Desktop multiband saturator and asymmetrical distortion device

Three Stems is an analog multiband tone sculpting device.

After going through the initial input gain stage, the signal is split into three freely adjustable frequency bands, then each of them is fed into a two stage warm saturation and asymmetrical distortion circuit. A final mixing stage lets you control the presence of each band.

The circuit is designed to let the user go from subtle and warm parametric eq-ing to painful amounts of high gain distortion, where each frequency band fights each other generating pseudo ring modulation and gating effects.

Three Stems has a high input impedance and it is designed to accept line level signals. Higher voltages can be attenuated with the volume control and can generate happy accidents and more extreme and unstable distortion.

With Three Stems you can add resonant decaying tails to your drum beats, control the crispness and character of your drones, excite the harmonics of your field recordings… and much more.

Controls

(v): Input volume
(g): Input gain (before FX bypass)
(b): bypass (the green translucent circles light up when the effect is on)

Each frequency band has control over:

(f): Band center frequency
(r): Band width (resonance)
(s): Saturation
(c): Diode soft clipping switch
(m): mixer volume