Old 05-10-2007, 12:32 PM   #1
HotDogWater
Human being with feelings
 
HotDogWater's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 232
Default Picking Controlled Guitar Effects

I've been playing with Reaper for a couple of weeks, and registered the software (as well as for the forum) today. So this being my first post:
"Hey everybody!"

This idea is borrowed from Roland - something they include on their late model GT series guitar processors. The idea - you pick quietly, you get one sound (chorus in my example), you pick loudly, you get another sound altogehter (heavy distortion in my example). Not sure if this has been posted before - a quick search didn't find anything.

Being pretty new to Reaper, I've attached a template for this. I'm not sure how it will work with different soundcards, systems, etc, so I'll briefly describe the concept as well. Two tracks monitor the same input (the guitar). One has ReaGate set up to ignore anything below a certain level. The second has ReaComp set up to attenuate (to -Inf) anything above a certain level. A different effect is added in the chain after the Comp and Gate for each effect.

If you don't have the effects I used installed you could substitute them with anything you like.

I used Classic Chorus from Kjaerhus and FreeAmp from FrettedSynth Audio (both free).

The template is attached. You'll probably need to adjust the inputs to match your soundcard and the treshholds for your guitar. You might also want to play with the hold and release for the gate so it doesn't cut the distorted sound too quickly. And of course don't forget to arm them to record so you can hear the input being monitored.

A quick example I recorded is here.
This was recorded without touching anything but guitar strings (no stomp boxes, switches, etc, nothing done in editing).

Questions/comments/ways to improve on this appreciated
Attached Files
File Type: rtracktemplate Picking Controlled Guitar Effects.rtracktemplate (8.2 KB, 324 views)
HotDogWater is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-10-2007, 01:02 PM   #2
mahasandi
Human being with feelings
 
mahasandi's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 478
Default

Thanks for sharing


i'am only hearing a short chorused gtr picked section (3 seconds maybe?)

no distortion?
mahasandi is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-10-2007, 01:08 PM   #3
HotDogWater
Human being with feelings
 
HotDogWater's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 232
Default

You mean on the example? You might want to right click and save as (or however it's done in your browser) for offline listen if it doesn't stream correctly for you.
HotDogWater is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-11-2007, 01:55 AM   #4
jez
Human being with feelings
 
jez's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Derbyshire, UK
Posts: 7
Default

This looks (& sounds) cool - looking forward to trying it out.
jez is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-11-2007, 05:28 AM   #5
alex zonder
Human being with feelings
 
alex zonder's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 1,605
Default

HDW, thanks for sharing. Here REAPER shows no response when I open/insert your template (nice concept!). I do have the corresponding plugs, other templates run fine. What could be going wrong?
alex zonder is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-11-2007, 01:26 PM   #6
HotDogWater
Human being with feelings
 
HotDogWater's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 232
Default

Thanks Hmmm, well, like I mentioned - I have roughly 2 weeks experience with Reaper so I wouldn't even be able to hazzard a guess at what's wrong, other than that I probably saved it wrong! However, you can re-create this template about as easily as you can download it, so I'll describe how.

I've since discovered that adding ReaComp to the cleaner track is good, but not a perfect solution. It attenutates the loud strumming but doesn't remove it completely (that's what a comp is designed to do, right?) So I read the JS docs and looked at Michael Gruhn's tutorial (man am I starting to love Reaper) and designed a "Reverse Gate" that cuts all volume when the signal goes above a given level. These instructions include setting it up with the JS Reverse Gate (which works even better).

Installing JS "Reverse Gate"
You should be able to save the attached file to your program files/reaper/effects directory and remove the .txt extension. It should then appear in your JS effects list next time you open Reaper.

Description of Reverse Gate controls:
Threshold:
How loud the signal has to be in dB before the plugin cuts all sound on this channel. Higher number means the signal has to be louder to get cut.

Release:
Once the signal drops below the threshold, the plugin starts to slowly turn the sound back up. Choose a lower number to turn it back up faster. If you set it too low, you may hear a distorted sound. 3 works well for me.

Release Before Unity Gain:
As it turns the sound back up, once it hits this number, it will restore full volume. Example: If the setting is 25, once it reaches 25% of full volume, it will no longer gradually turn the sound up, but restore full volume.

This is my first attempt with writing anything in JS, and it took several hours to figure out and get working on my system. If it doesn't work on yours, let me know what you experience and I'll try to fix it.

OK, onto the Picking Controlled Guitar Effect template.

To Make the Template

1. Open a new project
2. Insert two new tracks (Ctrl+T) x2
3. Name the first one 'guitar distorted', the second 'guitar clean'

TRACK 1
4. On the 'guitar distorted' track, enable input monitoring, and set the input to whatever input your guitar is connected to.
5. Add a new effects chain to 'guitar distorted' (press the FX button)
6. Add reaGate to the chain
7. Strum/pick the guitar as hard as you want to have to strum/pick it to switch to the distorted sound and watch the meter on ReaGate.
8. Move the Thresholder slider (the one by the meter) on ReaGate to where it matches the meter level you were hitting with the hard stumming/picking.
9. You should now be hearing guitar when you strum/pick hard enough and hearing nothing when you're picking more quietly.
10. Add your heaviest effect (distortion, heavy phase, etc) after ReaGate on this track.

TRACK 2

11. On the 'guitar clean' track, enable input monitoring, and set the input to whatever input your guitar is connected to.
12. Add a new effects chain to 'guitar clean' (press the FX button).
13. Add the Reverse Gate JS effect to the chain. (see above)
14. Strum/pick the quietly, and increase it until you're right around the level you were above.
15. Adjust the threshold until you hear the sound disappear.
16. Add your clean effect (chorus, delay, etc.) to this track after the JS Reverse Gate.
17. Tweak the other parameters on the reverse gate to adjust how quickly the volume returns to the clean sound, and how loud it must be before full volume is restored. On my system it works well at around -7dB, 3.0 release, and 25-30% signal before unity gain restore.

That's it!
Attached Files
File Type: txt ReverseGate.txt (1.3 KB, 317 views)

Last edited by HotDogWater; 05-11-2007 at 02:22 PM.
HotDogWater is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-11-2007, 01:34 PM   #7
jez
Human being with feelings
 
jez's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Derbyshire, UK
Posts: 7
Default me too

Nothing happens when I try and creat a track from your template.

Perhaps it's because it references files specific to your setup? e.g.:

<SOURCE WAVE
FILE "C:\Program Files\REAPER\01-guitar chorus-070510_1456.wav"
>

Maybe clearing out the items from the tracks and then saving as a template would help. (I'm just guessing here )

Anyhoo - had a bit of a stab at setting it up myself and I think I nearly got it working but I'm far from convinced that my Comp/Gate settings are correct.

Perhaps screenshots of your settings would help, in lieu of a working template?

Cheers.

*Edit*
Oops - you're on the case - disregard all that then.
Cheers.

Last edited by jez; 05-11-2007 at 01:36 PM.
jez is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-11-2007, 01:44 PM   #8
alex zonder
Human being with feelings
 
alex zonder's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 1,605
Default

HDW, thanks for taking the time to write such a clear guideline. Some fine creative thinking! Let's try this out!
alex zonder is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-11-2007, 01:51 PM   #9
jez
Human being with feelings
 
jez's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Derbyshire, UK
Posts: 7
Default brilliant :D

Like Alex says, thanks for that.

So far as sharing your program is concerned, I believe you just need to let us have a simple text file (no extension) that contains your code. If we save it to C:\Program Files\REAPER\Effects\Filters (default install ) then it'll automagically appear in the effects list under 'JS: Filters/<whatever you called your file>'
jez is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-11-2007, 02:05 PM   #10
HotDogWater
Human being with feelings
 
HotDogWater's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 232
Default

Ok, thanks for the explanation on sharing JS effects! I edited the post above, removed the "code" and attached the file.

A screenshot of the plugins as set up to work on my system is attached. Depending on the tempo of your song you'll need to mess with the last two sliders on the reverse gate.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg pickcontrol.jpg (25.7 KB, 295 views)
HotDogWater is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-11-2007, 02:15 PM   #11
HotDogWater
Human being with feelings
 
HotDogWater's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 232
Default

And based on Jez's suggestion, here's a new template file with the source files removed. It also has the ReverseGate in the effects chain instead of ReaComp.

Also, above, I just updated the attatchment to a new version of the Reverse Gate. This let's you move the Release timing in 1/10's instead of whole numbers. A lot more control.

Man I am learning a ton...
Attached Files
File Type: rtracktemplate Controlled Guitar Effects.rtracktemplate (6.9 KB, 248 views)

Last edited by HotDogWater; 05-11-2007 at 02:24 PM.
HotDogWater is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-11-2007, 06:38 PM   #12
Bevosss
Human being with feelings
 
Bevosss's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Sydney Oz
Posts: 8,480
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by HotDogWater View Post
And based on Jez's suggestion, here's a new template file with the source files removed. It also has the ReverseGate in the effects chain instead of ReaComp.

Also, above, I just updated the attatchment to a new version of the Reverse Gate. This let's you move the Release timing in 1/10's instead of whole numbers. A lot more control.

Man I am learning a ton...
None of your track templates are working here. Are you making sure the tracks are selected before you save them? Do they insert into your own projects?
Bevosss is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-11-2007, 07:38 PM   #13
HotDogWater
Human being with feelings
 
HotDogWater's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 232
Default

Ok, I think I'm onto it now. I had save these as project templates rather than track templates. I thought it strange that I had to change the extension.

How about this one? (This would require the JS ReverseGate above).
Attached Files
File Type: rtracktemplate Picking Controlled Guitar FX.RTrackTemplate (5.0 KB, 227 views)
HotDogWater is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-11-2007, 09:13 PM   #14
Bevosss
Human being with feelings
 
Bevosss's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Sydney Oz
Posts: 8,480
Default

Yeah that loads, but I'll have to try it out later and download the missing fx maybe...looks like fun, thanks!
Bevosss is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 03:59 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.