Nonlinear hybrid, analog and digital audio effects : Evaluating fidelity, feasibility and cost

Sammanfattning

Audio processing has evolved from traditional analog systems toward more flexible digital implementations, but accurately reproducing analog nonlinear behavior remains challenging. This degree project compares analog, digital, and hybrid implementations of a wavefolder and ladderfilter with respect to audio fidelity, computational feasibility, flexibility, and economic cost. A digital embedded system was implemented and evaluated against analog references through transfer-curve analysis, spectral testing, aliasing evaluation, CPU benchmarking and cost analysis. The results show that static nonlinearities can be digitally approximated with relatively high accuracy and low computational cost, while dynamic nonlinearities require substantially greater complexity to emulate analog-like behavior. Digital systems offer the greatest flexibility and lowest cost, analog systems retain the richest inherent nonlinear character, and hybrid approaches provide a practical compromise between performance and implementation complexity.