could someone please explain what an audio buffer is? im checking out wah wah circuits and the red part in the attached schematic was called an audio buffer by the author. TY

 

The configuration is that of a source follower. The similar vacuum tube circuit was called a cathode follower. There is no inversion from input to output and the gain is usually unity. An "audio buffer" is a unity gain amplifier with a flat response over the audio frequency range.

 

could you dumb it down for me?

 

An amplifier with gain of 1 (i.e. no voltage amplification), that doesn´t load the output of the previous stage but allows you to load its own output for example with headphones.

It is used because loading the previous stage would cause undesired effects, like different frequency range for different headphones.
Dumb enough?

 

yes, dumb enough. makes perfect sense now

 

could you dumb it down for me?

Sorry that is beyond my capabilities