[samplenoise]

> You could accomplish much the same by using a "depth-1 network" and running an impulse through it

This would be true for a linear impulse response, however for this kind of effects you need both state/memory (like a convolution) and non-linearity (like a waveshaper), which is why people use RNN's and CNN's

[munificent]

Ah, good point. Thank you for mentioning non-linearity. This has helped clarify my novice thinking on this.