Delta - I killed another plugin (Patreon)

Hey folks, welcome back! In today’s video, I’m showing you how to replicate the Delta distortion plugin inside Bitwig Studio. The Delta plugin distorts the sidechain signal, subtracts the distortion from the dry signal, and then uses the overtones to amplitude modulate the main signal. It sounds complex, but I’ll walk you through how to do it in Bitwig.

Key Points:

What Does the Delta Plugin Do?

It distorts the sidechain signal (e.g., bass), subtracts the distortion from the dry signal, and uses the overtones to modulate the original signal.

The result is a dynamic and amplitude-modulated sound that adds movement and texture to the main signal (e.g., an ARP).

Delta Plugin in Bitwig

I show you how to build this effect in Bitwig using a simple ARP sound and sidechain input (the bass).

You can distort the sidechain signal or the main signal and use the overtones to modulate the sound.

The clicks and pops you might hear are related to some bugs in the plugin, but I still wanted to demonstrate how it works.

Effect Parameters

Distortion Types: You can choose between different distortion transfer curves, which affect the sound.

Band Splitter: You can split the signal into low and high parts and apply distortion to different frequency ranges.

Envelope Follower: The sidechain signal is used to modulate the volume of the main signal. You can use it as a ducker (decrease volume when the bass hits) or inverse ducker (increase volume when the bass hits).

How to Build This in Bitwig

Band-split the ARP sound and send it to an amplitude modulation (AMRM) module.

Set the AMRM to control the intensity of amplitude modulation (0% for no modulation, 100% for full modulation).

Use a sidechain signal (e.g., bass) to modulate the main signal, and apply distortion to the sidechain signal.

Use the overtones from the distorted sidechain signal to modulate the main signal by subtracting the dry signal from the distorted one.

Advanced Features

You can create more complex distortion effects by blending different distortion types using a morph between them.

The patch also includes a follower to control the volume shape of the sidechain signal and apply it to the main signal's volume.

GitHub Link

I’ve uploaded the preset to GitHub (link in the description), so you can download it, try it out, or modify it for your own projects.

Final Thoughts:

The Delta distortion plugin effect can easily be recreated in Bitwig using amplitude modulation and sidechain distortion.

The process is straightforward, and you can customize it to fit your needs, adding extra features or tweaking the distortion types.

Download the preset from my GitHub to try it out and explore it further.