Its About Time

But one of the most obvious uses of temporal manipulation involves effects such as delay, reverb, chorusing, and flanging — it’s hard to imagine a track without some form of time processing. And it’s hard to imagine this column without some tips, so let’s start.

DUPLICATING TRACKS FOR DELAY

The normal way to add delay is to insert a delay plug-in or processor in a track. But as today’s sequencers and computers offer nearly unlimited track counts, you can create some unique delay effects by duplicating a track and dedicating it to delay effects, or shifting it later in time to create an echo. For example:

Delay with modulation. Being able to modulate the delayed signal creates more of a varying, tape echo-like effect that’s more interesting than just delaying the sound. To do this, copy the track to be delayed, and insert a delay into the copied track. Edit the effect for the desired number of repeats, feedback, etc., and set it to delayed sound (all wet) only. Finally, insert a chorus effect in this track, after the delay, and add modulation to taste. Bonus tip: Inserting the chorus before or after the echo creates two different sounds; try ’em both.

Dull those echoes. One of the appealing aspects of analog delay is that echoes had reduced high frequency response, so the echoes didn’t “step on” the main signal. To create this effect, proceed as you did above but insert a low pass filter instead of a chorus before or after the delay. Dial back the high frequencies to taste.

Brighten those echoes. For vocals, try a bright echo effect that “floats” above the midrange instruments. Do the same as the above tip, but use a highpass filter instead, and attenuate the low frequencies.

Automate the delay track. Another advantage in copying echoes to another track is that you can automate the echo levels — goose the level to make them “splash” after percussive hits, or have them sit demurely in the back if you want to draw attention to something else. Automating EQ in conjunction with delay can also provide some very cool echo effects.

Insane phunkee delayz. Create custom echo parts by copying a track for as many times as you want repeats. Shift each track in time to produce the desired amount of delay (yes, this also provides a way around the “maximum delay time” limitation inherent in most plug-ins). Now the fun begins: Pan the tracks differently, put them through effects, filter them, create polyrhythms . . . whatever turns you on.

MORE TIME-RELATED TIPS

• With reverb, higher diffusion settings create a smoother reverb effect. This works well with percussive sounds that have a lot of space, like piano or drums. But the sonic density may be too much for sustained sounds, like organ or voice; these benefit from reduced diffusion settings, which create a somewhat sparser reverb effect that doesn’t compete with the main signal.

• For better flanging effects, try “through zero” flanging (see Jargon Jockey). Copy the track to be flanged, and insert the identical flanging plug-in (which with this technique, can be basically any delay line you can modulate) in each track, both tweaked for wet sound only and identical levels. Set one track’s flanger for no modulation and an initial delay that’s slightly longer than the shortest possible delay (e.g., 2ms if the shortest possible delay is 1ms). Edit the other flanger for the “real” flanging effect, but make sure that it sweeps all the way up to the minimum possible delay. As it approaches the minimum delay point, it will cross through the delayed signal . . . this is a cool effect, as you can hear in the audio example at www.keyboardmag.com.

• Finally, if you have a soft synth with internal effects, it may be more practical to use those than external plug-ins. Why? Because later on, when you recall the plug-in, you’ll recall all the delay settings as well. If you no longer have the external plug-in you used, it won’t load any more because of some OS change, or whatever, as long as you can load the instrument you’re set.