Shred

A high-order nonlinear folder with several internal zero crossings for subtle cancellation or chaotic artifact-like tones.

What it does #

Shred applies a dense polynomial/rational folding curve only within a finite input window. Different driven regions alternate polarity and amplitude, while values beyond the outer boundaries collapse toward zero, producing cancellations, narrow lobes, and abrupt spectral changes.

Controls and ports #

Signal In is multiplied by Drive, HQ selects direct or second-order antiderivative processing, and Signal Out returns the complex folded result.

Practical uses #

• Move Drive slowly to locate narrow cancellation and emphasis zones.
• Use it on simple waveforms for complex spectra without a separate modulation source.
• Blend it in parallel for unstable texture while preserving a dry tonal anchor.

Things to know #

• More Drive is not monotonically louder because the transfer has many sign changes and zeros.
• The candidate curve is exactly zero outside ±1 before its large normalization factor.
• Small parameter changes can move samples between lobes and cause large timbral changes.
• HQ reduces aliasing but cannot make a highly folded discontinuous spectrum band-limited.

Technical details #

A high-confidence Nitro implementation candidate supports the technical summary, but the visible-module mapping remains inferred.

The inferred grid/shaper/drunk_clip candidate implements DrunkFold: inside -1<x<1 it evaluates a high-order odd rational polynomial with zeros at 0, ±0.25, ±0.5, ±0.75, and ±1; outside that interval it returns zero. The result is scaled by 498. Analytic first and second antiderivatives support direct and second-order ADAA evaluation per channel. This multi-lobed cancellation pattern strongly matches Shred's description.

Nitro port	Type
x	InputAudioPortType
drive	InputAudioPortType
HQ	InputValuePortType
out	OutputAudioPortType

Open questions #

• Confirm the Shred binding with a dense static sweep and locate every zero, extremum, and boundary value.
• Measure Drive mapping, output normalization, HQ alias suppression, latency, boundary continuity, and transient state.
• Test stereo independence, automation smoothing, dry cancellation, and numerical stability near ±1.

Version and sources #

Checked against Bitwig Studio 6.0.6. This page combines Bitwig's module metadata, the existing Grid course and guides, and Nitro analysis where the mapping is strong enough to support a technical statement.

Related material #

• Grid Modules course reference

Return to Bitwig Grid Modules or the Grid Modules course lesson.