Session 4: Effects Units.

Today in EMP we were learning how to construct our very own effects unit, starting with the fact that at the heart of every one, is compression and distortion. I also learnt about our 'threshold of perception', and how for humans this is between 5 and 10 miliseconds per second. Anything below 10, begins to fuzz and sound distorted. In these cases,we must use delays so as to phase the sound and make it clearer. this technique is commonly known as the 'All pass filter'. 

Wwe also developed our knowledge of waveforms, by learning that we perceive the 'Sine' wave as pure, because it has a continuity that, for instance, the sawtooth wave does not. The peaks in the Sawtooth disturb its continuity and cause it to sound more disjointed. With Sine waves, the closer the waves are to one another, the brighter or 'purer' the sound.

We then began looking at the Lexicon plate reverb unit, a simple piece of software, but technically one of the best sounding in the business. We then examined the steps needed to create a guitar effects unit. We begin by sending the signal into a compressor. Then once we had our signal as loud as possible, we have to feed it into the distortion or degrading unit. 

We then filter the signal, as the distortion creates a lot of harmonics and we need to be able to control the sound. Pere told us that it was always useful to create a bypass for each aspect of the effects unit, thus giving the user the choice for each individual effect. 

Once the first filter is put in place, we create the all pass filter, or 'phaser', then the modulating delay, or 'flanger'. I discovered that the 'groovebox delay' gives the user the ability to mess around with the wave form, making it longer or shorter. 

Finally, we send the signal through to the output system. We learnt another little trick that would tidy up our patches and make them more professional looking. We were told that switches create discontinuation, and so to avoid this, rather than a switch we should have a slider that goes from 0-10. 

I felt very happy with todays session and am confident that my own project will be based around the creation of an effects unit. This is something that I have an interest in and can not wait to get started with.