Hi Oliver,
Olivier Revollat wrote:
Hi, I am looking for an abstraction/external (or even a LADSPA plugin loaded in plugin~) to have a big distortion sound in pure data (for an electric guitar).
In PD you could use waveshaping, either by table-lookup or by using [expr~] if you're one of those mathematician types that haunt this list ;-) For the former, check 3.audio.examples/E05.chebychev.pd And have a look at the "Analog/good-sounding oscillators in PD" thread, which covers similar grounds and purposes.
I used the LADSPA Crossover and Foldover distortions together, but make sure to put a [hip~ 5] or something else to remove the DC offset after this, because one of them (I can't remember which!) gives a huge amount of offset. There are also some Overdrive and Tube Warmth LADSPAs, as well as the mysterious Barry's Satan Maximizer.
I have to say that all the modeling of guitar-style analog distortion I have tried using PD or LADSPA didn't sound very satisfying in comparison to what can be done easier with a $25 guitar pedal. Yes, I got distortion that could be mistaken for a guitar pedal by a casual listener, but on close listening it came across different. The warmth wasn't there and the crunch was very digital-sounding. Sometimes the DC offset actually turned the foldover/crossover into silence with low bass sounds. I guess you could say it was be a rather "academic" exercise. Your results may be different, depending on what you're going for.
good luck, d.