A simple audio distortion plugin built with JUCE that applies tanh waveshaping to create warm, analog-style distortion.
Very Basic Distortion is an incredibly (I promise) simple audio effect plugin that uses hyperbolic tangent (tanh) waveshaping to add harmonic distortion to your audio. The plugin features a single Drive control that adjusts the intensity of the distortion effect, from subtle warmth to aggressive saturation.
- Single Drive parameter (range: 1.0 - 10.0)
- Tanh waveshaping algorithm for smooth, musical distortion
- Simple rotary knob interface
- Stereo processing
- VST3 plugin format
- Drive: Controls the amount of distortion applied to the signal. Lower values produce subtle warmth, while higher values create more aggressive saturation.
This plugin is built using the JUCE framework. To build:
- Ensure you have JUCE installed on your system
- Open
Trial-Plugin.jucerin Projucer - Generate project files for your platform
- Build using Xcode (macOS) or your preferred IDE
- Framework: JUCE
- Plugin Format: VST3 (configurable for AU, AAX, etc.)
- Processing: Real-time tanh waveshaping per sample
- Channel Configuration: Mono and Stereo supported
apeacewilliams
Copyright 2026 apeacewilliams
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the “Software”), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.