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Berzerk Distortion
The go-to plugin for wild, deranged, creative distortion: 10 all-original distortion shapes, advanced feedback, pitch, dynamics, sidechaining and M/S options for versatile experimentation—plus the 'Go Berzerk!' button for randomized, unpredictable distortion madness.
When you’re producing a new beat, playing around with a synth line, or putting together song ideas on the fly, you often need that kick of inspiration, that sound which redefines the project and takes the music forward. We developed Berzerk to help you do that.
Our engineers began by collecting a large array of well-loved distortion units of all types: amps, tube devices, stomp boxes and old analog units. They then developed original custom wave shapes based on their all-time favorite distortion curves.
Berzerk includes 10 unique shapes, each with its own personality. Some transform the sound to add grit, dirt, character; others will blow your head off.
The 'Go Berzerk!' button creates random variations in each waveshape, letting you personalize the signal. Turn the Density knob to shift the waveshape in amplitude; but watch out—it might get loud!
The unique Feedback section is like an on-board analog synth. It can either run a tunable sine wave through the signal, producing interesting bass lines, melodies or rhythms; or it can oscillate while “riding” the input—think crazy synthesized vocal FX. It also includes a Speed knob to shape the groove, as well as octave, pitch, range and blend adjustments—all of which you can sidechain.
The Dynamics section sits before the distortion and twists the character of the generated harmonics. The “Up/Down” knob controls a gate/expander which, after setting the threshold, will affect the range of sound affected by the clipper. The “Rider” option rides the amount of gain hitting the distortion, giving you full dynamic control.
Berzerk also offers unique M/S processing, distorting just the mids or just the sides when needed; a master Temperature knob to control the overall color and feel of the output; and an overall mix knob.
When you want to conjure sounds you’ve never dreamed of—for your synths, drums, vocals, bass or guitars—it’s time to go Berzerk.
Creative distortion plugin designed to inspire musical ideas
10 original distortion shapes with wildly different personalities
'Go Berzerk' button to surprisingly randomize each distortion shape
Versatile Feedback oscillation section with pitch/speed controls, int/ext sidechaining & more
Dynamics section to gate, expand or ride the input into the distortion
M/S processing: distort only mids or only sides, leave the rest clean
Temperature control to set overall signal color & warmth
Presets by Grammy-winning mixers Lu Diaz, Dave Pensado, more
In Depth
Lu Diaz Mixing Engineer & Producer
DJ Khaled, Pitbull, Beyoncé, Jay Z
“Fantastic plugin, amazing textures! It includes my presets: My ‘Drive Bass’ preset, followed by a low-pass, works great for making a tonal bass out of an 808. Also check out my ‘I Water Plus Gremlins’ preset – a cool effect to make guitars and other instruments sound possessed!”
Joe Barresi Producer, Mixer, Recording Engineer
QOTSA, Tool, Soundgarden
“Berzerk goes beyond the typical distortion plugins out there. The many layers of control, and especially the filtering, makes it way more usable than most.”
Dave Pensado Mixing Engineer
Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera, Pink
“Distortion is vital in today’s audio world. Berzerk is quickly becoming one of my favorite tools to fulfill this need.”
Tom Lord-Alge Producer, Mixing Engineer
Blink-182, Weezer, Live, Dave Matthews Band
“My tips for my Berzerk presets that are included in the plugin: ‘Distortion 80’s Electronic Bass Drum’ turns a bass drum into that 80s-style “SynDrum” sound. ‘Pro Center Distortion’ – I use this to add bit of distortion to on the center channel of a stereo piano track. ‘Vox Subtle Dist’ – I use this preset to add some girt and subtle distortion/saturation to a vocal track. ‘WTF Efx Key From Bass Drum’ – my way of getting a weird effect that would be in time with the song. Try this on a bass, and key it from the bass drum.”
Mark Ralph Producer, Songwriter, Mixing Engineer
Clean Bandit, Years & Years, Jax Jones, TIEKS
“It's all in the name with this one. Out of control, frenzied abandon in the best way possible. Not for the faint of heart.”
Guy Massey Recording, Mixing, Mastering & Remastering Engineer
The Beatles, Ed Sheeran, Manic Street Preachers
“Berzerk distortion is insane. You can sculpt really interesting modulated distortions very quickly – be careful, it’s addictive!”
Kevin Churko Producer, Engineer, Mixer & Songwriter
Ozzy Osbourne, Five Finger Death Punch, Shania Twain
“Berzerk is amazingly flexible. From soft saturation to the insane ‘Berzerk’ mode, it’s a beast.”
Adair Daufembach Producer, Recording, Mixing & Mastering Engineer
Tony MacAlpine, Aquiles Priester, Project46, Rock in Rio
“Looks the devil is inside this plugin! That’s now my go-to when I have to go bananas with guitars and bass. Super fun!”
Sterling Winfield Producer, Engineer, Mixer
Pantera, Hellyeah, Texas Hippie Coalition, Erykah Badu
“Berzerk is my favorite new Waves distortion. It can handle anything from a vocal to a kick drum. Distortion wise, it is like nothing I’ve ever worked with all in one plugin.”
Graham Reznick Sound Designer, Re-Recording Mixer, Composer, Writer, Director, Editor
The House of the Devil, The Innkeepers, In a Valley of Violence, Until Dawn
“Berzerk is a madman’s fuzzed out electro distortion dream!”
Tech Specs
Berzerk Distortion (V11) - System Requirements
Intel Core i5 / i7 / i9 / Xeon
Memory
8 GB RAM
8 GB free disk space on the system drive
Operating System
10.12.6 - 10.15
Screen Resolution
Minimum: 1024x768
Recommended: 1280x1024 / 1600x1024
USB displays are not supported as the primary display.
Intel Core i5 / i7 / i9 / Xeon / AMD Quad-Core
Memory
8 GB RAM
8 GB free disk space on the system drive
Operating System
Windows 10 64 bit
Screen Resolution
Minimum: 1024x768
Recommended: 1280x1024 / 1600x1024
Logic Pro X, 10.5.1 (Audio Units)
Digital Performer 10 (Audio Units)
Ableton Live 10.1 (VST / VST3)
Nuendo 10 (VST3)
Cubase 10, 10.5 (VST3)
WaveLab 9.5 (VST3)
Main Stage 3 (Audio Units)
Garage Band 10 (Audio Units)
Audition 12 (VST3)
Premiere Pro 13 (VST3)
Final Cut Pro X (Audio Units)
Studio One Professional 4 (VST3)
Media Composer 2019 (AAX Native)
FL Studio 20 (VST3)
REAPER 6 (VST3)
Reason 11 (VST)
Maschine 2 (VST)
Komplete Kontrol 2 (VST)
Bitwig Studio 3 (VST3)
Luna 1.0.6 (Audio Units)
Ableton Live 10.1 (VST / VST3)
Nuendo 10 (VST3)
Cubase 10, 10.5 (VST3)
WaveLab 9.5 (VST3)
Cakewalk by BandLab 2019 (VST3)
Audition 12 (VST3)
Premiere Pro 13 (VST3)
Samplitude Pro X4 (VST3)
Sequoia 14 (VST3)
Pyramix 11, 12 (VST)
Studio One Professional 4 (VST3)
Media Composer 2019 (AAX Native)
FL Studio 20 (VST3)
REAPER 6 (VST3)
Reason 11 (VST)
Maschine 2 (VST)
Komplete Kontrol 2 (VST)
Bitwig Studio 3 (VST3)
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