The sound distortion is a widely use effect in music. It's a physical phenomenom that is obtain when the gain is increased. It's a tone changing effect. The most obvious usage is for guitar, which is the instrument that use the most of this effect, but any instrument can benefit from it. There's a lot of distortion pedal available on the market, but racks and studio units also exist. References : - [Thermionic Culture Vulture](https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/thermionic-culture-culture-vulture) - ~1800€. Awesome and discrete compression in rack studio. The sound engineer who mixed one of my E.P. used it on my guitar for a track and I never look back after that. Warm, precise, yet not too present, but really adding value and color to the sound.