F_TUBEZ

F_TUBEZ – Tube Display & Saturator

The F_TUBEZ module combines a glowing tube-style text display with a non-linear tube audio processor and additional noise artifacts (hum, crackle, pop). It simulates both the look and sound of vintage tube equipment.

Controls:

• Drive: Controls the amount of pre-gain into the tube stage. Higher values produce stronger saturation and distortion.
• Bias: Shifts the tube input signal up or down, introducing asymmetry in the distortion. This changes the harmonic balance, adding more odd harmonics and giving the sound a nasal or gritty character.
• Tone: A tilt-EQ shaping control after the tube stage. Lower settings emphasize low frequencies (darker sound), higher settings emphasize highs (brighter sound).
• Blend: Crossfades between the clean input and the tube-processed signal. At 0% you hear the dry input, at 100% only the saturated tube output, with intermediate values mixing both.
• Out: Master output level. This controls the overall level of both the processed signal and the noise components. At minimum the module is completely silent.
• Hum Level: Adjusts the amount of simulated power supply hum (50/60 Hz plus harmonics).
• Hum Color: Changes the harmonic content of the hum. Low values = almost pure sine. Higher values = richer, buzzier hum with more harmonics.
• Crackle Level: Sets the intensity of crackling bursts, similar to aging tube contacts or dust in the circuitry.
• Crackle Tone: Adjusts the spectral character of crackle noise, from low-frequency bursts to sharper high-pitched clicks.
• Pop Level: Controls the strength and probability of short “popping” transients, imitating tube arcing or sudden discharge events.
• Flicker Depth: Controls how dramatically the on-screen tube text flickers in brightness, simulating unstable tube glow.
• Flicker Speed: Sets the speed of the flicker fluctuations. Low values = slow dimming/brightening, high values = rapid fluttering.
• Glow Amount: Adjusts the overall brightness of the text glow on the display. Higher values produce a stronger halo.
• Text Size: Changes the size of the displayed tube-style text.
• Scroll Speed: When enabled, text scrolls horizontally across the screen. This control adjusts the scrolling speed.

Outputs:

• Audio Out: The processed signal plus optional hum, crackle, and pop, controlled by the Out knob.
• Flicker CV Out: A modulation signal following the tube glow flicker. This can be used to modulate other modules, providing a dynamic, unstable CV source (typically scaled to ±5 V).