M-Audio Digital DJ System Built-In Effects, Enable Button, Tweak Knob and Button, Tweak Button

Torq MixLab User Guide » Chapter 11 48

Built-In Effects

The following is an explanation of the three built-in effects in Torq LE:

Phaser

A Phaser is a somewhat mellower version of the Flanger. Like the Flanger, a Phaser works on the principle of mixing two identical audio sources together. However, unlike a Flanger, the timing difference between the two audio sources is very small. The result is that some of the frequencies in the song will be removed or “cancelled out.” Some people describe this sound as a “wind tunnel” effect.

<Enable Button

This button will turn the effect on and off.

<Tweak Knob and Button

The function of the Phaser’s Tweak knob is determined by the state of the Tweak button:

»When the Tweak button is off, the Phaser will be in Manual mode. The Tweak knob will then control the phase of the effect.

»If the Tweak button is on, the Phaser will be in Automatic mode. In this mode, the phase will be adjusted automatically. The Tweak knob will then set the rate of the automatic adjustment—turning the knob clockwise will increase the modulation rate.

Dual-Filter

A coffee filter is designed to stop coffee grounds while allowing water to pass through. Audio filters work in a similar fashion: they prevent particular frequency ranges within an audio signal from passing through the effect. Filters come in a variety of flavors and Torq LE features three of the most popular types: Low-Pass, High-Pass, and Band-Pass. The names of these filters are descriptive of what they do. A Low-Pass filter, for example, will only allow low frequencies (bass tones) to pass through—it will remove the high-frequency (treble) content from the audio signal. A High-Pass filter works the other way: it allows the treble to pass through while bass is removed. A Band-Pass filter is essentially a High- and Low-Pass filter put together: it will remove high and low frequencies from the audio signal, only allowing a narrow band of frequencies to pass.

The most important parameter for a filter is its Cutoff Frequency. It determines the frequency where a filter will begin to stop frequencies. For example, when using a Low-Pass filter with a cutoff frequency of 1kHz, frequencies below 1kHz will pass through the filter unaffected while the frequencies above 1kHz are reduced or removed. While there are other parameters that also affect the behavior of a filter, Cutoff Frequency is the parameter that you’ll be controlling in Torq.

<Enable button

This button will turn the Dual-Filter on and off.

<Tweak Button

The Tweak button is used to set the filter mode for the Dual-Filter effect. When this button is off, the two filters (High-Pass and Low-Pass) will be adjusted only one at a time. When you turn this button on, the High-Pass and Low-Pass filters will be linked, thus creating a Band-Pass filter where both filters are adjusted simultaneously.