Patent ID: 8428271

Claim:
An audio distortion circuit to provide balanced distortion in a musical instrument and to emulate the sound of a tube amplifier when overdriven, the audio distortion circuit comprising: an input stage adapted to receive an input audio signal, remain linear, and maintain balanced outputs that are opposite in polarity, and adapted to split the input audio signal into two parallel signal paths, an inverting, negative path and a non-inverting, positive path; an inverting, negative path balanced distortion circuit following the inverting, negative path and adapted to receive an inverting, negative path input, wherein an output negative path exited from the inverting, negative path balanced distortion circuit comprises a first full waveform; a non-inverting, positive path balanced distortion circuit following the non-inverting, positive path, and parallel to the inverting, negative path balanced distortion circuit, and adapted to receive a non-inverting, positive path input, wherein an output positive path exited from the non-inverting, positive path balanced distortion circuit comprises a second full waveform; and an output stage following the inverting, negative path balanced distortion circuit and the non-inverting, positive path balanced distortion circuit, wherein the output stage is adapted to combine a pair of differential inputs, one the output negative path exited from the inverting, negative path balanced distortion circuit, the first full waveform, and two the output positive path exited from the non-inverting, positive path balanced distortion circuit, the second full waveform, and to subtract the two paths to produce an output audio signal; wherein the audio distortion circuit is adapted to cancel incoming asymmetries in the output stage from the combined pair of differential inputs and produce the output audio signal as symmetric; and wherein the audio distortion circuit is adapted to distort, clip, and limit, selectively by a user, the input audio signal.