Audio Processes

7 Distortion

7.1	Introduction
7.1.1	Avoiding and Creating Distortion
7.1.2	Hard Clipping
7.2	Distortion Functions
7.2.1	Soft Clipping Distortion
7.2.2	Other Distortion Transfer Functions
7.2.3	Controlling Distortion Character
7.3	Distortion of Complex Signals
7.4	Developing Processes and Learning More

7.1 Introduction

7.1.1 Avoiding and Creating Distortion

Distortion is defined as the deformation of a signal in some way as it passes through a system. Most electronic and computer systems attempt to avoid this such that the signal character is preserved. For example, a video system will usually attempt to create a visual output that matches the original input as accurately as possible. In such cases increased quality involves minimising distortion.

For musical ...