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Effect manager


Effect manager principles

You can add up to 5 real-time MIDI effects per track, from TR01A to TR16D. Notes (played or recorded in LIVE mode, or programmed in STEP mode) are processed and sent to the outputs in real-time by the effect engines. All the effects are non-destructive.

The position of an effect in the chain is very important: an Harmonizer placed after an Arpeggiator will not sound like an Arpeggiator placed after an Harmonizer. Experiment with the order of effects to generate eccentric melodies. It’s also possible to add multiple effects of the same engine on the same track (e.g. chaining two arpeggiators).


Quantize FX is always present on slot 1, and can't be removed. Its default grid can be configured in SETTINGS > MISC > DEFAULT QUANTIZE, so you can decide to power on Pyramid and get a quantize active on each track, very handy for live performances.

With the effect manager activated, you can still play notes and smartpads in LIVE mode even if Pyramid is stopped or paused, very handy to experiment with effect parameters. You can also add notes in STEP mode, mute/unmute tracks in TRACK mode, launch sequences in SEQ mode.

Effects compute notes according to the track time signature, so if you change the time signature from 4/4 to 4/8, effects will operate twice as fast.

Finally, all the effect parameters can be edited in real-time using the programmable controllers, even if you are not in the FX manager. You can even automate parameters in REC mode or even step (parameter locks).

Some examples of midi FX chaining:

How to add effects to a track
Press  FX  to display the Effect manager of the current track:



To place an effect in the chain, select one of the 4 free slots and press
:



Select an effect from the list, for example an arpeggiator, and press
to add it. It is now possible to edit the effect using the 5 encoders
to find a preferred setting:

 Tip  In LIVE mode, when you are editing an effect using the 5 encoders
, press rec
to directly record effect parameter automation.

Press again
to go back to the FX manager. Repeat this operation to fill up to 5 slots:


A disabled effect is greyed (in the screen below, the effect CC is disabled):

To exit the effect manager, press  FX .

Other tools
Rotating
while pressing  2ND  allows you change the position of the selected effect. The Quantizer can't be moved:
Edit, delete or replace an effect by selecting it with
:

Quick FX selection:
● Press encoder  1  to enter the edit view of effect 1
● Press encoder  2  to enter the edit view of effect 2
● Press encoder  3  to enter the edit view of effect 3
● Press encoder  4  to enter the edit view of effect 4
● Press encoder  5  to enter the edit view of effect 5

Quick FX enable/disable:
● Press  2ND  +  1  to turn on/off the effect 1
● Press  2ND  +  2  to turn on/off the effect 2
● Press  2ND  +  3  to turn on/off the effect 3
● Press  2ND  +  4  to turn on/off the effect 4
● Press  2ND  +  5  to turn on/off the effect 5

 Tip  Selecting another track with TRACK +
does not exit the FX manager, useful to check if effects are added in the other tracks.

Effect list

Quantizer / humanizer

Eliminates or adds note imprecision to your performance or step note edits.


 ENABLE  ON  OFF 
Activate/disable the quantizer / humanizer engine.

 GRID   1/4   1/6   1/8   1/12   1/16   1/24   1/32 
Amount of quantization. A grid of 1/4 bar will move notes (forward or backwards) to the nearest beat.

 HUMAN-  0%  ...  100% 
Amount of humanization advance. Moves notes backwards (millisecond level) randomly, to mimic the "organic" human playing.

 HUMAN+  0%  ...  100% 
Amount of humanization delay. Moves notes forward (millisecond level) randomly, to mimic the "organic" human playing.

 LEGATO   OFF   ON 
Allows to lengthen (a few ppqn) all notes of the tracks, and create a glide/legato effect on some mono synths. Useful when you record a performance in LIVE mode, but the recording do not preserve the legato of your performance.

Arpeggiator

Turns notes and chords into running patterns.



 ENABLE  ON  OFF 
Activate/disable the arpeggiator engine.

 STYLE   UP   DOWN   UP/DOWN   RANDOM   ASSIGN   DOUBLE 
 OCT UP   UP DOWN   DRUNK   FIFTHS   ONE TWO   SILENCE   RUNNER   DISCO   MARBLE   RHYTHM1   RHYTHM2   RHYTHM3 
Direction of the arpeggiated pattern.
- UP: plays notes from the lowest note to hightest.
- DOWN: plays notes from the hightest note to lowest.
- UP DOWN: plays notes from the lowest note to hightest, then to from hightest to the lowest.
- RANDOM: plays notes in a random order.
-ASSIGN: plays notes in the order they were played.
- DOUBLE: notes are played twice with different velocities.
- OCT UP: each note is followed by the same note, shifted one octave up.
- OCT DOWN: each note is followed by the same note, shifted one octave down.
- DRUNK: plays the three first notes, then plays three notes starting on the second note, and so forth, in a circular fashion.
- FIFTHS: each note is immediately followed by its fifths.
- ONE TWO: one note out of two is played twice.
- SILENCE: one note out of two is a silence.
- RUNNER: the pattern is played up and down alternatively.
- DISCO: the first hit note will be played between every other inputed notes.
- MARBLE: emulates a bouncing marble ball. The velocity decrease over time. Rate value of 1/64 is advised.
- RHYTHM 1/2/3: these three arp styles are custom rhythms, with fixed lengths. They countain silences and velocity variations.

 GATE  1%  ...  200% 
Pattern note lengths, depends on the rate.

 RATE  1/4  ...  1/64 
Speed of the pattern. A rate of 1/4 will play a note of the arppegio every beat.

 OCTAVE  -5  ...  +5 
To create octaves progression. If OCTAVE=1 the arpeggiator will play the original pattern, followed by the same pattern one octave higher. If OCTAVE=-2 the arpeggiator will play the original pattern, followed by the same pattern one octave lower, followed by the same pattern two octaves lower.
Harmonizer

Turns notes into chords.



 ENABLE  ON  OFF 
Activate/disable the harmonizer engine.

 HARMO1  -24  ...  +24 
Add an extra note simultaneously with the sequenced note according to the selected interval (harmonic). If HARMO1=12, a note will be generated one octave higher. If HARMO1=NO, no note will be added.

 HARMO2  -24  ...  +24 
Add a second extra note.

 HARMO3  -24  ...  +24 
Add a third extra note.

 HARMO4  -24  ...  +24 
Add a fourth extra note.
Swing

Swing notes to create groove rhythms and easily go "off the grid".


 ENABLE  ON  OFF 
Activate/disable the swing engine.

 PERCENT  50%  ...  99% 
Percentage of swing (delay the position of every second point in the quantization grid). 50% (default) has no effect on notes position.

 GRID  1/1  ...  1/64 
Swing quantization grid, to define positions of second points. Most common grids are 1/8 and 1/16.

 VELOCITY  0%  ...  100% 
Amount of swing accent. 50% (default) has no effect on notes volume. Decrease this parameter to accentuate the first note. Increase it to accentuate the second note.
Randomizer

Randomly changes notes parameters (velocity, pitch or length).


 ENABLE  ON  OFF 
Activate/disable the randomizer engine.

 PARAM  VELOCITY  PITCH   OCTAVE   NOTE LENGTH 
If VELOCITY selected, each note velocity will be randomized. If PITCH selected, each note pitch will be randomized. If OCTAVE selected, each note pitch will be randomized to an other octave. If NOTE LENGTH selected, each note length will set to the GRID parameter, and then randomized.

 RANDOM-  0%  ...  100% 
Negative amount of randomization. 0% (default) has no effect on notes. 100% set the maximum range of negative randomization.

 RANDOM+  0%  ...  100% 
Positive amount of randomization. 0% (default) has no effect on notes. 100% set the maximum range of positive randomization.

All random-based FX (Humanizer, Randomizer, Chance, Arpeggiator) utilize a true random number generator (TRNG) algorithm!

 GRID   1/32   ...   16 
 (available if PARAM = NOTE LENGTH) 
Resizes all notes of the track to the selected grid, before the note length randomization.

 CHANCE   100%   ...   0% 
 (available if PARAM = VELOCITY/PITCH/OCTAVE) 
Add a probability to randomize or not the parameters VELOCITY, PITCH or OCTAVE.

Delay

MIDI delay creates a copy of entered notes, simulating a standard delay effect, but using velocity MIDI data.



 ENABLE  ON  OFF 
Activate/disable the delay engine.

 TIME  1/4   1/8   1/12   1/16   1/24   1/32   1/48   1/64 
Delay time is the amount of time between the original notes and the delay notes.

 REPEAT  1  ...  128 
Number of delayed notes.

 GAIN  0%   ...   200% 
Change the MIDI velocity of each delay note. The velocity of the delay notes will be gradually decreased (gain > 100%) or increased (gain < 100%). If the gain is set to 100% velocity will not change.

 DRY/WET  0%   ...   50%  ...  100% 
Change the midi velocity of all notes:
if 0%, you will only hear the original notes,
if 50%, you will hear both the original notes and the delayed notes,
if 100%, you will only hear the delay notes.

 Tip  The delay can work very differently depending on the synth you are using, as the velocity midi data can be interpreted in many ways.

Equalizer

MIDI equalizer changes the velocity of the original notes, simulating a standard EQ effect, but using the velocity MIDI data. It increases or decreases note velocities, according to the note pitch. The EQ slope is linear. You can, for example, increase the velocity of all lowest and highest notes, increase only medium notes, decrease the velocity of highest notes, ...



 ENABLE  ON  OFF 
Activate/disable the equalizer engine.

 BASENOTE  C-1#  ...  F9# 
Select the "mid gain note" = the central note pitch of the equalizer.

 LOW GAIN  0%  ...  100% 
Select the gain of the lowest notes (C-1#).

 MID GAIN  0%  ...  100% 
Select the gain of the central notes (according to the BASENOTE parameter).

 HI GAIN  0%  ...  100% 
Select the gain of the highest notes (F9#).
Scale

This effect quantizes all note pitches to a defined scale in real time, to refine your melody.



 ENABLE  ON  OFF 
Activate/disable the scale engine.

 SCALE  MAJOR   MINOR   ...   AEOLIAN   LOCRIAN   CHROMATIC 
Select the scale.

 KEY  C  ...  B 
Select the scale root note.

 STICK  UP  DOWN   FILTER   ALGO1   ALGO2 
If a non-scaled note is exactly between two scaled notes, select if the effect have to choose the note below (DOWN) or above (UP). FILTER will not play notes outside the scale. ALGO1 or ALGO2 will randomly select the sticked note up/down.

 TRANSPOSE  -12  ...  +12 
Transpose all track notes, before the scaling.
Note to CC

This effect converts a note parameter value (note pitch or note velocity) to a selected CC message (or to the MIDI ”pitch bend”, ”aftertouch” or ” program change”). For example, you can change a synth parameter (like the filter) according to the velocity of a note. It’s also very handy to fully control the Korg Volca Sample parameters (pitch, velocity, ...) with a keyboard.


 ENABLE  ON  OFF 
Activate/disable the Note 2 CC engine.

 PARAM  NT ON  VELOCITY  NT ON/OFF 
Select the note parameter value to convert (pitch of the note ON, velocity of the note, pitch of the note ON and note OFF).

 TO CC   CC0   ...   CC119   PITCH   PRESSURE   PR. CHANGE 
Select the midi CC message to be created.

 PLAY NOTE  OFF  ON 
If OFF, the inputed note will be filtered. If ON, the inputed note will be played.
BPM

This effect enables you to create global tempo automation! Very useful for creating BPM changes between two tracks during your live set, automating small BPM variations, creating ”bouncing ball” effects in sync, ...


 ENABLE  ON  OFF 
Activate/disable the BPM engine.

 BPM  10  ...  250 
The new global BPM (substitutes to the tap BPM).
Chance

This effect plays or does not play a note based on probability. It’s a great way to add variations to drums or melodies.



 ENABLE  ON  OFF 
Activate/disable the Chance engine.

 CHANCE  0%  ...  100%   VELOCITY 
If ”0%”, the note will never be played. If ”50%”, the note has a fifty-fifty chance to be played. If ”99%”, the note will almost always be played. If ”VELOCITY,” the note will have the same probability of being played as its velocity. Very handy for programming different per note probability.

 SYNC  OFF  1/4  1/8   1/16 
Add a synced probability (”sync chance” parameter). If sync = ”1/4”, all beat notes will have a different probability of being played. If sync = ”1/16”, all sixteenth notes will have a different chance to be played...

 SYNC CHANCE   0%   ...   100% 
The probability of a synced note to be played. For example, if sync = ”1/4” and sync chance = ”100%”, all beat notes will be played.

 APPLY   PER PPQN   PER NOTES 
If ”PER PPQN” is selected, the probability affects a group of notes contained in the same PPQN (if a chord is played, all notes of the chord will be played or not). If ”PER NOTE” selected, the probability affects each note (if a chord is played, only some notes of the chord will be played).

LFO

Generate high resolution CC waveforms, based on wavetables!



 WAVEFORM  OFF  SINE   TRIANGLE   SQUARE   RAMP   S AND H 
Set the LFO waveform.  S AND H  means "sample & hold", generating a random value at each synchronized step.

 PHASE  0°  ...  180° 
Set the phase of the waveform.

 RANGE  -127  ...  0   ...   +127 
Set the amplitude of the waveform. If 0, no LFO will be generated. If +63, the LFO will be generated with the maximum range value (0 to 127). If -63, the LFO will be generated with the maximum range value, but the waveform will be inverted (127 to 0). If the value is upper 63, the LFO will "saturate".

 RATE   1/16   ...   64 
Set the rate of the waveform (from 1/16 bar to 64 bars).

 TO CC   CC0   ...   CC119   PITCH   PRESSURE   PR. CHANGE 
Set the CC message destination.

 Tip  Press DISP to display the LFO in real-time:

 SINE 
 RAMP 
 S AND H 

It's possible to chain multiple LFOs (with the same CC number, on the same track), in order to create original waveforms:

 TRIANGLE  +  TRIANGLE 
 SINE  +  RAMP 

 

 Tip  Rotate the main encoder
right to display the OFFSET parameter, instead of the PHASE parameter:
 OFFSET   0   ...   64   ...   127 
Set the offset of the waveform (the central value). You can also add a CC automation in stepmode CC, in order to set or automate this offset.