Velvet Noise Unit

Overview

Velvet noise is a random train of positive and negative pulses that are each only one sample in length. Digitally speaking, it is a random sequence of the following three values: -1, 0, and 1. The rate (and hence the density) of the velvet noise can be controlled by changing the probability that a zero value will be generated.

I first encountered velvet noise when studying reverbation algorithms such as these.

Some applications are:

• Generating random triggers at a target rate.
• A smoother (as in butter) sounding alternative to white noise.
• Popcorn simulator.
• Jazz drum solo generator when used to trigger a drum voice.

Parameters

rate

The rate parameter controls how often (on average) this unit outputs a trigger. Each trigger has a 50/50 chance to be positive or negative. For example, setting the rate to 1Hz means that this unit will a trigger on average once a second.

See also

• Pink Noise
• White Noise