Bit Splitter

A different take on distortion. Bit Splitter grabs a single bit-plane and lets you isolate it, gate with it, or mask down to it. Fuzz, glitch, and 1-bit reduction

BIT SPLITTER A bit-plane manipulator. The input is scaled and quantized to an 8-bit value, then a single bit-plane of that value is used to reshape the signal. Where a bit crusher reduces resolution and hands back a degraded copy of the sound, the bit splitter operates on one specific bit and can either output that bit on its own, use it to gate the input, or mask the signal down to a chosen number of bits.

MODES ISOLATE Outputs the chosen bit-plane on its own as a bipolar square wave. The most-significant bit behaves like a sign comparator, producing a hard square that tracks the waveform; lower bits flip more often as the amplitude moves, giving increasingly noisy, aliased fuzz. This is the most literal reading of splitting a bit out.

GATE Passes the dry input only while the chosen bit is high, and mutes it otherwise. The signal is chopped by its own bit-plane, producing glitchy, rhythmic gating that still carries the source material underneath.

MASK Zeros every bit below the chosen one and reconstructs the result to audio. This is a bit-depth reduction in which BIT sets how many low bits are discarded: at 0 the signal is untouched, at 7 only the most-significant bit survives (1-bit). Closest of the three to a classic crusher, but with arbitrary bit selection.

CONTROLS BIT In Isolate and Gate, selects which bit-plane is used, from 0 (LSB) to 7 (MSB). In Mask, sets the lowest bit that is kept, so it acts as a resolution control. Lower bits track fine detail and toggle rapidly; higher bits track the gross shape of the waveform. Range: 0 to 7

THRESH Input drive into the quantizer. The signal is divided by this value before being mapped to a byte, so lower settings push the signal harder into the 8-bit range (clipping into it sooner) while higher settings keep it quieter and more centered. It changes which bits are active for a given input level, and so reshapes the character of every mode. Range: 0.01 to 2.0

MODE Selects the bit-plane operation: Isolate, Gate, or Mask (see above). Switching mode changes what BIT means, so the two are best adjusted together.

MIX Controls the balance between the unprocessed (dry) input and the processed (wet) output. At 0% only the dry signal is heard; at 100% only the processed signal passes through. Intermediate values produce a linear crossfade, useful for blending the harsher modes back under the source for parallel-style processing. Range: 0% to 100%