Effects

Each part has its own distortion and one INSERT effect, and sends to three effects that every part shares: a tape delay, a reverb and a chorus. The FX button walks all of them. The shared pages show ALL in the header, because turning a knob there changes the effect under every part, not only the one in front.

A part's signal runs: engine, DIST, INSERT, level and pan, then the sends into the shared delay, reverb and chorus, then the master.

The part's own

FX

Knob	Label	Range	Starts at
1	DST	0% .. 100%	0%
2	CHO	0% .. 100%	35%
3	DLY	0% .. 100%	20%
4	REV	0% .. 100%	28%

DST drives the part into Felucca's distortion. CHO, DLY and REV are the part's sends: how much of it goes into the shared chorus, delay and reverb. At 0 none of the part goes into that effect, whatever the shared page says.

INSERT

Knob	Label	Range	Starts at
1	INSRT	14 values OFF SOFT HARD FOLD FUZZ CRUSH PHASR FLANG CHOR ROTOR RESON VOWEL FILTR COMB	OFF

Knob	Label	Range	Starts at
1	MIX	0% .. 100%	100%

The INSERT is one effect in the part's own line, after DIST. INSRT picks its type, and the three knobs after it take that type's names: DRIVE TONE LEVEL for the drives, CUT RES MORPH for FILTER, and so on. With INSRT on OFF the three are blank until you pick one. MIX on INSERT 2 blends the dry part with the effect. With INSRT on OFF or MIX at 0 the part passes through untouched. Changing the type fades the old effect out and the new one in, so you can switch while a note rings.

SOFT

Knob	Label	Range	Starts at
1	INSRT	14 values OFF SOFT HARD FOLD FUZZ CRUSH PHASR FLANG CHOR ROTOR RESON VOWEL FILTR COMB	SOFT
2	DRIVE	0% .. 100%	50%
3	TONE	30Hz .. 16.0kHz	3.4kHz
4	LEVEL	OFF .. 7.5dB	-8.0dB

SOFT is a smooth saturation (a tanh curve). DRIVE pushes the part into it, TONE rolls off the top and LEVEL sets the output.

HARD

Knob	Label	Range	Starts at
1	INSRT	14 values OFF SOFT HARD FOLD FUZZ CRUSH PHASR FLANG CHOR ROTOR RESON VOWEL FILTR COMB	HARD
2	DRIVE	0% .. 100%	50%
3	TONE	30Hz .. 16.0kHz	3.4kHz
4	LEVEL	OFF .. 7.5dB	-8.0dB

HARD clips flat at a voice's full level. It is brighter and more abrupt than SOFT and has the same three knobs.

FOLD

Knob	Label	Range	Starts at
1	INSRT	14 values OFF SOFT HARD FOLD FUZZ CRUSH PHASR FLANG CHOR ROTOR RESON VOWEL FILTR COMB	FOLD
2	DRIVE	0% .. 100%	50%
3	TONE	30Hz .. 16.0kHz	3.4kHz
4	LEVEL	OFF .. 7.5dB	-8.0dB

FOLD reflects the wave back each time it reaches the ceiling, so more DRIVE adds harmonics rather than loudness.

FUZZ

Knob	Label	Range	Starts at
1	INSRT	14 values OFF SOFT HARD FOLD FUZZ CRUSH PHASR FLANG CHOR ROTOR RESON VOWEL FILTR COMB	FUZZ
2	DRIVE	0% .. 100%	50%
3	TONE	30Hz .. 16.0kHz	3.4kHz
4	LEVEL	OFF .. 7.5dB	-8.0dB

FUZZ has a hard top and a soft, halved bottom. The two halves clip differently, which gives the lopsided buzz of a fuzz pedal.

CRUSH

Knob	Label	Range	Starts at
1	INSRT	14 values OFF SOFT HARD FOLD FUZZ CRUSH PHASR FLANG CHOR ROTOR RESON VOWEL FILTR COMB	CRUSH
2	BITS	1 .. 16	9
3	RATE	689Hz .. 44kHz	11kHz
4	LPF	30Hz .. 16.0kHz	3.4kHz

CRUSH is a bit crusher. BITS cuts the resolution, RATE holds each sample for longer to alias like an early sampler, and LPF smooths what comes out.

PHASR

Knob	Label	Range	Starts at
1	INSRT	14 values OFF SOFT HARD FOLD FUZZ CRUSH PHASR FLANG CHOR ROTOR RESON VOWEL FILTR COMB	PHASR
2	RATE	.05Hz .. 40.0Hz	1.45Hz
3	DEPTH	0% .. 100%	76%
4	FDBK	0% .. 100%	76%

PHASR is a four-stage phaser. RATE sets the sweep's speed, DEPTH how far it sweeps and FDBK how sharply the notches ring.

FLANG

Knob	Label	Range	Starts at
1	INSRT	14 values OFF SOFT HARD FOLD FUZZ CRUSH PHASR FLANG CHOR ROTOR RESON VOWEL FILTR COMB	FLANG
2	RATE	.05Hz .. 40.0Hz	1.45Hz
3	DEPTH	0% .. 100%	76%
4	FDBK	0% .. 100%	76%

FLANG mixes a short swept delay with the dry sound. FDBK feeds it back on itself for the metallic, jet-like sweep.

CHOR

Knob	Label	Range	Starts at
1	INSRT	14 values OFF SOFT HARD FOLD FUZZ CRUSH PHASR FLANG CHOR ROTOR RESON VOWEL FILTR COMB	CHOR
2	RATE	.05Hz .. 40.0Hz	1.45Hz
3	DEPTH	0% .. 100%	76%
4	FDBK	0% .. 100%	76%

CHOR is a chorus on this part alone, with gentler feedback than FLANG. Use it when one part should shimmer and the others should not; the shared CHORUS below is for everything at once.

ROTOR

Knob	Label	Range	Starts at
1	INSRT	14 values OFF SOFT HARD FOLD FUZZ CRUSH PHASR FLANG CHOR ROTOR RESON VOWEL FILTR COMB	ROTOR
2	SPEED	STOP SLOW FAST	SLOW
3	DRIVE	0% .. 100%	16%
4	BAL	0% .. 100%	50%

ROTOR is a rotating-speaker cabinet. A crossover splits the sound between a horn for the highs and a drum for the lows, and each rotor spins at SPEED: STOP (the brake), SLOW (chorale) or FAST (tremolo). Each rotor speeds up and slows down with its own inertia, the light horn settling in about a second and the heavy drum in a few, so a switch from SLOW to FAST swirls up and the two drift apart on the way. DRIVE is the cabinet's preamp, a soft clip before the crossover. BAL moves the balance from the drum to the horn. Put it on ANALOG or SHOCK for the cabinet a tonewheel organ usually plays through.

RESON

Knob	Label	Range	Starts at
1	INSRT	14 values OFF SOFT HARD FOLD FUZZ CRUSH PHASR FLANG CHOR ROTOR RESON VOWEL FILTR COMB	RESON
2	DECAY	0% .. 100%	50%
3	BRITE	0% .. 100%	31%
4	SHIFT	0% .. 100%	50%

RESON is a bank of resonators tuned to the notes the part is playing, so noise, speech, plucks or drums sound as the held chord. Each note rings at its fundamental, and BRITE brings in its octave and twelfth. DECAY sets how long they ring, from 50 ms to 4 s. SHIFT moves the whole bank an octave down or up in semitones; the middle of the knob is the chord as played. Bends and TUNE JUST follow, so a just chord rings just. With nothing held, the bank keeps the last chord, so a pad's release still rings. Try it on MOUTH or a DRUM kit under CHORD.

VOWEL

Knob	Label	Range	Starts at
1	INSRT	14 values OFF SOFT HARD FOLD FUZZ CRUSH PHASR FLANG CHOR ROTOR RESON VOWEL FILTR COMB	VOWEL
2	VOWEL	0% .. 100%	57%
3	TRACK	0% .. 100%	0%
4	SIZE	0% .. 100%	50%

VOWEL puts the sound through a vowel, as a talk box does: three formant filters on MOUTH's vowels. The VOWEL knob walks from IY through AA to UW (the plaster casts' I E A O U at 0, 36, 73, 91 and 127). TRACK lets the part's own loudness open the mouth toward AA, so a swelling note says "ee-ah" (a wah that talks). SIZE scales the vocal tract from a giant's to a child's.

FILTR

Knob	Label	Range	Starts at
1	INSRT	14 values OFF SOFT HARD FOLD FUZZ CRUSH PHASR FLANG CHOR ROTOR RESON VOWEL FILTR COMB	FILTR
2	CUT	0% .. 100%	63%
3	RES	0% .. 100%	25%
4	MORPH	0% .. 100%	0%

FILTR is a state-variable filter. MORPH turns it from low-pass through band-pass and high-pass to a notch, and RES raises the peak at CUT up to the edge of ringing on its own. INSERT 2 holds three more: DRV drives the sound into it, KTRK makes CUT follow the note you play, and ENV lets the sound's own loudness move CUT up or down by up to three octaves. The screen draws its response as it stands, CUT marked, so the curve moves while you play.

COMB

Knob	Label	Range	Starts at
1	INSRT	14 values OFF SOFT HARD FOLD FUZZ CRUSH PHASR FLANG CHOR ROTOR RESON VOWEL FILTR COMB	COMB
2	TUNE	0% .. 100%	45%
3	FDBK	0% .. 100%	79%
4	DAMP	0% .. 100%	25%

COMB is a delay tuned to a pitch and fed back into itself. With FDBK above the middle it rings every harmonic of TUNE, as a plucked string does; below the middle only the odd ones ring, which sounds hollow. DAMP darkens the ring as it fades. Its lowest pitch is about F3 (172 Hz), or 86 Hz with FDBK below the middle. DRV, KTRK and ENV on INSERT 2 work as FILTR's, on its pitch. The screen draws the harmonics that ring.

Shared by every part

DELAY

Knob	Label	Range	Starts at
1	TIME	13 values 4BAR 2BAR 1/1 1/2 1/4D 1/4 1/8D 1/8 1/16D 8T 1/16 16T 1/32	1/8
2	FDBK	0% .. 94%	47%
3	COLR	0% .. 100%	55%
4	MIX	0% .. 100%	71%

DELAY is a tape echo with three playback heads on one loop. TIME is a tempo division, and it sets where the furthest head sits, so the longest repeat always lands on the beat. FDBK feeds the repeats back, COLR darkens them on each pass, and MIX sets the level of the echo.

Changing TIME changes the speed of the tape rather than moving the heads, so the repeats bend in pitch as they settle.

DELAY 2

Knob	Label	Range	Starts at
1	HEADS	1 2 3 1+2 2+3 1+3 ALL	1
2	WOW	0% .. 100%	8%
3	SAT	0% .. 100%	0%
4	REV	FWD REV ALT	FWD

HEADS picks which heads play. The heads playing are spaced evenly up to the furthest one, which sits at TIME, as on a Space Echo, so each combination is a rhythm: all three under a 1/4 TIME give triplet eighths up to the quarter, and 1+2 give eighths.

WOW wobbles the tape: a slow drift, a faster flutter and a little noise, as on a worn machine. SAT soft-clips the loop and lowers its ceiling as it rises, so loud input squashes and high FDBK sings instead of running away.

REV plays the tape backwards in windows as long as TIME. REV reverses every repeat; ALT also feeds the reversed sound back, so the repeats turn round each time they come back.

REVERB

Knob	Label	Range	Starts at
1	TYPE	ROOM SPRING HALL	HALL
2	SIZE	0% .. 100%	71%
3	DAMP	0% .. 100%	47%
4	PRE	0ms .. 120ms	0ms

TYPE picks the space: ROOM, SPRING (one spring of a spring tank) or HALL (smooth, dense and stereo). SIZE sets the length of the tail, DAMP how quickly its highs fade. PRE delays the reverb's start by up to the value shown in milliseconds, so the dry note is heard before the room answers.

CHORUS

Knob	Label	Range	Starts at
1	CRT	.05Hz .. 40.0Hz	.41Hz
2	CDP	0% .. 100%	47%
3	MODE	CHOR ENS DIM	CHOR

CRT and CDP set the chorus's sweep rate and depth. MODE picks its character. CHOR is the plain chorus, one swept tap and mono. ENS is the string machine's ensemble: three taps swept by a slow sine and a faster vibrato, spread left, right and centre, which makes held chords shimmer. DIM is two shallow taps swept against each other, wide and still, after the rack doublers.

The FX layer

Hold FX and the keys play effects on the whole mix instead of notes; let go and they are notes again. A quick tap of FX still walks the pages above. Each white key from F3 holds one effect while it is down, the black keys F#3, G#3, A#3 and C#4 mute parts 1 to 4, and the screen shows which key holds what.

While FX is held, KNOB 1 to 4 are the layer's: FILTER (left a low-pass, right a high-pass), CRUSH, THROW (the mix sent into the delay and reverb) and DEPTH, how much of the mix the playing effect takes. With OCT UP or OCT DN playing, KNOB 4 is SHIMR, the octave's shimmer. They snap back when FX is let go, and nothing is recorded. SELECT, PRESETS and ALGORITHM do nothing while FX is held, so nothing changes unseen.

Hold GLO, HOME or SEQ with FX and the keys are theirs, not the layer's.

Where it comes from

DIST, the INSERT types up to CHOR, the reverbs, the send layout and the FX layer's effects are Felucca's. The tape echo, the pre-delay, the chorus modes, ROTOR, RESON and VOWEL are databurn's (MIT): firmware/src/tapedly.c, ensemble.c, rotary.c, resonator.c and vowel.c.