Loss is all about imperfect playback, from a worn cassette to a glitchy video call. Choose a mode with the Codec and Magnetic buttons. Codec is the default for new instances, and presets from RC-20 v1 load in Magnetic mode. Both modes share Focus and the Big Knob.
Focus Choose the frequencies Loss works on. Apply dropouts to the highs only, for example, and the low end keeps thumping through.
Big Knob The amount of Loss, in either mode.
Magnetic mode
All the funny things that happen to tape: the original Magnetic module from RC-20 v1, with a few additions.
Wear/Flutter The balance between Wear, the slow fluctuations of a tape played too many times, and Flutter, a fast flutter from a faulty tape mechanism. Unlike Wobble, these move the level (or the tone, see Vol/Filter) rather than the pitch.
Dropouts Random, sudden drops, like Wear but more intense.
Rate The speed of the Flutter, from 6 to 30 Hz, with a sync button
Vol/Filter Sets what Wear, Flutter and Dropouts act on: the volume (left, the classic sound), a low-pass filter (right), or both (center). Toward Filter, dropouts sound muffled rather than dropping in level.
Shape Shapes the Flutter (see How the modules work).
Stereo Lets Wear and Dropouts behave differently on the left and right, which gives a mono source a subtle stereo feel.
Flux Adds randomness to the Wear and Flutter.
Codec mode
Codec is modern digital damage: MP3-style compression, packet loss and formant shifting, for that low-bitrate stream or bad video call sound. It adds a little latency (see Latency and oversampling).
Lossy/Formant The balance between Lossy, which throws away detail like a low-bitrate codec for swirly, watery artifacts, and Formant, which shifts the resonances that give a voice or instrument its character. Shifting them down sounds darker and bigger, without changing the pitch.
Dropouts Packet-loss glitches. The small button on the knob switches mode: Repeat (the default) repeats the latest audio like a stuttering call, and FFT Freeze freezes it into a smeared, held tone that can go much further.
Stretch Brings back some of the high end lost when the formants shift down.
Blur Smears the sound into something underwater. The top of the range adds movement too.
Mix The balance between the processed and the clean sound.
Focus/Cut With Cut (the default), everything outside the range is removed by a steep, brick-wall-style filter. With Focus, it passes through clean.
Flux Varies how much the codec throws away and how far the formants shift.
Turning up the Big Knob throws away more of the sound, shifts the formants further down (up to an octave) and brings in Blur and Stretch. There are no dropouts while it’s at 0.