Soar

A gentle exponential wavefolder that lifts its first lobe, then returns large magnitudes toward silence.

What it does #

Soar behaves nearly linearly near zero, reaches a rounded maximum, and folds larger positive or negative values back toward zero instead of clipping them. Its normalization makes quieter regions stand forward relative to overdriven peaks.

Controls and ports #

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

Practical uses #

• Use moderate Drive on sine waves for smooth added harmonics.
• Push percussion harder to suppress extreme peaks while emphasizing lower-level body.
• Modulate Drive for animated fold depth without the sharp corners of the basic Wavefolder.

Things to know #

• Large values fall back toward zero, so more Drive can make some samples quieter.
• The transfer is symmetric and continuous but non-monotonic after its first maximum.
• This behavior can create phase cancellations when mixed with dry audio.
• HQ uses a stateful second-order antiderivative form.

Technical details #

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

The inferred grid/shaper/gentle_fold direct transfer is y = 2.69*x*exp(-|x|) after pre-curve Drive. It reaches its peak magnitude at |x|=1 and tends back toward zero as magnitude grows, which exactly matches a soft folder rather than a clipper. The body provides analytic first and second antiderivatives; HQ selects second-order ADAA independently per channel.

Nitro port	Type
x	InputAudioPortType
drive	InputAudioPortType
HQ	InputValuePortType
out	OutputAudioPortType

Open questions #

• Verify visible Drive mapping and the 2.69 normalization against static measurements.
• Measure harmonic progression, dry cancellation, HQ alias rejection, latency, transients, and extreme-input decay.
• Confirm wrapper binding, stereo state, smoothing, and output at non-finite inputs.

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.