Re: Stereo Overdrive for Synth

Posted by cylens on Nov 08, 2016; 8:04pm
URL: http://guitar-fx-layouts.238.s1.nabble.com/Stereo-Overdrive-for-Synth-tp34080p34081.html

my advice on stereo overdrive is a bit wierd at first but it sounds so much better to me.

I'm often using slight distorsion on stereo mixes (i'm a mastering engineer), and my take on it is that if you distort separately L and R it messes a lot the stereo image (which is not too important for synths, but crucial for mixes)

SO

the key is to perform stereo distorsion in the MS domain (mid/side), to do this you have to first convert L/R to M/S, then apply distorsion, then convert back from M/S to L/R

MS to LR conversion back and forth is pretty straightforward in theory, it's something (stereo distorsion in MS mode) that I'm planning to work on for a pedal in the not too far future...

as for which circuit would be fine, I've built mono distorsions for keyboards and after trying many different "classic" circuits, I've cut it down to 2: RAT (for drum machines) and Green Citrus (search this forum) for synths.