iZotope Trash 2 Asymmetrical DistortionMusic ProductionSound DesignBerklee Online

[MUSIC PLAYING] In this movie, we're
going to look at making asymmetrical distortion with Trash. So I have just the Trash
module turned on here. And I have a drum
beat, sounds like this. [DRUM BEAT PLAYING] And right now, I have
symmetrical distortion.

Where when I change the wave shaper
here for the positive quadrant, these are the positive input value,
mapping the output values that are also positive, I have the same
mapping here for negative values of the input signal mapping to
negative values at the output. And the curve in this quadrant, is the
same as the curve in this quadrant, that symmetrical distortion. But if I put this in bipolar
mode, now I have the ability to have one wave shaping curve
for positive values at the input. And a different wave shaping curve
for negative values at the input.

So for example, I could create something
like this just for positive values, and negative values still have
a unity gain function here. [DRUM BEAT PLAYING] Or I could have a very different
kind of wave shaping curve. Where the negative value's at the input. [DRUM BEAT PLAYING] I could even do things
like swap polarities.

So here for example, many of
the negative values at the input will map to positive
values at the output. So this is a very different
kind of distortion just for negative values
at the input, compared to the positive values at the input. [DRUM BEAT PLAYING] This is the idea with
asymmetrical distortion. And any time I have the positive values
of the input signal getting mapped one way to the output, and
the negative values of the input signal getting
mapped in a different way, that's asymmetrical distortion.

Now I'm going to clear
it all, and I could even have something radical like this. Where it now, all of
the positive values get mapped to a unity gain function
of positive values at the output, but all of the negative values get
mapped to a unity gain function, but inverted in polarity. Because they're mapping to
positive values at the output. [DRUM BEAT PLAYING] Again, a very different kind of
sound, because I don't have negative values at the output anymore.

[DRUM BEAT PLAYING] So I've got lots and lots of
different things I can do with this. Any time I have anything different
in the negative quadrant compared to the positive quadrant, I
have asymmetrical distortion. And I can create some really kind of
nasty and radical distortion this way. [DRUM BEAT PLAYING] Or I can create just gentle differences
between positive and negative amplitudes at the input, and
have a different kind of color to my distortion.

Now always remember, that if you
have a lot of nasty distortion, [DRUM BEAT PLAYING] you can always go to the filter
here, which is after the wave shaper, and you can filter your distortion. So you could take off some top end here. And with these handles, you can
change the shape of the filter. And you can take off some
low frequencies here as well.

So this sound, [DRUM BEAT PLAYING] can be a bit more contained. And then of course, mix
it with the original. [DRUM BEAT PLAYING] And you've got lots of
possibilities to explore. So that's asymmetrical, what
they call bipolar wave shaping.

Where you have a different function
for positive versus negative values of the input signal. [MUSIC PLAYING].