Drive
Drive adds saturation to the deck, from warm tube colour to broken fuzz. It is the second unit in the effect rack, right after the EQ. Its faceplate is the TD-1 Tube Drive, and its screen draws the drive’s transfer curve, so you can see how hard the sound is being squashed.
Controls
Section titled “Controls”| Control | Range | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drive | 0 to 100% | 40% | How hard the deck is pushed into the saturation, up to 36 dB of gain. |
| Tone | 0 to 100% | 60% | A lowpass after the saturation, from dark (about 900 Hz) to bright (about 18 kHz). |
| Type | Tube, Fuzz, Diode | Tube | The character of the saturation. |
| Mix | 0 to 100% | 100% | Balance between the dry deck and the driven sound. |
The output level is turned down automatically as Drive rises, so turning it up adds grit without a big jump in volume.
- Tube: soft, slightly uneven clipping. Warm at low settings, thick at high ones.
- Fuzz: squared off hard, for a buzzy, broken sound.
- Diode: one side of the wave clips earlier than the other, for a raspier edge.
The strip’s readout shows the current Type.
Using it
Section titled “Using it”- Warm up a thin sample. Tube with Drive around 20 to 40% thickens a dry vocal or a digital-sounding stab without making it obviously distorted.
- Aggressive scratches. Fuzz at high Drive turns tones and synth stabs into a buzzing lead. Pull Tone down to tame the fizz.
- Parallel drive. Set Mix to around 30 to 50% to keep the clean attack of each scratch while adding body underneath.
Because Drive comes after the EQ, you can use the EQ to decide which part of the sound distorts: boost Mid to drive the body of a sample, or cut Low to keep the bass clean.