The final part of the SoundBridge Widgets tutorial series is dedicated to the built-in effects of the SoundBridge: DAW. There is a fair amount of high-quality effects at your disposal, covering a wide range of signal processing tasks, from equalizing to various modulations.
Built-in Effects Part 1
The list of the built-in effects can found within the File Browser Widget and by clicking on the “Plugins” button. What’s more, the “FX” tab is highlighted in blue by default, and on the right, you can see the list of the built-in effects, as presented in the picture below.
Analyzer
We will start with the first built-in plugin in the line which is the “Analyzer”. The “Analyzer” gives you a visual representation of the sound spectrum. In its essence, it is an FFT type of an analyzer which provides a clear and precise image of the frequency spectrum. Furthermore, on the left and right side of the “Analyzers”, the values which are vertical increased from down to up represents the value of the audio signal in Decibels (dB). Finally, at the bottom, you can see a horizontal line of values (ranging from 30Hz to 100kHz). It represents the frequency range of the sound spectrum.
Chorus/Flanger
The next built-in effect in line is the “Chorus/Flanger”. It is a modulation effect available in two modes, Chorus and Flanger, as the name suggest. It possesses some parameters you can control and automate. We will cover them below:
- LFO Waveforms: Determines the contour of the modulation oscillator.
- LFO Depth – Determines the LFO`s range peak to peak that is added to the delay time in milliseconds – resulting in warbling LFO effect.
- Stereo Fade: Determines the relative amount of interchannel/cross feedback
- LFO Rate: Determines the frequency of the modulation oscillator. 1kHz=1 cycle per sec.
- LFO F.B.: Determines the amount of the low-pass filtering applied to the feedback
- Sync: When enabled, the rate of the LFO will be quantized to the note value that is selected, according to the BPM of your project.
- Delay Time: Determines how long before the sound is repeated.
- Feedback: Determines how much of the output signal is feeds back into the input for additional repeats.
- Wetness – Determines the percentage of the input signal that the unit is affecting.
Delay
Next, we will talk about the “Delay” plugin. The delay effect is a time-based effect. Consequently, you can use it as a subtle echo effect or for pronounced blending of previous sounds with new sounds. Much like the previous effect, it possesses a couple of same parameters with the addition of the “Delay Time”. Additionally, you can sync it.
Phaser
Moving forward we have the “Phaser” built-in effect. A phaser effect is a modulation effect. Use it to filter a signal by creating a series of peaks and troughs in the frequency spectrum. The position of the peaks is typically modulated. They vary over time, creating a sweeping effect. For this purpose, phasers usually include a low-frequency oscillator. As with previous built-in effects the parameters are more-less the same, so we will not go over them again.
Bit Crusher
Next in the line is the “Bit Crusher” built-in effect. A Bitcrusher is a lo-fi (low fidelity) digital audio effect, which produces a distortion by the reduction of the resolution or bandwidth of digital audio data. Therefore, the resulting quantization noise may produce a “warmer” sound impression, or a harsh one, depending on the amount of reduction. What’s more, it possesses some parameters which we will cover below.
- Clip Modes: Determines the type of clipping.
- Bits: Determines the depth at which the ”Bits” process the input signal.
- Down Rate: Determines the rate at which the input is sampled.
- Clip: Determines the level at which clip distortion occurs.
Resonance Filter
The final built-in effect of which we will talk in the first part of this tutorial is the “Resonance Filter”. The filter effect in its essence is a dynamic effect. Additionally, it is a frequency dependent amplifier circuit, working in the audio frequency range, usually from 0 Hz to beyond 20 kHz. USe filter effect is to amplify (boost), pass or attenuate (cut) some frequency ranges. Furthermore, the “Resonance filter” again possess some parameters to control which are the same as ones of the previously covered effects. There are few exceptions which we will include below.
- Frequency: Determines the cutoff frequency of the resonant filter.
- Resonance: Determines the amount of emphasizing the cutoff .frequency.
