[sdiy] simple voltage controlled clipper/distortion

[Paul Perry]

How one controls the clipping or distortion, depends on what kind of
clipping or distortion you want.
I'm not trying to be a smartarse here, it's just that there are a LOT of
variables..
Even in the case of 'simply' clipping the top off, there is the question of
whether it should be symmetric (cut top and bottom) or just the positive
peaks.

Personally, I have had success by simply running a signal to a LM13700 based
VCA. If you have the initial gain arranged so that with zero volts to the
VCA control input the signal is just about to clip, then as you crank up the
VCA control, you get a nice distortion, that eventually becomes severe
clipping. The output remains almost level throughout the process.

The main problem with controlling clipping/distortion is, that the results
depend on the level of the input signal. No simple way around that.

paul perry Melbourne Australia