Collapse Saturator
Stereo drive and saturation with a collapse gate. DRIVE sets pre-gain from ×1 to ×10, BUZZ picks the character of the clipping, and COLLAPSE is the performance control — a gate that ramps drive to maximum in a millisecond and then eases back to where you left it over RECOVERY.
COLLAPSE adds distortion rather than removing it. It is an event, not a limiter.
- Add Collapse Saturator at the end of a chain. Patch IN L/IN R in and OUT L/OUT R to your interface.
- DRIVE starts at 30%, BUZZ on ODD. The signal is already gently driven.
- Raise DRIVE towards 100%. Pre-gain climbs to ×10 and the tanh takes over.
- Switch BUZZ to EVEN, then FULL. Odd-harmonic warmth, then asymmetric tape colour, then hard-clipped fuzz.
- Send a gate into COLLAPSE. Drive slams to maximum, then recovers over the time RECOVERY sets — up to about two seconds.
SIDECHAIN IN ──► |level| / 5 × 0.5 ──┐
├──► effective DRIVE
DRIVE knob ──────────────────────────┘ │
│
COLLAPSE gate ──► env: 1 ms attack, │
RECOVERY release ────────────┤
(pushes drive to full) │
▼
IN L ──►┐ preGain = 1 + drive × 9 (×1 … ×10)
IN R ──►┤ │
└──────────────────────────────► × preGain
│
BUZZ ──► ODD : symmetric tanh
EVEN : asymmetric, tape-like
FULL : hard clip
│
OUT L / OUT R
V/OCT IN ─────────────────────────────────────► V/OCT THRU
| Control | Range | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| DRIVE | 0–100% | 30% | Pre-gain into the saturator, ×1 at zero to ×10 at full |
| BUZZ | ODD / EVEN / FULL | ODD | Saturation character. Three-position switch |
| RECOVERY | 0–100% | 30% | How long drive takes to fall back after COLLAPSE: 10 ms to about 2 s |
DRIVE and RECOVERY have an attenuverter (−1 to +1) and a CV input. BUZZ is a switch.
| Setting | Curve | Sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| ODD | Symmetric tanh | Tube-like. Odd harmonics, compresses gracefully |
| EVEN | Asymmetric | Tape-like. Even harmonics, warmer and less symmetrical |
| FULL | Hard clip | Fuzz. The full harmonic spectrum, no politeness |
| Port | Direction | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| IN L / IN R | Input | Stereo audio in |
| DRIVE CV / RECOVERY CV | Input | Via their attenuverters |
| COLLAPSE | Input | Gate — 1 V or above ramps drive to maximum in 1 ms |
| SIDECHAIN | Input | Adds drive in proportion to its own level, up to +50% |
| OUT L / OUT R | Output | Stereo audio out |
| V/OCT IN → THRU | In / Out | Pass-through |
The SIDECHAIN input is the least obvious control on the panel and the most useful. It is not a compressor sidechain — it raises drive as its input gets louder. Patch Pulse into it and every percussion hit briefly distorts whatever is passing through.
Transient colour. Pulse OUT → SIDECHAIN while a drone passes through IN L/R. The drone distorts on each hit and cleans up between them, without the percussion itself being audible in the output.
Collapse as punctuation. Drift GATE → COLLAPSE, RECOVERY 60%. Occasional slams into full drive that ease back over a second or so.
Tape warmth. BUZZ EVEN, DRIVE 40%, nothing patched to COLLAPSE. Asymmetric saturation as a permanent output stage.
Parallel fuzz. Mass-Driver AUX L/R → IN L/R, BUZZ FULL, DRIVE 90%. The clean pre-PRESSURE mix gets hard-clipped separately and can be blended back against Mass Driver's own OUT.
| Module | Routing |
|---|---|
| Wall-Conductor | L/R OUT → IN for edge past what PRESSURE gives |
| Mass-Driver | AUX L/R → IN for a second, differently-shaped distortion path |
| Pulse | OUT → SIDECHAIN for rhythmic drive without rhythmic content |
| Drift | GATE → COLLAPSE for unpredictable distortion events |
| DroneClone | OUT → IN; EVEN mode suits the string wall particularly well |
Feedback-Governor · Wall-Conductor · Mass-Driver · Playbooks
Full parameter spec: docs/modules/CollapseSat.md