Page 13 of 20

Effects

Shape a sound with an EQ, a delay, a reverb and more, and hear what each one does.

An effect is a block that sits in the cable between a sound and the mixer and changes the sound that goes through. Put a reverb after a piano and the piano seems to stand in a room; put an EQ after a bass and you make it warmer or thinner.

A bass goes through an EQ, a delay and a reverb on its way to the mixer.

Read the chain from left to right: the bass block makes the sound, tone (an EQ) shapes it, echo (a delay) repeats it, room (a reverb) puts it in a space, and the mixer takes the result.

Add an effect#

Press the + EQ button on a block that makes sound: AMPLE adds an EQ block after it, connects it and opens its controls.
Or add any effect from the Library on the left, and connect it yourself: the sound goes into its in port and comes out of out.

The advanced controls#

Every effect has an Advanced button that opens a panel with knobs and a picture of what the effect does.

The EQ panel: three bands (low, mid, high) with the corner frequencies, and the approximate response curve.

Turn a knob, and the curve follows. To listen while you turn, use Build and use input: it makes the sound of the block before the effect available in the panel, so you hear the effect on it.

The usual effects#

Effect	What it does	Its main settings
EQ	turns the low, middle or high of a sound up or down	`low`, `mid`, `high` in dB
Filter	removes the highs (lowpass) or the lows (highpass)	`type`, `cutoff` in Hz
Delay	repeats the sound after a short time	`time` in ms, `feedback`, `mix`
Reverb	puts the sound in a room	`size`, `decay`, `mix`
Compressor	evens out loud and soft parts	`threshold`, `ratio`, `attack`, `release`
Distortion	makes the sound rougher	`drive`

Many effects (the delay, the reverb) have a mix setting: how much of the changed sound you hear next to the original. An EQ or a filter has no mix: it changes everything that goes through. A good rule is to start low and turn it up until you notice it, then back a little.

Switch an effect off#

enabled off keeps the block in the song but lets the sound pass untouched. It is the quickest way to check whether an effect improves anything: switch it off, build, listen.

In the text#

eq tone stable@1.0 {
  low 4 dB
  from bass.audio -> in
}
delay echo stable@1.0 {
  time 375 ms
  feedback 35%
  mix 28%
  from tone.out -> in
}
reverb room stable@1.0 {
  size 45%
  decay 50%
  mix 22%
  from echo.out -> in
}

Next: the whole song on one timeline, in The arrangement.