Cubase 13: Creating Lo-Fi Effects

 By John Walden

The full signal chain I used for my lo‑fi processing experiment including Grungelizer, BitCrusher and FX Modulator.

Want to get the lo‑fi vibe using Cubase’s stock plug‑ins? Here’s how.

Whether it’s within the abundant supply of relaxation‑meets‑study music, embedded firmly in some types of hip‑hop, or just blended subtly into a whole range of other popular genres, lo‑fi is very much back in fashion. If you want to take your pristine recordings and add a touch of sonic degradation to create a warm, nostalgic sound there are some very popular third‑party effects plug‑ins tailor‑made for the job. But if you have Cubase, it’s also a style you can achieve using just the stock plug‑ins — with no need for additional expenditure required. So let’s see how Cubase can help you embrace all those perfect imperfections!

Tools Of The Lo‑Fi Trade

Typically, signal‑chains for lo‑fi feature a number of elements. For example, electrical noise or vinyl crackles might be applied. Tape (whether real or emulated) can be used to simulate the pitch modulation caused by varying tape speed or wow, flutter and dropouts. Distortion can be added via real or virtual analogue circuity or tube distortion. Sample degradation through bit‑depth or sample‑rate reduction can be used to ‘downgrade’ the sound. Pitch modulation or resonator components are often added to reverb or delay effects. And, finally, the bandwidth of the sound can be restricted using filters.

As with any effects chain, changing the order of the effects in the chain can lead you to different results, and you can use as few or as many of these options simultaneously as you wish, and adjust the wet/dry balance of individual effects or the whole chain to taste.

Stock Options

Given the typical processing options described above, the first screenshot shows some obvious candidates from Cubase’s bundled plug‑in collection that might fulfil each role. To give you a better idea of the kinds of effect this example signal chain can deliver, I’ve created some audio examples that you can find on the SOS website (https://sosm.ag/cubase-1124). These are based around two particularly common targets for lo‑fi processing: a piano part and a drum loop.

So, what have I got in my example effects chain and why? For ‘turntable noise’, Grungelizer is definitely the plug‑in for the task. It lets you add noise, crackle (with a turntable speed switch) and distortion effects as well as an element of mains hum. For this workshop’s experiments, I started with the suitably named LoFi 1 preset and dialled in to taste from there. Really, the only thing to note is that the noise elements added by Grungelizer are ‘always on’, whether or not the instrument it’s applied to is playing. Now you might want the sound all through your track, but often you won’t, particularly if you’re processing multiple parts in this...

Published November 2024