Torq 1.5 User Guide Chapter 1 78Torq 1.5 User Guide Chapter 13 78
Assigning Controls
It’s fun to tweak effects using k nobs and buttons—VST effect s are no exception. However, before you start messing with
the Tweak knob and button, you’ll need to assign a func tion to them. Unlike Torq’s 10 built-in effects, the VST Ef fect you
choose to use will probably have more than two par ameters to play with. You can always adjust these par ameters within
the VST Effect’s editor window. To gain MIDI control, however, you must assign o ne of the VST Effect’s parameter to t he
Tweak knob or button (which you can control via MIDI). It ’s a two-part process as outlined below :
1. Load a VST Effect. Its edit or window will pop up when loaded.
2. Right-click on the Tweak knob in Torq’s interface. It will turn red indicating that it st anding by for assignment.
3. Using the mouse, move a control in the VST Effect’s editor w indow. This could be a knob, slider, or button.
4. When you move the control, Torq will catch it and assign it to the Tweak knob. Moving t he Tweak knob will now
operate the assigned VST parame ter.
5. To assign a MIDI control to the Tweak knob, follow the usual procedure of righ t-clicking then moving your
desired MIDI control.
6. Once complete, the MIDI control will operate the VS T parameter.
7. The same procedure above can be used for a ssigning a VST parameter to the Tweak button.
Once the assignments are made as descr ibed above, Torq will remember those assignments whenever you l oad that
VST Effect in the future.
✓ Note: : When running Torq in full-screen mode, c licking on the Torq interface will cause Torq to move to the
foreground and your VST Effect to move to the bac kground, effectively being ob scured from view. To bring the VST
Effect back to the front, cl ick on the Wrench icon in the VST Effect slot or cl ick the effect’s Taskbar/Dock icon.
VST Crash Guard
A plug-in works by inserting small bi ts of programming code into another program (in t his case, you’ll be inserting an
effect processing plug-in into Torq). This can be prob lematic since some VSTs are made with little to no exte rnal testing
at all (and they may not have been tested with Torq specifically). Gra nted, it’s usually the free VST plug-ins found o n
the web that lack the testing imposed by ot her professional plug-ins. These dir ty plug-ins can be some of the most
experimental and creative offe rings out there, which is why you may still want t o try them.
Obviously, it would be completely unacceptab le for Torq to crash right in the middle of a gig because of a littl e VST
plug-in. The music must keep playing at all ti mes. For that reason, Torq has been designed with VST C rash Guard, which
is a system that will allow Torq to stay running even if an error shoul d occur in the VST plug-in, causing it to cra sh. If
this occurs, Torq will detect the crash and will q uickly bypass the offending plug- in to keep the music going. When this
happens, you can either attem pt to re-load the plug-in (in hopes that it w ill reset and become functional again) or you can
remove the plug-in and try another. Either way, Torq’s got your back and will keep the music fl owing.
VST Preset Management
Just like you can save the built-in Effec t Rack, you can also save the settings for a VST plu g-in. Some plug-ins will manage
their own presets from within the GUI . In these cases, you’ll need to consult the plug -in’s user manual to learn how to
use the presets.
Other VST plug-ins will rely on the ho st application (Torq, in this case) to manage their pre sets. In this case, you’ll need
to use the Preset Management tools (save and lo ad) that appear above the plug-in’s GUI.