Question about Scream 4's Warp Mode

[chimp_spanner]

Hey so I've been using Scream 4 in Warp mode ahead of my guitar amps lately, where I want things to sound super aggressive and gnarly. I love what it does to the distortion. I'm curious, what exactly is this type of distortion? And what effect would I look for if I wanted to achieve this with another plugin or even a hardware stomp? It really accentuates the envelope of the attack of the guitar and when you play powerchords through it they almost sound like they have a sub octave. Very Doom/Argent/Cyber Metal. Just curious!

[deeplink]

Interested too.

The manual just says it multiplies the incoming signal with itself. So like Feedback AM?
https://docs.reasonstudios.com/reason13 ... parameters

[jam-s]

Multiplication with itself would be RM of the signal with itself. So you should get close to the scream4 warp mode by using a ring modulator.

[huggermugger]

I've tried two different ring modulators (kHs and Melda), wired with the sound source as both carrier and modulator. The result is tame compared to Scream. The Scream manual says "Warp distorts and multiplies the incoming signal with itself". Based on the term "warp", I'm guessing that the signal might be phase-distorted or folded prior to the multiplication stage.

[chimp_spanner]

I've tried two different ring modulators (kHs and Melda), wired with the sound source as both carrier and modulator. The result is tame compared to Scream. The Scream manual says "Warp distorts and multiplies the incoming signal with itself". Based on the term "warp", I'm guessing that the signal might be phase-distorted or folded prior to the multiplication stage.

Interesting! Maybe it's like a waveshaper with feedback? It definitely has a non-linear feel to it, like the difference between 10% and 100% is more like 10/1000 haha.

[jam-s]

It could also be that the signal is amplified (and possibly clipped) before multiplication and then attenuated later on.

EDIT: It might also be an idea to put some simple waveforms (like sine, square, triangle) through that mode of scream and have a detailed look at the resulting waveforms and compare them to the results of your approximation.

[chimp_spanner]

It could also be that the signal is amplified (and possibly clipped) before multiplication and then attenuated later on.

EDIT: It might also be an idea to put some simple waveforms (like sine, square, triangle) through that mode of scream and have a detailed look at the resulting waveforms and compare them to the results of your approximation.

That...is a good idea. On it!

[chimp_spanner]

Sine wave through Scream. Interesting, I can see the octaving effect going on. At max values it's kinda like...pinching the waveform? So I guess it's safe to say this is a waveshaping distortion and maybe the octave is coming from some kind of feedback or something?

100%:

Screenshot 2025-02-12 at 16.43.03.png (93.99 KiB) Viewed 1422 times

10%:

Screenshot 2025-02-12 at 16.42.48.png (84.52 KiB) Viewed 1422 times

Dry:

Screenshot 2025-02-12 at 16.42.36.png (92.96 KiB) Viewed 1422 times

[jam-s]

This video could give some more ideas on the type of waveshaper that's used:

[mikasa]

This video could give some more ideas on the type of waveshaper that's used:
bitlife

Thanks for this video!

[selig]

Sine wave through Scream. Interesting, I can see the octaving effect going on. At max values it's kinda like...pinching the waveform? So I guess it's safe to say this is a waveshaping distortion and maybe the octave is coming from some kind of feedback or something?

The “octave” is coming from rectification.
Compare to the Rectify mode on Thor’s Shaper. Running a square wave through it reveals the rectification by producing near silence at max rectification. On Thor that’s with the Shaper Drive knob at max, on Scream it’s with P2 at the minimum setting. The results are extremely similar.

I’ve not done a deep dive into this other than to recognize the rectification going on, and confirm it is a non-linear circuit. In audio, a non linear circuit is any circuit that behaves different to different input levels, such as any dynamics devices, saturation, waveshaping, etc.