Creative Audio Corruption Effect

Wavecrusher

Garble separates sound into layers of broad structure and fine detail, then lets you crush, quantise, or remove those layers independently.

I adapted it from a compression algorithm developed during my PhD research for robots communicating over unreliable networks.

It is close to bitcrushing in spirit, but the failure mode is different. Under the hood, those layers are wavelet approximations—hence wavecrusher.

Download Free CLAP, VST3  ·  Windows · macOS · Linux
The plugin
Garble plugin interface
Origin

I originally built this technology for robotics research. Robots still need useful information when their network connection is slow, intermittent, or degraded. The compression algorithm preserves the broad structure of a signal while discarding progressively finer detail as bandwidth becomes limited.

At some point, I wondered what that kind of failure would sound like on music. Garble is the result.

It uses a Haar wavelet transform to separate audio into coarse averages and detail bands. Garble quantises or removes parts of that representation, then reconstructs the signal from what remains.

The prism visuals are generated from the same wavelet-compression logic. They are an echo of the algorithm rather than an unrelated animation.

What it does differently

Not normal bitcrushing

A conventional bitcrusher reduces the resolution of the sample stream directly. Garble first transforms the sound into layers at different resolutions, damages that representation, and then decodes it back into audio.

Detail disappears by scale

As you push Garble harder, fine texture can fall away while the broader contour, envelope, and energy of the sound remain. The result is less like uniformly lowering bit depth and more like hearing an increasingly incomplete reconstruction.

Different material fails differently

Drums can fracture into sparse transients. Synths can become rough and hollow. Dense sounds may retain their strongest movements while quieter details collapse. Depending on the source, Garble can resemble a broken codec, a damaged transmission, or a textural filter.

Open-source and cross-platform

Garble is built as a CLAP plugin and runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. A wrapped VST3 version is included for hosts without CLAP support.

Parameters
Levels
1 — 10
Sets how many resolution layers Garble can process.
Quantise
0.00 — 1.00
Controls how aggressively smaller wavelet coefficients are pushed toward zero.
Ratio
1 — 32
Sets the compression target. Higher values leave less information available for reconstruction.
Examples

Amen break run through Garble.

Amen Break — Garbled
—

Produced by Kraken. [Sample Packs]

Bass — Dank Reese Boi — Garbled
—
FX — Glorp Intel — Garbled
—
Synth — Happy Socks — Garbled
—
Synth — Xylo Lulls — Garbled
—
Download

Free. No registration. No royalties.
Drop the plugin file into your plugins folder and try it.

macOS .clap .vst3
Linux .clap .vst3
Windows .clap .vst3
CLAP: Bitwig, FL Studio 21+, Reaper  ·  VST3: Ableton Live and most other hosts
  1. Double-click the downloaded .zip to unzip it. You'll get a file called Garble.clap or Garble.vst3 (or both).
  2. Open Finder. In the menu bar, click Go → Go to Folder… (or press Shift ⌘ G). Paste the folder for the format you want to install: 
    ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/CLAP/
~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/
    If the folder doesn't exist, Finder will say so — just go up one level and create a new folder with that name.
  3. Drag the plugin file into that folder.
  4. macOS will block Garble from running because it isn't signed with an Apple certificate. This is normal for indie plugins. To clear it, open Terminal (press ⌘ Space, type Terminal, press Enter). Then copy and paste whichever line matches what you installed, and press Enter: 
    xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/CLAP/Garble.clap
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/Garble.vst3
    You only need to do this once.
  5. Open your DAW and rescan for plugins. Garble should appear.
  1. Extract the downloaded .zip. You'll get a file called Garble.clap or Garble.vst3 (or both).
  2. Open your file manager and go to your home folder. The destination folders are hidden by default because their names start with a dot — enable "Show Hidden Files" first (usually Ctrl H or in the View menu). Then navigate into: 
    ~/.clap/
~/.vst3/
    If the folder doesn't exist, create it.
  3. Copy the plugin file into that folder.
  4. Open your DAW and rescan for plugins. Garble should appear.

Prefer the terminal? mkdir -p ~/.clap && cp Garble.clap ~/.clap/

  1. Right-click the downloaded .zip and choose Extract All. You'll get a file called Garble.vst3 or Garble.clap.
  2. Open File Explorer. Click in the address bar at the top, paste the folder path for the format you want, and press Enter: 
    C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\
C:\Program Files\Common Files\CLAP\
  3. Copy the plugin file into that folder. Windows may ask for administrator permission — click Yes.
  4. Open your DAW and rescan for plugins. If Garble doesn't appear, check your DAW's plugin settings to see which folders it scans.

I don't have a Windows machine, so I haven't been able to test this myself. If something doesn't work, let me know on GitHub.

Courtesy notice

This is pre-1.0 software. I'm not a professional audio programmer — I'm a robotics researcher with a music hobby who ported my algorithm to audio because I thought why not. I've tested Garble as thoroughly as I can, but it may have bugs, and it may even crash your DAW. I don't have a Windows machine so that version is totally untested by me. If something goes wrong, please let me know on GitHub and I'll do my best to fix it.