fuzzo manual

What it does

fuzzo adds body and density: saturation with five characters (Classic, Tape, Tube, Clip, Console), transient control, a low split with its own saturation, an output clipper and a true peak ceiling.

Saturation with transient control, a low-band split, an output clipper and a true peak ceiling. Tape, tube, clip or console: the interface takes the colour of the character. Before 19 October 2026 it was called DENSITY; sessions and presets made with the old name open as before.

Tape, tube, clip and console: the skin follows the character.
Fatness, Color and Punch are the three main gestures.
True peak ceiling measured at 4x, Level match, parallel Mix.

Quick start

Choose a Character: tape, tube, clip or console (the interface colour follows it).
Raise Fatness. Punch lets the attacks through cleaner.
Keep level match on to compare at the same loudness.

The display

Three views. curve: the saturation curve with the point of the current level; clip zone marks where it cuts. harmonics: the energy fuzzo adds in each band, with a live THD chip. wave: the peak envelope of the last 8 seconds, output filled, input outlined, the ceiling dashed. On the display drag up and down for Fatness and sideways for Color (Shift for fine).

The fuzzo curve view with the tape character: the transfer curve, the level point with its trail and the line tape, soft compression, a breathing tail. — **The transfer curve.** The character's real saturation curve, with a point at the current level after Input and a short trail; in silence it returns to zero. When the character, Fatness or Symmetry change, the previous curves fade out. On the display, drag up and down for Fatness and sideways for Color; harmonics and wave are the other views.

Added harmonics as bars from 60 Hz to 16 kHz, with THD 11 %. — **Added harmonics.** The energy fuzzo adds in each band, relative to the output, from -60 to 0 dB. The THD chip shows the share of added harmonics, live.

The Fatness knob at 30 %, with what it adds: 0.0 dB, matched (-4.0), and THD 11 %. — **Fatness.** How much saturation. Under it, what it adds shows how much louder the sound gets before Level match and Trim, and the harmonics it adds as THD.

Color 10, Punch 45 %, Ceiling -1.0 dB and Trim 0.0 dB. — **Color, Punch, Ceiling, Trim.** Color moves the harmonics darker or brighter without changing the base tone. Punch protects the transients, Ceiling is the output limit and Trim the final level.

The Character switch set to tape, with tube, clip and console. — **Four characters.** tape, tube, clip and console, each with its own curve, and the interface takes the colour of the character. Symmetry, in advanced under drive, adds even harmonics.

level match on, and the switch between normal and added only. — **Level match and added only.** level match compensates the volume fuzzo adds by comparing the whole output with the input, so it works with Mix below 100 % too: keep it on to compare at the same loudness. added only plays just what fuzzo adds; it is for listening and is never saved.

Every picture on this page is a capture of the real interface, from the current build.

Controls

The names are the ones your DAW shows for automation, read from the plugin itself; ranges and defaults are the plugin's own. Every knob: drag (Shift for fine), wheel for small steps, double-click for the default, Enter or a click on the value to type it with units (6k3, 250ms, -3 dB).

Main controls

Control	Range	Default	What it does
Fatness	0 % to 100 %	0 %	How much saturation.
Character	Classic · Tape · Tube · Clip · Console	Tape	Classic, Tape, Tube, Clip or Console.
Color	0 % to 100 %	0 %	Moves the harmonics down (dark) or up (bright) without changing the basic tone.
Punch	0 % to 100 %	50 %	Protects the transients: from Fatness 60 % up they stand at most 2 to 3 dB above the saturated sound.
Mix	0 % to 100 %	100 %	Parallel saturation.
Level match	Off · On	Off	Compensates the added level; works with Mix below 100 % and with the low cut.
Input	−18 dB to 18 dB	0 dB	Level into the saturation.
Output trim	−24 dB to 12 dB	0 dB	Final level.
Ceiling	−12 dB to −0.1 dB	−0.1 dB	The output ceiling.
Clipper	0 % to 100 %	0 %	Shown as softness: the output clipper before the ceiling. Off; a few % is a hard cut at the ceiling; 100 % a soft knee from 8 dB below.
True peak	Off · On	Off	The ceiling also stops inter-sample peaks (4x), within about 0.05 dB. Adds 23 samples of latency.
Band split	0 Hz to 800 Hz	0 Hz	Splits the lows below this frequency (0 = off).
Low fatness	0 % to 100 %	0 %	Saturation of the split lows.
Dynamic fatness	−100 % to 100 %	0 %	Saturates loud passages more (+) or quiet ones (−).
Symmetry	0 % to 100 %	0 %	Unbalances the curve for even, warmer harmonics. The DC shift is removed without losing bass.
Stereo mode	Stereo · Mid/Side	Stereo	Stereo or Mid/Side.
Side fatness	0 % to 200 %	100 %	In Mid/Side: how much the sides saturate (0 % clean, 200 % double).
Width	0 % to 200 %	100 %	Output stereo width.
Low cut	10 Hz to 500 Hz	10 Hz	Before the saturation, so deep lows do not muddy the harmonics.
High cut	2 kHz to 22 kHz	22 kHz	After the saturation.
Air	0 dB to 12 dB	0 dB	Brightness at 10 kHz on the saturated signal.
Oversampling	2x · 4x · 8x	4x	2x, 4x or 8x: higher means less aliasing and more CPU.
Classic drive	Off · On	On	The engine of sessions saved before the ZOKKU characters (Classic).

Every parameter (26)

Numbered parameters are grouped in one row (for example Band 1–8), with the number of copies.

Parameter	Range	Default
Fatness	0 % to 100 %	0 %
Legacy color	−100 to 100	0
Input	−18 dB to 18 dB	0 dB
Output trim	−24 dB to 12 dB	0 dB
Mix	0 % to 100 %	100 %
Punch	0 % to 100 %	50 %
Ceiling	−12 dB to −0.1 dB	−0.1 dB
Level match	Off · On	Off
Bypass	Off · On	Off
Classic drive	Off · On	On
Color	0 % to 100 %	0 %
Gain	−24 dB to 24 dB	0 dB
Character	Classic · Tape · Tube · Clip · Console	Tape
Band split	0 Hz to 800 Hz	0 Hz
Low fatness	0 % to 100 %	0 %
Clipper	0 % to 100 %	0 %
Oversampling	2x · 4x · 8x	4x
Dynamic fatness	−100 % to 100 %	0 %
Stereo mode	Stereo · Mid/Side	Stereo
Side fatness	0 % to 200 %	100 %
Width	0 % to 200 %	100 %
Low cut	10 Hz to 500 Hz	10 Hz
High cut	2 kHz to 22 kHz	22 kHz
Air	0 dB to 12 dB	0 dB
True peak	Off · On	Off
Symmetry	0 % to 100 %	0 %

Presets

62 presets in 9 categories, each with a description the search can read.

Basics 2Clean start, Warm body
Vocals 9
Drums 9Drum pressure
Bass 8Bass growl
Synth 6Synth presence
Guitar 5Acoustic glue
Bus 8Punch bus
Master 8Gentle master
Creative 7Full crush

Click the preset capsule in the top bar to open the preset sheet: search (every word must appear in the name, category or description), categories with their counts, ★ Favourites, tags on every row, and in B, which loads a preset into the slot that is not playing so you can compare. A click loads a preset and leaves the sheet open; ↑ ↓ move, Enter loads and closes, Esc closes. The arrows ‹ › beside the capsule step through the list; a dot says the sound was changed.

All 62 programs, as the DAW lists them

Basics / Clean start
Vocals / Vocal weight
Drums / Drum pressure
Bass / Bass growl
Basics / Warm body
Synth / Synth presence
Guitar / Acoustic glue
Bus / Parallel crunch
Bus / Punch bus
Bus / Dense parallel
Master / Gentle master
Creative / Full crush
Vocals / Warm tape
Vocals / Present tube
Vocals / Aggressive rap
Vocals / Soft backing vocals
Drums / Thick kick
Drums / Crispy snare
Drums / Room bus
Drums / Lo-fi loop
Bass / Warm 808
Bass / Growling synth bass
Bass / Electric bass
Synth / Thick pads
Synth / Bright lead
Synth / Pluck on the edge
Guitar / Full acoustic
Guitar / Dirty electric
Bus / Mix bus glue
Bus / New York parallel
Bus / Tape on the bus
Master / Light warmth
Master / Safe loudness
Creative / Broken radio
Creative / Dynamic breath
Creative / Extreme saturation
Vocals / Even warmth
Vocals / Gentle on the esses
Vocals / Parallel grit
Vocals / Close podcast
Drums / Full snare
Drums / Soft kick clipper
Drums / Hard kick clipper
Drums / Soft cymbals
Bass / Phone 808
Bass / Distorted 808
Bass / Parallel growl
Bass / Tube DI
Synth / Lo-fi keys
Synth / Wide M/S pad
Guitar / Softened DI
Guitar / Even fuzz
Bus / Tube on the bus
Bus / Parallel tape
Master / Soft clipper -1 dBTP
Master / Hard clipper -1 dBTP
Master / Streaming -1 dBTP
Master / M/S warm centre
Master / M/S airy sides
Creative / Cassette
Creative / Telephone
Creative / Wrecked sides

A/B and undo

A and B hold two complete settings. equal vol. plays B at the loudness of A, so louder never fools you. in B in the preset sheet loads a preset straight into the other slot. Undo and redo (the curved arrows, Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Shift+Z) are kept separately for A and B; switching slot is not a step.

Listen modes

normal / added only sits next to level match. added only plays only what fuzzo adds; it is never saved and never reaches the meters.

Simple, advanced and sizes

simple shows the display, Fatness, Punch, Character, level match and Mix. advanced opens a drawer with five tabs: drive (input, symmetry, dynamics, oversampling, split and low fat), output (ceiling, softness, trim, true peak), stereo & tone (mid/side, side, width, low cut, high cut, air), engine (ZOKKU or classic, save and open) and assistant.

Pick a size with S, M and L in the top bar, or drag the window corner. A click on the status line zooms the contents from 75 to 200 %. The help strip in the footer describes the control under the pointer.

fuzzo in the Essential (S) view, 640 by 400 — Essential (S), 640 × 400

fuzzo in the Studio (M) view, 1000 by 640 — Studio (M), 1000 × 640

fuzzo in the Full (L) view, 1280 by 800 — Full (L), 1280 × 800

More features

Assistant

Capture 4 seconds of the track and type a goal. Propose computes a proposal on this computer, offline. Ask AI (optional) uses an online AI service with your own API key and sends only measurements, never audio. The proposal goes into slot B, to compare with A.

Tips by genre

Rap and vocals: Warm tape for light warmth, Aggressive rap for edge; keep Punch around 50.
808 on phones: Phone 808: harmonics that make the 808 audible on small speakers while the sub stays clean (use Band split).
Drums: Soft kick clipper or Hard kick clipper for a louder kick; Punch to keep the click.
Master and streaming: Streaming −1 dBTP: true peak on, ceiling −1 dB.
Lo-fi: Cassette or Broken radio, with the low and high cuts.

CPU and latency

Latency: Under 1 ms at 48 kHz (37 samples in our test), reported to the host. The true peak option adds 23 samples.
Quality: Oversampling 2x, 4x (default) or 8x. At 8x the four characters stay below -80 dBc on a high tone at -20 dBFS, even at full Fatness.
CPU: About 2.3 % of one core at 4x; about 0.02 % after 4 s of silence.

CPU: one stereo instance at 48 kHz, 512-sample blocks, on a test signal, as a percent of one core of a recent desktop CPU. Indicative only: your system will differ.

Version and changes

This manual describes fuzzo 0.7.4. Updates never change how a saved session sounds: when the sound changes, it arrives as a new option or only in new instances.

Latest builds

0.7.4 2026-10-24 ["Its own product now: its licence, the Beat Kit's (KIZAMI, KITTO, TATAKIT, FUZZO, ASCENT) or ZOKKU All's unlocks it; old beta trials keep working. Sound and saved sessions unchanged."]
0.7.3 2026-10-24 ['Activate online and Activate offline in the licence sheet activate ZOKKU All; a saved session stays byte for byte the same after it is reopened.']
0.7.2 2026-10-24 ['A ZOKKU All licence unlocks it too; the free trial is the ZOKKU All one: 7 days, one trial for all eleven.']

Before

0.7 Revisited interface: added only, simple/advanced drawer with the assistant.
0.6 New name, fuzzo (before: DENSITY).

Common to every plugin: windows, presets, keyboard and typed values.