Speaker Drive Control - How does it work?

[AndrewSimon]

OK I use this for 4 years and I know what it does
but how exactly does it work?
What is happening to the signal?
How does it achieve the effect?

Anybody knows?

And shouldn't it be tied to the signal envelope?
My ears are telling me it is not.

:?

 

[yek]

A sidenote: Jay has stated that higher Drive values in the Cab properties can create audible aliasing.
As a result I stopped using it.

Souce: Effect of cab sim "drive" parameter

 

[javajunkie]

Interesting. I didn't see that post. I tried it when it first came out and never liked it so I haven't used it.

 

[GM Arts]

I suspect it models soft clipping caused by limited cone travel and maybe less coil/magnet interaction when pushed to extremes, so it's dependent upon instantaneous signal level, not average level you get from a signal envelope.

But it sounds kinda dirty and unmusical to me, so I don't use it either.

 

[james...]

Yeah I don't know of anyone who uses it.

 

[Sixstring]

Interesting. I didn't see that post. I tried it when it first came out and never liked it so I haven't used it.

Same here, I never use that parameter I don't know if it is of any use.

 

[steadystate]

The name of the parameter should be 'aliasing'.

 

[Scott Peterson]

I didn't feel it added anything to the tone at lower levels; and didn't like it at higher levels. So I have just always left that at "0".

 

[CudBucket]

If I'm not mistaken, Mark Day, at least in the past, has cranked this setting on his high-gain patches. I remember noticing that when I dl'ed a couple of the VH presets. He can confirm but I think, to counter the effect, he'd also crank the level in the cab block since heavy cab drive tends to lower the over all output of the block. I actually like what it does in some cases because in a direct scenario, it seems to take some of the fizz out but it also darkens the tone a bit.

Dave

 

[bkrumme]

Interesting. I noticed the setting, but never messed with it. I think it's time to experiment...

 

[AndrewSimon]

If I'm not mistaken, Mark Day, at least in the past, has cranked this setting on his high-gain patches. I remember noticing that when I dl'ed a couple of the VH presets. He can confirm but I think, to counter the effect, he'd also crank the level in the cab block since heavy cab drive tends to lower the over all output of the block. I actually like what it does in some cases because in a direct scenario, it seems to take some of the fizz out but it also darkens the tone a bit.

Dave

Right.... but I think it should only kick in when you push it hard.
If I pick softly it shoudn't be there, it doesn't sound "natural" as it is now.

Anyway, let's see what comes Monday.......

 

[Rex]

but how exactly does it work?
What is happening to the signal?
How does it achieve the effect?

It's a distortion algorithm. It's intended to approximate the effect of overdriving a physical spealer. I read a comment from Cliff that in order to accurately simulate speaker nonlinearities, you'd need more horsepower than is currently available in existing processors, and that it was a possible inclusion in a future rev of the Axe-FX.