The Instruō tanh[3] is a three channel waveshaper, limiter, overdrive, and feedback controller.
Each channel of the tanh[3] takes a signal input and outputs the hyperbolic tangent function (tanh (x)) for that input signal.
… In more musical terms, tangential distortion is a form of soft clipping which can produce signal amplitude limiting via analogue waveshaping. Driving a hot audio signal into it will add warm overdrive.
Raw waveforms will be subtly shaped; softening or adding harmonic content based on input amplitude.
Understanding what the tanh[3] does to a signal, both mathematically and sonically can be hard to explain, but it essentially adds curves
to signals.
For many Max/MSP and/or PD users, the [tanh~] object may be familiar and is likely a much used secret weapon in many contexts.
tanh[3] | tæntʃ | noun (mathematics) the hyperbolic tangent of (x); or as a verb… “a’m gonna tan-h that”