OmniDr1ve User Manual

Overview

OmniDr1ve is a distortion and enhancement plugin featuring four distinct distortion modes, a built-in dimension chorus, per-channel surround mixing with EQ/phase/delay, and precision filtering. Designed for bass, guitars, synths, vocals, drums, and any material that needs grit, warmth, or outright destruction -- in stereo or immersive surround up to 9.1.6.

Main Controls

Drive (Center Knob)

The main distortion amount control (0--10). Higher values push harder into the saturator. The large hero knob is the primary creative control. Per-mode gain staging keeps level changes musical across the sweep, but the plugin no longer applies aggressive AGC -- so cranking Drive on hot input WILL get noticeably louder by design.

Mix

Wet/dry blend (0--100%). At 100% you hear only the distorted signal. Lower values blend in the clean signal for parallel distortion processing. Useful for retaining the original transient character while adding harmonic richness.

Drive Crossover

Splits the signal into two bands at the selected frequency. Only the upper band passes through the distortion stage; the lower band stays clean. This keeps sub-bass tight while distorting the harmonics above. The arc ring around the knob shows which portion of the spectrum is being distorted.

INV (Crossover Invert)

Inverts the crossover behavior. When enabled, the bass portion below the crossover frequency is distorted instead of the treble. The arc ring on the crossover knob flips to show the inverted region. Creative use: add sub-harmonic grit while keeping upper harmonics clean.

S (Crossover Solo)

Solos the crossover-selected band. You hear only the portion being processed by the distortion -- the clean band is muted. A monitoring tool for dialing in the crossover frequency precisely. Uses 48 dB/octave Butterworth filters for clean band isolation.

HPF (Input High-Pass Filter)

High-pass filter on the input signal (0--1000 Hz). Removes unwanted sub-bass rumble before it hits the distortion stage. The knob uses a custom curve: 70% of travel covers 0--300 Hz for precise bass control.

LPF (Output Low-Pass Filter)

Low-pass filter on the output (1000--20000 Hz). Tames harsh digital artifacts and high-frequency content added by the distortion. At 20 kHz the filter is bypassed.

Chorus

Dimension-style chorus effect applied after the distortion stage. Adds stereo width and movement with a warm, BBD-inspired character. Toggle on/off with the CHORUS button below the drive knob.

Distortion Modes

Select a mode from the 2x2 grid at the bottom of the plugin.

Tube

Soft asymmetric waveshaping with smooth harmonics. Produces warm, valve-amp-style saturation. Features subtle bias drift and sag emulation for organic analog feel. Gentle at low drive, increasingly rich at higher values.

OD (Overdrive)

Mid-boosted pre-emphasis with asymmetric soft-clipping and post-tone shaping. Punchy and musical, ideal for adding presence and edge to bass lines without losing definition. Internal EQ sculpting emphasizes the midrange character.

Dist (Distortion)

Hard-clip with polynomial soft-knee transition and amount-dependent tone rolloff. Aggressive and forward-sounding with significant harmonic content and sustain. Features dynamic drive response and transient preservation for maintaining attack.

Fuzz

Germanium-transistor-style dual-stage asymmetric clipping with LFO-modulated bias. Vintage-inspired character with organic behavior including bias sag (the "dying battery" feel). Can range from woolly warmth to sputtering chaos. The fuzz bias is signal-gated so it stays silent when no audio is present.

Oversampling

Select from the row of buttons below the drive knob:

ZL (Zero Latency): No oversampling. Minimum CPU and zero latency. May introduce aliasing at high drive settings.
2X: 2x oversampling. Good balance of quality and CPU.
4X: 4x oversampling (default). Excellent quality with minimal aliasing.
8X: 8x oversampling. Maximum quality for critical applications. Higher CPU usage.

I/O Section

Input Gain (IN Fader)

Adjusts the level entering the plugin (-36 to +18 dB). Cranking the input drives the distortion harder for more extreme saturation. In unlinked mode, higher input also increases output volume proportionally.

Output Gain (OUT Fader)

Adjusts the final output level (-36 to +18 dB). Double-click to reset to 0 dB.

LINK OUT

When enabled, the output gain automatically mirrors input gain changes inversely. Crank input up +6 dB and the output drops -6 dB, maintaining a consistent monitoring level while changing the distortion character. The distortion's gain compensation ensures level balance across the drive range.

MONO

Sums the input to mono before processing. Useful for bass guitar DI signals that may have slight stereo content, or for ensuring mono-compatible distortion character.

Meters

Real-time stereo level meters on both input and output. When a surround format is selected, the output meter shows all channels in the current format.

Output Format & Surround

The OUT FORMAT dropdown in the header selects the surround output configuration. Available formats: 1.0, 2.0, 2.1, 3.0, 3.1, 4.0, 4.1, 5.0, 5.1, 5.1.2, 5.1.4, 7.0, 7.1, 7.1.2, 7.1.4, 7.1.6, 9.0, 9.1, 9.1.2, 9.1.4, 9.1.6. Formats that exceed the DAW track's channel count are automatically greyed out.

The extended formats (9.x) add Wide channels (Lw, Rw) for front-stage width. The .6 height formats add Top Middle channels (Ltm, Rtm) for overhead coverage between front and rear heights.

Note: In Dolby Atmos workflows, most DAWs limit the bed to 7.1.6 or 7.1.4. When using 9.x formats, the additional channels (Lw, Rw, and any extra heights) may need to be routed as objects rather than bed channels, depending on your DAW's Atmos renderer configuration. This is a DAW routing consideration, not a plugin limitation.

When any format of 2.1 or higher is selected, the S-MIX button appears on the output section. S-MIX is not available in 1.0 (mono) or 2.0 (stereo) modes.

S-MIX (Surround Mixer)

Click S-MIX to open the surround mixer panel on the right side of the plugin. S-MIX provides per-channel control over gain, muting, soloing, and advanced processing including EQ, phase rotation, and delay for each surround channel.

Mixer Strip Controls

Each channel has a vertical mixer strip with:

Name label -- click to select the channel for EQ/Phase/Delay editing below
M (Mute) -- mutes the channel (red when active)
S (Solo) -- solos the channel (yellow when active)
Fader -- per-channel gain control. Drag to adjust; the dB value appears below. Dragging a fader also selects that channel for EQ/Phase/Delay editing.
Meter -- real-time level meter for each channel

Stereo Linking

The link buttons (chain icon) between paired channels (L+R, Ls+Rs, etc.) lock their faders together with a relative offset. When linked, moving one fader moves the other by the same amount while maintaining the dB difference between them.

Passthru (PT)

The PT button enables passthru mode. In passthru:

L/R channels receive the dry (unprocessed) input signal
Surround channels receive the wet (distorted) signal via the mixer faders
L/R faders, mute, and solo remain interactive -- you can still trim, mute, or solo the dry L/R signal independently of the surround mix

This is useful to add distorted signals to surround locations without having to create duplicate channels.

CLR M / CLR S

Clear all mutes or solos across all channels with a single click.

Channel Selector

Above the mixer strips, a channel selector bar lets you navigate between channel pairs (L+R, C, LFE, Ls+Rs, etc.) by pressing your keyboard's left and right arrow keys or by clicking the channel name. The selected channel's EQ/Phase/Delay settings are shown in the panel below the mixer.

Per-Channel EQ

Each standard channel (non-LFE) has a 4-band EQ:

Lo Cut -- High-pass filter with selectable slope (6/12/18/24 dB/octave). Removes low-frequency content from individual surround channels.
Band 1 -- Parametric EQ band with frequency and gain controls. Q is automatically proportional to the gain amount.
Band 2 -- Second parametric EQ band, same controls as Band 1.
Hi Cut -- Low-pass filter with selectable slope (6/12/18/24 dB/octave). Tames high frequencies on individual channels.

The EQ response display at the top of the EQ section shows the combined frequency response curve of all four bands in real-time.

The power button next to "EQ" enables/disables the entire EQ section for the selected channel. When disabled, the section is greyed out.

Per-Channel Phase (Decorrelation)

The Phase control (0--180 degrees) applies frequency-dependent phase rotation to the selected channel.

Why this matters: When surround channels are folded down to stereo, channels with different phase settings create a wider, more natural stereo image instead of narrow or comb-filtered results. Low frequencies are shifted gently (preserving bass coherence) while highs are shifted more aggressively.

0 degrees: Bypass (transparent)
1--179 degrees: Progressive frequency-dependent decorrelation
180 degrees: Full polarity inversion

For paired channels (L+R, Ls+Rs), separate L and R sliders are provided. Setting different values for L and R creates asymmetric decorrelation for an even wider fold-down image.

The power button next to "PHASE" enables/disables phase processing for the selected channel.

Per-Channel Delay

Amount -- Delay time in milliseconds (0--250 ms). Applies a time offset to the selected channel. Useful for creating spatial depth.
Offset -- For paired channels, applies a differential delay between L and R (--25 to +25 ms). Creates subtle stereo time differences for spatial width.

The power button next to "DELAY" enables/disables delay processing for the selected channel.

LFE Channel Processing

When the LFE channel is selected, the EQ section is replaced with:

HPF -- Configurable high-pass filter (20--120 Hz) with slope selection (6/12/18/24/48 dB/octave). Useful for cleaning up the LFE channel.
Sub Bass Synthesis -- Generates sub-harmonics from the input signal with waveshape selection (Sine, Triangle, Square, Multi) and Mix/Drive/Tune controls.

Phase and Delay remain available for LFE.

Presets

Use the preset browser in the header bar to browse, load, and save presets.

Factory presets are built into the plugin and cannot be overwritten
User presets are saved to your system and can be created, renamed, and deleted
A/B/C/D slots let you compare up to four different settings quickly
Copy to Next copies the current slot's settings to the next slot for A/B comparison

Presets prefixed with S-MIX include surround mixer settings (channel gains, EQ, phase, delay). Loading these presets configures the entire surround mix. S-MIX presets are designed for 9.1.6 (16 channels). When used with smaller formats (e.g. 5.1), channels that exist in your format will load correctly and any extra channel data is simply ignored. You can adapt presets to your format by saving a modified version as a user preset.

DAW Automation

The automation list mirrors the GUI controls one-to-one:

Main controls: Input Trim, Output Gain, Drive Amount, Mix, Dist Mode, Crossover, Crossover Invert, Crossover Solo, Input HPF, Output LPF, Input Mono, Chorus
All S-MIX per-channel parameters, named e.g. "S-MIX L Gain", "S-MIX Rs Mute", "S-MIX Ltf Band 1 Gain", "S-MIX LFE HPF Freq" -- the channel name (L, R, C, LFE, Ls, Rs, Lss, Rss, Ltf, Rtf, Ltr, Rtr, Lw, Rw, Ltm, Rtm) appears in every parameter so they sort logically in DAW automation panes
Global S-MIX Passthru toggle

Non-automatable / state-only settings: Oversampling Mode, Link Out (these affect routing/UI behaviour rather than per-sample audio).

Internal development/tuning parameters and parameters with no GUI counterpart are not exposed for automation.

Light Mode

Click the LIGHT button in the header to toggle between dark and light color schemes. The setting persists across sessions.

Licensing

Click the key icon in the footer to manage your license. You can activate a license key, start a trial, or purchase a full license from the dialog.

Help & Support

Press the ? button on the output meter to enter help mode. Hover over any control to see a tooltip description.
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Click the lightbulb icon to request a feature
Click the bug icon to report an issue
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