686758_original-10+20-30

Another experiment with digital clipping.

This time I was trying to recreate the kind of waveshape that can be obtained with a multi-fold wave-folder.
A wave-folder is a type of wave-shaping. This kind of effect was initially common as a component of some modular synths. No, of course, also exists in virtual format (VST, etc), either as a separate effect or as part of synths.
In wave-folding, once a wave reaches 0dB volume (or some other set limit), it is 'reflected'. In theory, if the input volume is loud enough, multiple folds can occur, where the wave hits the upper limit and is reflected down but part of the wave extends so far down that hits the low limit and is reflected up again.

I started with this sound, s pure sine wave:
https://freesound.org/people/testuser2346/sounds/686758/

Created and saved several versions of the sound in Audacity where I boosted the volume to clipping. The volumes were +10dB, +20dB and +30dB.

The I re-loaded the sounds and the original sound into Audacity. I inverted the polarity of the +10dB and the +30dB and mixed all the sounds into a new track to produce this sound.
Since the starting sound was a pure sine wave, I could see exactly what the process was doing to the waveform. If you zoom in on the waveform on a sound editor, you will see some tiny 'spikes' on the waveform. - This indicated to me that the process was essentially working, but I needed to adjust the relative volumes when mixing the unclipped and various clipped versions back into a single sound.