Torq 1.5 User Guide Chapter 1 75Torq 1.5 User Guide Chapter 13 75
Strobe
Just about anyone who has been to a dance clu b in the last 20 years has experienced a st robe light. Those are the super-
bright lights that flash really quic kly. They have the effect of making everyone look like th ey’re in “stop motion”—the flash
is so fast that you can’t see movement anymore.
Torq’s Strobe effect will create a similar stop-mot ion effect, but it will do it to audio. T he Strobe will essentially mute and
unmute the audio at a rate that you can control. T he rate can be as slow as one bar (2 beats unmuted fo llowed by 2 beats
muted) or as fast as 1/64-note.
< Enable Button
Turns the Strobe ef fect on and off.
< Mix Knob and Routing Button
Because the Strobe effect is designed to mut e the audio from a Deck, it needs to be used as an In sert effect.
Therefore, the Routing Button will b e set to Insert mode whenever you load this ef fect.
The Mix knob will control the Dry/Wet mix of the effe ct. In use, this will control the dep th of the Strobe effect.
Since the Strobe effect is muting t he signal that passes through it, set ting the Mix knob at 50% will result in 50%
of the signal still being present whenever t he Strobe is muting. Therefore, you can use this k nob to adjust the
intensity of the Strobe.
< Tweak Knob
This knob changes the rate of the Strobe. A toolt ip will appear whenever you adjust this knob to sh ow the
current rate (expressed in note values).
< Tweak Button
Activating this button reverses the behavior of t he Strobe—what was normally mu ted will be unmuted and
vice versa.
Reverse
Reversing the playback direction of a song can be a f un party gimmick (you and your friends ca n look for hidden
messages “backmasked” in the song). However, it can be a use ful DJ technique for adding emphasis, and it c an also
be used to “censor” profanity (as heard on the rad io). The traditional method for reversing playback is t o actually
reverse the rotation of the turntable . This has a couple of inherent problems. First , the turntable can’t change direction
immediately—it must slow down to a s top then speed back up in the opposite dire ction. This can make reversing
playback seem sluggish. Addition ally, if the song is playing backwards, it will no lo nger be in the proper location when you
resume normal playback. For example , if you reverse playback as a way to add emphasis one bar be fore the chorus in a
song, you’ll find that playback is now two bars before t he chorus when you resume normal playback.
Torq overcomes these shortcomings by implementing reverse d playback as an effect rather tha n as a function of the
Deck. By doing so, you can reverse playback inst antaneously—there is no la g due to the turntable changing direct ions.
Furthermore, since this is an ef fect, the song on the Deck will continu e to play normally (the waveform will continue to
scroll in the forward direction) thus keeping t he play position correct as you switch the Reverse ef fect on and off.
< Enable Button
When u sing the Reverse effect, this but ton is always on and cannot be turned off.
< Mix Knob and Routing Button
The Mix k nob has no function. The effect is rout ed as an Insert effect by default .
< Tweak Knob
The Tweak knob has no fu nction.
< Tweak Button
This button will turn the Reverse on and off. This butt on is momentary, meaning you have to keep holding it
while the song plays backwards. Whe n you release the button, normal playbac k will resume.