten the distorted signal; negative values darken it. Useful for controlling whether the distortion sounds harsh or warm.

Type — the clipping algorithm, each with a distinct character. Click or drag the Type knob to cycle through them.

Soft Clip — gentle, rounded saturation. Warm and musical, similar to tube amplifiers. The transition into clipping is gradual, so the waveform's corners stay rounded.

Hard Clip — abrupt, aggressive clipping. The waveform is cut flat at a threshold, producing a harsh, buzzy sound with strong odd harmonics — and bold flat red tops on the scope.

Tape — simulates magnetic tape saturation. Warm and slightly compressed-sounding, with a natural smoothness at high levels. A classic studio texture.

Foldback — when the signal exceeds a threshold, it "folds" back on itself rather than clipping. Produces unusual, complex harmonic content and a jagged, zig-zag waveform that can sound metallic or chaotic.