Resampling/Bitcrush - ectoplasma

Digital audio is built from samples - tiny measurements of air pressure taken thousands of times per second. Two values define the quality of that recording:

Sample rate - how many measurements per second
Bit depth - how precisely each measurement is stored

CD-quality audio uses 44,100 samples per second at 16 bits - meaning each sample can be one of 65,536 possible amplitude levels. The result is smooth, transparent sound.

Bitcrushing deliberately reduces these numbers. Fewer bits means rougher amplitude steps. Fewer samples per second means lost high-frequency detail. It is the opposite of high fidelity - and it sounds fantastic.

Bit depth: smooth vs crushed

Bit depth controls how many vertical levels each sample can use. Fewer levels means coarser staircase steps - and more audible grit.

Sample rate: smooth vs reduced

Sample rate controls how often the signal is measured. Fewer measurements per second means lost high-frequency detail and a blocky, jagged shape.

Controls

Bit depth is how many amplitude levels each sample can use. At high depth the steps are tiny and the wave is smooth. At low depth the steps are coarse - you hear that stair-stepping as fuzz and grain.

Sample rate is how often the signal is measured per second. Lowering it removes high-frequency detail and creates foldback/alias tones that sound metallic or buzzy. This is the classic old-sampler texture.

Drive pushes the signal harder into the crusher. Higher drive means the input clips more aggressively before bit reduction, adding a layer of distortion on top of the quantisation noise. It turns a clean crush into something rawer and more saturated.

Mix blends between the clean signal and the crushed signal. At 0% you hear only the clean tone. At 100% you hear only the crushed version. Values in between let the original clarity poke through the destruction.

History

Early samplers had low sample rates and bit depths because memory was expensive. The Fairlight CMI, Akai S900, and E-mu SP-1200 all operated well below CD quality.

The SP-1200 in particular - 12-bit resolution at 26.04 kHz - became the defining sound of golden-age hip-hop. Producers chose it for its grit, not despite it.

Today bitcrushing appears across lo-fi hip-hop, chiptune, industrial, and glitch production. The presets above map to real-world textures: Mild adds subtle warmth. Sampler recreates crunchy 1980s hardware. Radio narrows the frequency range. Wrecked pushes toward maximum destruction.