# Distorted piano



## seaofwine (Jan 1, 2021)

Dear fellas,
First of all, wish you all a fantastic New year!!
Now,
I have a tiny intro of a song with a solo piano playing a melody, kinda arpeggio-id, that concludes with two slow identical notes.
I want the first clean but the second one "distorted" "with overdrive", let's say dirty!! I thought to put an amplifier (ik amplitube) to the second note but the result is messy. The amplifier steps in aggressively and the hiss is annoying!!
Any of your magical tips and tricks?
Thank you


----------



## twincities (Jan 1, 2021)

i'd duplicate the entire track, delete all the midi but the last note, and then just overly distort the track with that one note. gets around the messiness of trying to engage an effect without catching the tail of previous notes. from there either blend to taste, or delete the last midi note in the "clean" version so there's no overlap.


----------



## jcrosby (Jan 1, 2021)

Try other things like overdrive stomp boxes, bitcrusheres, saturators, etc... Also try sending some of the mix into a huge reverb a la balckhole... Even try putting it completely wet through blackhole (or similar)... Distorted pianos can be made into incredible sounding pads, and sometimes this is the perfect contrast to a natural sounding piano...

A huge reverb smear can give something like a piano an edge, but allow it to remain organic/elegant/ethereal, etc. Reverb also immediately separates two things that would normally clash... If you leave one fairly close, then make one super distant, or completely wet you can hear both at the same time without it sounding like they step on each other. Reverb's kind of amazing like that! 

One other approach is imaging... You can pan them apart. Another approach I take frequently is to have one be more narrow, then make the other super wide. Imaging, like reverb allows you to hear things that would otherwise seem like they're sitting right on top of one another.


----------



## seaofwine (Jan 2, 2021)

jcrosby said:


> Try other things like overdrive stomp boxes, bitcrusheres, saturators, etc... Also try sending some of the mix into a huge reverb a la balckhole... Even try putting it completely wet through blackhole (or similar)... Distorted pianos can be made into incredible sounding pads, and sometimes this is the perfect contrast to a natural sounding piano...
> 
> A huge reverb smear can give something like a piano an edge, but allow it to remain organic/elegant/ethereal, etc. Reverb also immediately separates two things that would normally clash... If you leave one fairly close, then make one super distant, or completely wet you can hear both at the same time without it sounding like they step on each other. Reverb's kind of amazing like that!
> 
> One other approach is imaging... You can pan them apart. Another approach I take frequently is to have one be more narrow, then make the other super wide. Imaging, like reverb allows you to hear things that would otherwise seem like they're sitting right on top of one another.



Great suggestions!
Only thing I did not understand is the reverb a la blackhole. If I got it right the blackhole effect is to prepare an AUX channel, insert a huge reverb and send my piano's s second note? I think I got it completely wrong!


----------



## seaofwine (Jan 2, 2021)

twincities said:


> i'd duplicate the entire track, delete all the midi but the last note, and then just overly distort the track with that one note. gets around the messiness of trying to engage an effect without catching the tail of previous notes. from there either blend to taste, or delete the last midi note in the "clean" version so there's no overlap.


I will try this one as well. 
But could it be possible this way to get it distorted gradually and not "violently"?


----------



## kgdrum (Jan 2, 2021)

@seaofwine

This amazing plugin could be what you’re looking for,it’s pretty magical with breaking up sound in some really interesting ways.
p.s. it’s still on intro pricing.









Wires - Soviet Wire Recorder Echo Plugin (VST, AU, AAX, CLAP) - Hainbach


Wires is an accurately modeled and enhanced 1970s Soviet wire recorder plugin made in collaboration with Hainbach.




www.audiothing.net


----------



## ReleaseCandidate (Jan 2, 2021)

poetd said:


> Just automate the amount of distortion, so you could have it off for the start of your note, then gradually increase the level of distortion as the note plays, that way you avoid the distortion for the notes attack.


For only a single note: this.
If it's for more, use an envelope to trigger and modulate the distortion.
I've found 








EnveLover (envelope shaper, Gate) • Audio Plugins for Free


"EnveLover is a one-of-a-kind midi-controlled audio gate effect. It will speed up your musical workflow by giving you the ability to trigger a dynamics




www.audiopluginsforfree.com




when googling, can't say if that works for what you need though.


----------



## twincities (Jan 2, 2021)

seaofwine said:


> I will try this one as well.
> But could it be possible this way to get it distorted gradually and not "violently"


there's a *bit* less room for finesse when it's only one note we're talking about, but either crossfading the 2 tracks, or automating the wet/dry of the distortion if you do it on one track will work! you may find yourself needing quite a bit more distortion if you end up crossfading and leaving the attack cleaner. the tail will take some more gain to get it noticeably distorted for just a second.


----------



## seaofwine (Jan 4, 2021)

Thank you all very much. You ve been very helpful, appreciate that.


----------

