Noise Engineering
Pura Ruina a Three-stage CV-controlled Full-wave Rectifier by Noise Engineering
2025
Pura Ruina by Noise Engineering
Pura Ruina comprises a three-stage CV-controlled fully-hyphenated full-wave rectifier/distortion created for audio. Each stage has an individual level control with corresponding CV and individual out, as well as feeding to the universal Sum output. PR’s rectification creates a unique flavor of distortion, unlike standard wave folding or clipping. Even simple waveforms sound amazing through PR.
From the design notes of Noise Engineering:
“Full-wave rectification (FWR) transforms a bipolar AC signal so that the negative amplitude portions of the signal become positive. It does cool and interesting things to harmonics. For example, an FWR sine waveform loses its fundamental and has a new fundamental at twice the frequency. This forms the basis for the module: 1 is the dry signal. 2 FWRs the incoming signal. 4 FWRs the signal resulting from 2, and so on.
Most modules in the NE lineup start as one of our conceptions and we champion it. This one was one of Stephen’s. He has been interested in full-wave rectification distortions for a long time: he built his first one in high school! It was only a matter of time before he convinced the rest of team NE that we needed to make one in Eurorack.
Pura Ruina started as a simple full-wave rectification module long before we dreamed up the Distortion-of the-Month series. We initially conceived of it as more of a simple 4hp “anti-filter” that would do really cool things. Then we prototyped it and it did not do really cool things. It did not even do vaguely cool things. We tweaked and tweaked and at least Stephen remained convinced that there was a kernel of…something there. The rest of us were skeptical but believe it might have merit. We sat on it for a few months. And then there was the fateful day when we decided to do a series of distortions. Although the concept for the series was based on other circuits and modules, Pura Ruina quickly slotted in. “
Free Plug-ins for your DAW
Ever wanted a Ruina Versio but don’t have the budget? Always wanted to have a polyphonic ‘iteritas’ oscillator that blends, bubbles, screams, and morphs into amazing pads, metals, beats, basslines, and leads?
Noise Engineering just released public beta’s of their 95% finished DAW plugins. I normally don’t cover plug-ins on this modular channel, but these are too good to be free. But they are! Free for everyone who has a Customer Portal account or can create one. This suite includes five plugins which can be used in any DAW that supports VST, AU, and AAX formats. These include clever tools like Ruina (a distortion unit), Imagene (a multifunction sampler), Virta (an oscillator/filter), Pura (a comb filter), and Terci Ruina (a multi-band distortion). Once you have your desired settings and sounds in your DAW, you can easily send audio from DAW to OBS for streaming or recording purposes.
Sinc & Virt Vereor are synth voices with a built-in envelope, filter, and chorus. Ruina is a pretty exact port of the Ruina Versio module code. This video is just me fooling around with the plug-ins for about an hour, so they’re easy to install (remember they’re VST3‘s on windows, so you need Ableton to find it) and even easier to play with them. Best with automation!
Pricing and Availability
If you have an account on the Noise Engineering Customer Portal, you have them already! Just navigate to the Software tab, and Bob’s your uncle, you have plugins. No account? No problem. Pop on over to portal.noiseengineering.us and create one. As soon as you verify your account, your plugins will be waiting for you with open arms.
Noise Engineering Plugin
Noise Engineering plugins are here, but since this is Noise Engineering first venture into multi-format plugins, Noise Engineering is looking for a dedicated cadre of testers who will put these plugins through their paces, use the heck out of them, and of course, report any oddities that remain so Noise Engineering can fix them before Noise Engineering go into the full release!
Included in this release will be Sinc Vereor, Virt Vereor, and Ruina. Each plugin has a preset manager and MIDI mapping so they’ll integrate with your setup however you want to use them. They also have randomization controls so you can create completely new patches at the press of a button.
SINC VEREOR
If you want to quickly create instruments that bridge the gap between traditional subtractive sounds and modern synthesis techniques, Sinc Vereor has you covered.
Sinc Vereor’s intuitive and inviting controls belie the power of this lightweight synthesizer. Sinc Vereor is loosely based on our gone-but-not-forgotten module Sinc Iter.
Tweak the wave morphing/wave folding Tone control to make sound design a breeze. All your favorite Sinc modes are here! Blend between familiar waveforms like a saw, triangle, and square. The supermodel adds 6 phase-offset oscillators. Use Noise mode to generate self-similar noise for percussion, effects, and more.
VIRT VEREOR
Virt Vereor is a powerful synthesizer based on a unique set of synthesis algorithms. Bass is a quadrature algorithm described in Bernie Hutchins’ seminal series Electronotes. Sawx is a supersaw-inspired beast. Harm is an additive algorithm with spectral control and distortion of partials. Virt Vereor makes a tremendous amount of unique sounds with an immediate and usable interface.
Astute users will recognize these algorithms from Noise Engineering’s contribution to Arturia’s Microfreak V3 firmware and our upcoming Virt Iter module. You can read more details about each mode in the Noise Engineering blog post about the MicroFreak oscillators here.
RUINA
Ruina is a creative stereo distortion plugin built on digital distortion algorithms similar to Ruina Versio: no emulations here. Intuitive and fully automatable controls make it easy to get a gentle, nuanced color, to obliviate a signal, or to dial in anything in between. Don’t feel like tweaking the parameters? Ruina comes with tons of presets to fit any need.
Ruina has a wavefolder, a multiband saturator, a chaotic suboctave generator, octavizer, and phase shifter. It also features a notch or bandpass filter with adjustable tracking, and a control to set the order of the distortions in the signal flow to further customize your sound. Last but not least, Overdrive adds up to 128x gain for maximal destruction.
Run any sound through Ruina for warm, lush distortion, or crank the sliders to unleash complete destruction. With seven distortion types, it’s easy to turn your sounds into something new and unique with Ruina.
Watch out for that evil eye though. Does it ever blink?
HOW DO I SIGN UP
Good question! It’s pretty simple. To sign up for the Public Beta, all you need to do is create an account at the Customer Portal, and check the box that says “Sign up for the Noise Engineering Plugin Newsletter and Public Beta.”
Once you’ve done that, you’re on the list with a chance at being selected to be a part of the beta. Each week, Noise Engineering randomly selects a group of users and add the licenses to their Customer Portal account.
New Ruina Versio and Electus Versio
Ruina Versio is a stereo distortion like you’ve never heard: it’s actually a stack of distortion, filtering, and mangling tools that can be rerouted and CV’d to completely destroy any sound you run through it — in a good way, of course. This is the first time that the infinifolder featured on oscillators like the BIA can be used to process external signals. Plus, there’s a Smoosh button and a DOOM knob. Doesn’t get any better than that, does it?
Ruina Versio – “Versatile destruction”
- Ruina — from Latin: “Destruction”
- Versio — from Latin: “Versatile”
Ruina Versio answers the age-old question: how many different types of distortion can we fit on a single module? The answer is a lot, as it turns out. Need a wavefolder? Noise Engineering got a wavefolder. Want some multiband distortion? Of course, you do! And that’s not even including the DOOM parameter! Noise Engineering also decided that Smoosh was a parameter we needed in our lives: press it and add 128dB of a drive. Yes, you read that right: 128dB. Why have SOME drive when you can have ALL the drive?
Ruina isn’t the only new Versio: Noise Engineering announces Electus Versio, too. Electus isn’t its own module, but you can flash it onto any Versio module from the Customer Portal absolutely free, as usual.
Electus is the clocked companion to Desmodus, by popular request! Noise Engineering rethought the delay structure to allow for longer, more distorted, and more focussed tails that worked with time-syncing. It also has its own flavor, and Noise Engineering found ourselves switching back and forth between Desmodus and Electus when Noise Engineering wants some atmosphere in our patches.
Pricing and Availability
If you’re already a Versio owner, you can re-flash your current Versio into a Ruina right now at the NE Customer Portal. Want a dedicated Ruina Versio? Pre-order yours today. They start shipping on March 25, 2021.
Current Firmwares Lineup
Desmodus: Stereo synthetic tail-generator reverb designed for creating abstract, often infinite spaces
Imitor: Stereo in, stereo out 12-tap multimode delay with clock sync and tap tempo
Ampla: DSR-controlled stereo VCA/MMF gate and chorus
Electus: Not quite a reverb, not quite a delay: the clocked atmosphere generator you never knew you needed.
Ruina: Stereo distortion with wave folding, octivizing, phase shifting, multiband saturation, notch filtering, and DOOM.
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