Audio Effects and Controllers Flashcards
In Overdrive what does the Dynamics control affect ?
How much of the original sounds dynamics are retained or compressed
In Auto Filter what is the Curcuit Mode button for?
Engage one of a selection of analogue-modelled filter curcuits, with the option to drive the filter
What are the seven LFO modes in Auto Filter?
Sine, Saw up, Saw Down, Triangle, Square, Mono random, Stereo Random
What catagory of Effects do Delay, Echo and Reverb fall into?
Time-based
Which Control on Auto-Filter allows you add stereo information to the filter and what are the two modes available?
Phase adds stereo information to the filter, the two modes are Phase and Spin
What catagory of Effects do Compressors, Limiters, Distortion and Saturators fall into?
Dynamics Control
What catagory of Effects do Chorus, Phaser, Flanger and Tremolo fall into?
Modulation
In Auto-Filter, what 4 pairs of filter types can be cycled through using the Morph mode?
LP/BP, BP/HP, HP/NO, NO/LP
In Beat Repeat what do the Interval, Chance, Gate and Offset controls do?
Interval - How often the effect will trigger
Chance - how likely it is that the effect will trigger at the given Interval setting
Gate - How long the effect will be active for once triggered
Offset - controls the position in the beat that Beat Repeat will trigger
In Beat Repeat what do the Volume, Pitch, Pitch Decay and Decay controls do ?
Volume changes the volume of the repeats, Pitch changes the pitch of repeats, Pitch Decay changes the pitch of the repeats over time, and Decays lowers the volume of the repeats over time
In Beat Repeat what are the three modes for the playback of the repeats and how do they differ?
Mix - Combines repeated audio with original audio
Insert - Cuts-out original audio while repeats are playing
Gate - Plays only the repeats, removing the original audio completely
In Beat Repeat what do the Grid, Variation, and Variation Modes affect?
Grid- sets the baseline note-value (i.e. rhythm) for the repeats
Variation - Controlls the amount of randomisation of the grid value
Variation Modes - Selects when/how grid variations are triggered
In Ableton’s Delay what are the three modes, what do they affect and how do they differ?
The three modes are Re-Pitch, Fade and Jump - these affect how the tails change when the Time is changed in real-time; Re-Pitch changes the pitch of delays like an analogue delay, Fade fades the volume of the repeats when changing time, and Jump changes the delays instantly.
What do Grain Delay’s Frequency and Spray controls do?
Frequency controls the size and speed of the grains of audio used for the delays, Spray randomises the delay time for each grain
In Ableton’s Echo what do the Input control and ‘D’ button do?
Input add gain to the delayed signal; if you activate the ‘D’ button it will also drive the input of the dry signal
Descibe the Function of these five Character sections in Ableton’s Echo: Gate, Ducking, Noise, Wobble, Re-pitch
Gate - sets a threshold so that only above this level will enter the Echo unit
Ducking - Reduces the volume of the delayed signal when the original signal is above a threshold, functioning like a side-chain
Noise - Adds noise to the signal (pre-delay, so is present in delays)
Wobble - Adds pitch instability to the delays
Re-pitch - Disables/enbles analogue-style repitching of delays
How can Ableton’s Echo be used to create a subltle stereo chorused/modulated effect?
Use the Modulation Tab to set an LFO to modulate the Delay Time (labelled ‘Delay’) a small amount and offset the Phase for a stereo effect
How can Ableton’s Echo be used to make a basic looping effect ?
Set the Dry/Wet to 50%, the Delay Time to max and the Feedback to around 95%
Describe some rough settings on Echo to create a spring reverb Sound
Dry/wet 50%, Feedback 50%, Time 75ms (L&R synced), LPF 120Hz, HPF 1.5khz with a little resonance, plus a little Reverb
Describe some rough settings on Echo to create a slightly flanged reverb Sound
Dry/wet 50%, Feedback 50%, Time 5-20ms (L&R synced), LPF 120Hz, HPF 1.5khz with a little resonance, Modulation set to Sine, Synced1/4, Phase 90degrees, a small amount of Delay (Time) modulation, plus 40% Reverb
Describe some rough settings on Echo to create a deep flanging sound
Dry/wet 50%, Feedback 50%, Time 2-5ms (L&R synced), LPF 120Hz, HPF 1.5khz with a little resonance, Modulation set to Sine, 0.5-2hz, Phase 90degrees, a large amount of Delay (Time) modulation + engage the ‘4x’ button for even more resonant sounds
In Ableton’s Pedal what does the three-way slider under the EQ section do?
Changes the frequency of focus for the Mid control
In Ableton’s Pedal what does the Sub switch do?
Restores the Sub bass frequencies to the signal
In Drum Buss what do the Fequency and the button below Decay interact?
The frequency changes the pitch of the Boom filter and the button at the bottom displays the closest musical note of that pitch and can be pressed to shift the pitch exactly to the displayed note name.
In Drum Buss what do the Fequency and the button below Decay interact?
The frequency changes the pitch of the Boom filter and the button at the bottom displays the closest musical note of that pitch and can be pressed to shift the pitch exactly to the displayed note name.
In Drum Buss is the Trim control affecting the signal before or after the Comp and Drive controls ?
Before
In Auto Pan what value would you set the Phase to in order to perform volume modulation/tremello ?
0 degrees
In Auto Pan which modulation waveform type is the Invert button most useful/impactful for ?
Saw wave - to create either a saw up or saw-down
In Overdrive, what is the effect of the Dynamics control?
It changes how much the original signal is being compressed
What are some approximate settings you could use to thicken and enhance a low bass sound using Overdrive
Dry/Wet 100%, Dynamics 50%, Tone 30%, Filter Freq 250hz, Filter Q 4-5, Drive 50%
In the MIDI/Link Tab in System Preferences which setting needs to be activated in order to recieve/record MIDI input from a device or send MIDI out to it?
‘Track’ needs to be activated
In the MIDI/Link Tab in System Preferences which setting needs to be activated in order to control the tempo of an external device or have Abletons tempo controlled by it ?
‘Sync’ needs to be activated
In the MIDI/Link Tab in System Preferences which setting needs to be activated in order to recieve CC messages from an external device, or to send them to an exernal device ?
‘Remote’ needs to be activated
Name and describe the three CC Takeover modes
None - CC values will immediately to values set on hardware controllers
Pickup - CC values will remain unchanged until the control on the harware is moved to the established value
Value Scaling - Live will scale the output of the hardware control so that it still has the desired effect on the software but at a relative degree
(Ableton 11) In Hybrid Reverb describe the attributes of the Dark Hall algorithm
Smooth, classic sounding algorithm suitable for medium to large sounding halls.
(Ableton 11) In Hybrid Reverb describe the attributes of the Quartz algorithm
Hall style reverb with audible echoes in the tail.
(Ableton 11) In Hybrid Reverb describe the attributes of the Shimmer algorithm
Densely stacked diffuse delays, with pitch shifting capabilities.
(Ableton 11) In Hybrid Reverb describe the attributes of the Tides algorithm
Output spectrum is modulated with a multiband filter to create a rippling tail.
(Ableton 11) In Hybrid Reverb describe the attributes of the Prism algorithm
Bright and artificial-sounding diffuse reverb.
(Ableton 11) In Hybrid Reverb what does the Vintage control do
The Vintage control adds some filtering and distortion to replicate the sound of analog delay units.
(Ableton 11) In Chorus-Ensemble what are the three different modes and how do they differ ?
Classic - is a standard chorus effect, adding a modulated signal with standard controls
Ensemble - results in a thicker sound by adding an additional modulated signal
Vibrato - adds a pulsating changing pitch that results in a characteristic warbling sound
(Ableton 11) In Chorus-Ensemble and Phaser-Flanger what does the Colour control do ?
Colour adds filtering and sublte distortion to replicate the sound of analog hardware
(Ableton 11) Which mode of Phaser-Flanger can be used for stereo widening purposes?
Doubler, which simply adds a second time-delayed signal
(Ableton 11) Which control in Phaser-Flanger can be increased to add metallic sounds to high-frequency sounds such as high-hats and cymbals ?
Increasing the Feedback - and pressing the button next to it will have an even more dramatic effect
