Effects & mixing

Besides the per-track pages, the Digitone II has pattern-wide pages for its three send effects — delay, reverb and chorus — and for the mixer, which also holds the master compressor and master overdrive. Every preset in the pattern shares the same effect settings. What each track decides for itself is how much it sends, with DEL, REV and CHR on its FX page.

For the bigger picture of where the effects sit in the signal chain, see Sound architecture. Which tracks, effects and inputs reach the main outputs and feed the effects is set globally in Audio routing.

The delay holds back whatever you send it and mixes the repeats back in with the original sound. TIME is measured in 128th notes against the current BPM, so the echoes stay in time when you change tempo. You feed it from the DEL send on each track’s FX page, from the inputs on the External mixer, and from the Chorus.

A T marks a triplet value and a trailing dot a dotted value.

The reverb places sounds in a space, from a small room to a vast hall, by shaping how long and how brightly they ring on. DEC sets the size of the space, FREQ and GAIN decide how bright or muffled the tail is, and HPF and LPF trim the audio before it reaches the reverb.

The reverb is fed by the REV send on each track’s FX page, by the REV sends on the Delay and Chorus pages, and by the inputs on the External mixer.

Reach for the chorus to make sounds wider, strengthen the stereo image or give them a little movement. DPTH and SPD set how deep and how fast the chorus’s own LFO modulates, and WDTH sets the stereo width.

HPF filters the signal on its way into the chorus. DEL and REV pass the wet chorus on to the Delay and Reverb, so you can chain the effects. The chorus is fed by the CHR send on each track’s FX page and by the inputs on the External mixer.

The compressor is a master effect: it narrows the dynamic range by turning loud sounds down relative to quiet ones. Beyond taming peaks, its sidechain lets one sound — a kick, say — duck the rest of the mix every time it plays, and the dry/wet mix gives you parallel compression. A bar on the left of the screen shows how much gain reduction is going on.

The page has eight compressor parameters on the DATA ENTRY knobs, plus VOL (pattern volume) on LEVEL/DATA.

The two internal mixer pages are where you balance the tracks against each other. Page 1 (MIXER page 2) shows the TRACK LEVEL of tracks 1–8 and page 2 (MIXER page 3) that of tracks 9–16 — for the tracks that are audio tracks. VOL on both pages sets the level of the whole pattern.

The track levels and the pattern volume are both saved with the kit — see Projects, patterns, kits and presets.

The FX mixer is MIXER page 4. It sets how loud each send effect comes back into the mix, and how much master overdrive is applied to the kit’s audio tracks.

DEL, REV and CHR here are the effects’ master volumes. Each effect also has its own VOL on its SEND FX page — see Delay, Reverb and Chorus.

The master overdrive is the last stage before the outputs: the mixer feeds the Compressor, and the compressor feeds the master overdrive, which goes on to OUTPUT L/R and the headphones.

The external mixer lets you treat audio arriving at the IN L/R inputs with the Digitone II’s mixer and effects. Set the input level and where it sits in the stereo field, then send it to the delay, reverb and chorus.

DUAL also changes which inputs the Compressor can use as its sidechain source.