General
– Digital Clipping is basically what Happens when a Digital Signal is Past Zero dBFS
– Unless it is a Desired Effect you Want to Achieve, Digital Clipping introduces Digital Distortion and Sounds Bad
– so always Check the Signal and try to Detect where the Clipping might come from
Hard Digital Clipping
– taking a Signal and Increase Gain so much, that some Parts Past the Zero dB
– the Waveform will Turn from a Smooth Sine Wave towards a Unnatural Square Wave and therefore Sound Harsh
– thus Digital Clipping is more of a Hard Knee Clipping
Soft Clipping
- Soft Clipping appears in a Analog Environment (Today there are a lot of “Soft Clip” Plugin Emulations)
– often you Find a “Slope” Parameter with a Soft Knee Curve for Analog Clipping (Whereas Digital Clippers may have a Hard Knee Curve)
– this Waveform will Result in a much Smoother Distorted Curve and therefore Sound Smoother
– the Difference is that the Waveform will be Distorted along the Sine Wave and Distortion Keeps the Relation to the Sine Wave
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