How to make your own distortion plugin
Distortion can be the soft warmth of tape on a drum bus or a fuzz that tears a bass apart. Studio 56 lets you describe the one you want and builds it as an effect you can put on any track in your DAW.
Describe the distortion
Say what it’s for and how hard it should push. Descriptions like these work well:
- Soft tape saturation that warms up a drum bus
- A germanium fuzz for bass that keeps the low end tight
- An overdrive pedal with a tone knob for guitar
- A bitcrusher that gets grittier as one knob turns up
- Clipping that makes an 808 louder and keeps its punch
What you get
Studio 56 builds the effect from verified DSP blocks like drives, fuzz, tape, amps and filters, and it gives the effect its own controls and presets. The build usually takes about 5 minutes, and the effect plays in Studio 56 FX, which comes with Studio 56.
Put it on a track
Add Studio 56 FX to an effect slot on any track the way you would add any other effect plugin, then choose your distortion. It works in Ableton Live, Logic Pro, GarageBand, FL Studio and most other DAWs except Pro Tools.
Change it later
Every knob stays yours to change. You can ask for new presets or for a new part like a filter after the drive, and Studio 56 can build the synth you run through it too.
What it costs
Making instruments and effects takes Pro, which makes about 20 instruments or effects a month. You can use what you make in songs, videos, live shows and commercial releases. The one thing you can’t do is sell the instruments themselves.