Black Diamond Probe

About Black Diamond Probe

Black Diamond Probe pairs with Black Diamond Distortion. While Black Diamond Distortion lets you build and edit transfer curves—Probe extracts those curves from real hardware or plugins.

Run audio through any nonlinear device—a tube preamp, tape machine, or overdrive pedal—and Probe will extract the transfer function that defines its distortion character. Export the curve as a .tfunc file, then load it into Black Diamond Distortion to reuse it, refine it, or push it further.

How It Works

Setup Guide

Black Diamond Probe extracts nonlinear transfer functions by probing before and after the device under test (DUT).

Place BDP immediately after the DUT to read the output.
Route BDP sidechain to read the DUT input.
Pass audio through the device to begin probing.
For best results, start with a simple test tone that spans the full input range (for example a 0dB sine wave).
For clean captures, bypass filters/EQ in the DUT if possible.
If you see a loop in the plot, use X/Y latency compensation to align input and output.
If the loop doesn't collapse (true hysteresis), the device can't be represented by a single transfer function.

By measuring the input and output at the same time, Probe reconstructs the transfer curve that defines your device’s nonlinear behavior.

Use Cases

Learn what your gear is actually doing: See exactly how different tubes, transistors, or op-amps color your signal. The principle is the same whether you are probing real hardware or software models.
Build a personal curve library: Export .tfunc captures from your favorite gain stages, then load them into Black Diamond Distortion to reuse, tweak, and push further.

Technical Requirements

For accurate captures, the device under test should be memoryless—meaning its output depends only on the current input, not on past inputs. Most distortion, saturation, and waveshaping effects fit this criterion. But sometimes they are packaged with DC blocking filters, Equalizers, or some other tone-shaping modules that rotate the phase.

Devices with memory (time-dependent behavior) can still be fun to visualize in Probe, but they can't be captured as a single stable transfer function. Examples include compressors, pre-amps with EQ/filters enabled, and systems with hysteresis (like most tape saturation). In these cases, the plot may form loops or shift over time, and any exported curve should be treated as an approximation.

The exported .tfunc files are compatible with Black Diamond Distortion (And future Black Diamond products) and can be loaded directly into its preset browser.