Manzanita Research Presents

Tone Science

Explorable explanations for the curious musician

You already know what sounds good — you’ve spent years turning knobs, trusting your ears. These explorations let you see what’s happening underneath. How a filter curves, how tape saturates, how a room rings out. Grab a knob and listen.

Harmonics

Why Things Sound the Way They Do

Build a sound from sine waves. Hear how harmonics shape timbre.

Filters / EQ

The Curve and the Phase

Lowpass, highpass, shelf, bell. What a filter actually does to your signal.

Amp / Pedal EQ

Where the Knobs Live

Fender, Marshall, Tube Screamer. See the secret EQ curves inside your gear.

Delay

The Anatomy of an Echo

Tape warble, BBD grit, pristine digital. Hear what separates them.

Reverb

The Shape of a Space

Rooms, halls, plates, chambers. Hear how space colors sound.

Saturation

The Geometry of Distortion

Tube warmth, tape compression, transistor crunch. Watch the waveform bend.

Compression

The Invisible Hand

VCA, FET, optical, vari-mu. See dynamics tamed in real time.

Modulation

The Motion Inside the Sound

Chorus, flanger, phaser, vibrato. Feel the wobble.

Stereo

Between Your Ears

Panning, Haas effect, mid/side. Explore the space between speakers.

Feedback

Eating Its Own Tail

When a signal feeds back into itself. Regeneration, resonance, chaos.