Audio Damage Kombinat Dva Upgrade User Manual
Page 10
SAT: The SAT type, short for saturation, simulates the distortion
created by overloading a transistor-based gain circuit
such as a pre-amp. At low signal levels the SAT type has
no effect. As the signal level increases the top and bottom
of the signal wave are flattened, creating a bright-
sounding distorted signal.
SAT has a single knob labeled AMT which increases the
signal level and hence the amount of distortion.
DIST: The DIST type, short for distortion (you probably guessed
that one), distorts the signal at both its peaks (like the
SAT type) and at very small values near zero. This zero-
crossing distortion imparts a sort of gate-like effect that is
typical of contemporary boutique guitar pedals.
DIST has two knobs labeled AMT and GAIN. AMT acts as
a “mix” knob, varying the amount of the original signal
and the distorted signal. Turning up the amt knob
increases the distortion. The GAIN knob changes the level
of the signal before it is distorted. Generally speaking,
turning up the gain will also increase the distortion.
CLIP: The CLIP type simply clips off the peaks of the signal. The level at which the signal is
clipped can be set independently for the positive and negative peaks of the signal.
Since audio signals are usually not symmetric, clipping the positive half of the signal
can sound different than clipping the negative half. Even if the signal happens to be
symmetric, clipping only one half will sound different than clipping both halves. Some
diode-based guitar pedals exhibit asymmetric clipping behavior in which the positive or
negative half of the signal is clipped more than the other half.
The CLIP type has three knobs: GAIN, LO, and HI. GAIN simply changes the signal
level before it is clipped. LO sets the clipping point for the negative half of the signal,
and HI sets the clipping point for the positive half. Both of these knobs set the clipping
point relative to zero; that is, as you turn them up, the clipping level moves away from
zero. This means that if you leave them both at zero, you won’t hear anything at all
from this engine because both the positive and the negative halves of the signal wave