Perfect waves sound like math. Real instruments carry breath, rattle, and dirt — and synthesis fakes all three with noise and controlled damage.
noise is a white-noise source, just another signal: square (freq pitch) + noise * 0.3 puts breath under the tone. (Try pink for a darker floor.)
|> bitcrush 0.35 quantizes the wave into steps — digital dirt that gets nastier as the amount rises. |> fold 0.5 and |> clip 0.5 are its analog cousins: the wave hits a wall and folds or flattens.
|> comb 12ms 0.6 runs the signal through a short feedback delay — a metallic resonance that turns noise into something almost pitched. This is how you build snares, rain, and robots.
Order matters: noise then crush then comb is a different instrument from comb then crush. Chains read left to right.
The starting point#
The lesson opens with this song in the editor. Every edit recompiles and plays.
-- Noise & grit: a clean square bass, polite to a fault. Rough it up.
bass = patch {
source = square (freq pitch),
ampEnv = adsr 1ms 140ms 0 80ms,
cutoff = 1100Hz,
gain = vel * 0.45
}
line = play bass !"c2 c2 ~ [c2 eb2] g1 ~ c2 ~"What to watch#
Noise fills the spectrum edge to edge instead of standing in harmonic spikes; bitcrush and fold add fresh spikes ABOVE the ones you started with.
Goals#
The workbench checks these as you work; the solution is there when you want it.
- Mix noise into the source
- Break the wave: bitcrush, fold, or clip
- Stretch: ring it with a comb
Make it yours#
Build a snare from nothing: pure noise source, a tight amp envelope (1ms 120ms 0 60ms), a touch of comb. No oscillator at all.
Further reading#
The effects reference in the reference.