— Effects explorer
Every effect
All 59 effects: the live effects on the Perform screen, the mixer effects grouped by what they do to a sound, and the background effects. Hover or tap a setting to read what it does.
LIVE·16 effects
A bitcrusher that roughens your sound by lowering its sample rate.
VANILLA page.A trigger-based pitch shift that moves all your pads up or down.
VANILLA page.A comb filter with a delay time you control.
VANILLA page.Ring modulation at a speed you control.
VANILLA page.A stereo reverb that opens up as you go higher.
VANILLA page.A beat repeat locked to your song’s tempo.
VANILLA page.SLIDE UP
The higher you go, the shorter the repeats.
Range 1/2 bar to 1/64 bar
Read the full explanationA threshold gate that decides how loud a sound must be for you to hear it.
VANILLA page.Resonant high-pass and low-pass filters, one on each side of the middle.
VANILLA page.A gate locked to your song’s tempo, which mutes the sound in rhythm.
STRAWBERRY page.A reverse effect with a time you control.
STRAWBERRY page.A dub delay whose time and feedback change together.
STRAWBERRY page.SLIDE UP
The higher you go, the slower the delay and the longer the feedback.
Read the full explanationA stereo delay with a length you control.
STRAWBERRY page.A talkbox effect that gives your sound vowel shapes.
STRAWBERRY page.A flanger and a wobble effect sharing one bar.
STRAWBERRY page.An overdrive.
STRAWBERRY page.A one-control compressor that ducks your sound harder at higher settings.
STRAWBERRY page.DYNAMICS·5 effects
Turns down the loud parts so that the level sits more evenly, and its timing controls can also change how transients come through.
COMPRESSOR.MAKEUP
Switches makeup gain, which in general terms gives back the level that compression takes away.
Range on/off
Read the full explanationSlices peaks flat, to add loudness and bite or to stop them before they reach a limiter.
CLIPPER.A lookahead limiter meant for mastering, which holds down the peaks of a finished mix.
LIMITER.Silences a signal whenever it drops under the level you choose.
NOISE GATE.A sidechain compressor, where the level of a second signal, the source, decides how far the channel’s volume is pulled down.
SIDECHAIN.SOURCE
The signal doing the controlling: the mic or one of the buses.
Range MIC, BUS A–D
Read the full explanationFILTER/EQ·6 effects
A parametric EQ with three bands, for shaping the tone of a channel.
EQ.LOW SHELF/HI PASS
The bottom band, whose name gives its two roles: a low shelf or a high-pass filter.
Range -18–18 dB
Read the full explanationA filter with several types, which your input level or an LFO can set in motion.
FILTER.FILTER TYPE
Picks the kind of filter, including the more vocal Talkbox and Wah Wah.
Range Lo-pass, Hi-pass, Talkbox, Wah Wah
Read the full explanationKeeps one band of frequencies and removes everything either side of it.
BANDPASS.Takes away the frequencies above a point you choose.
HI-CUT.FREQ
The point above which frequencies get filtered out.
Range 50 Hz to 20.0 kHz
Read the full explanationTakes away the frequencies below a point you choose.
LO-CUT.FREQ
The point below which frequencies get filtered out.
Range 50 Hz to 20.0 kHz
Read the full explanationThree separate band levels in the style of a DJ mixer, each of which can vanish completely or sit at full level.
ISOLATOR.LO, MID, HI
One level for each band. Right at the bottom, the setting reads CUT.
Range 0–100%
Read the full explanationDELAY/REVERB·4 effects
An echo with its own filter, which you can lock to your song’s tempo.
DELAY.DELAY
The time between repeats, set separately for LEFT and RIGHT. It runs in bars with TEMPO SYNC on.
Range 0 ms to 2.50 sec / 1/64–8 bars
Read the full explanationAn echo modelled on analogue tape loops, with a wobble you can adjust.
TAPE DELAY.A no-frills reverb with just a few controls.
FREEVERB.A plate-style reverb, whose tail is bright and thick.
PLATE REVERB.MODULATION·6 effects
A traditional chorus, which makes a sound wider and thicker.
CHORUS.The sweeping, jet-like sound of a flanger.
FLANGER.A swirling phaser, with a choice of how many stages it uses.
PHASER.Moves a sound around the stereo field, at a free speed or locked to your tempo.
AUTOPAN. The screenshots in Koala’s manual label it AUTO PAN.A ring modulator with an LFO of its own, which you can lock to your tempo.
RING MOD.Works in the frequency domain to move a signal up or down by as much as an octave.
PITCH SHIFT.CHARACTER·4 effects
Digital damage from lowering the sample rate and bit depth, with jitter you can adjust.
BITCOOKER.SAMPLERATE
The sample rate it reduces the signal to.
Range 800 Hz to 44.000 kHz
Read the full explanationSimple distortion, made by waveshaping.
DRIVE.The wandering pitch of a turntable or a cassette, recreated.
WARBLE.Gives a pad or synth the contours of speech, using a voice signal as the modulator.
VOCODER.SYNTH
The carrier: the sound that gets shaped. VOICE SYNTH is the built-in synth, and THIS BUS is the audio on this channel.
Range VOICE SYNTH, THIS BUS
Read the full explanationUTILITY·6 effects
A handy set of mixing helpers, for choosing channels, setting gain and flipping phase.
UTILITY.CHANNEL
Which signal passes: stereo, only the left, only the right, or left and right together in mono.
Range Stereo, Left, Right, L+R Mono
Read the full explanationReads out peak, RMS and LUFS levels as low as -90 dB, plus a spectrum and a waveform, at any point in a chain.
METER.Tunes an instrument from the signal on its channel, with nothing to set.
TUNER.Puts your microphone’s signal straight onto a mixer channel.
MIC.A signal generator. Use it to test your setup, or to give the vocoder and sidechain something to work on.
TEST TONE.Spreads a mono signal into wide stereo, and leaves the bass in the middle.
STEREOIZER.BACKGROUND·12 effects
Cuts the picture into turning strips, so it looks like a window blind.
EXTRAS settings, set Background Effect to BLINDS.Breaks the picture into circular bands that turn against each other.
EXTRAS settings, set Background Effect to RINGS.Keeps the picture zooming, turning and warping all at once, without a pause.
EXTRAS settings, set Background Effect to ZOOM WARP.Keeps the picture zooming without end, with the centre as its anchor.
EXTRAS settings, set Background Effect to ZOOM.Bends the picture out of shape.
EXTRAS settings, set Background Effect to WARPWARP.Gives the picture interlaced lines, the look you’d associate with a CCTV monitor.
EXTRAS settings, set Background Effect to TV.Blends a kaleidoscope with psychedelic visuals.
EXTRAS settings, set Background Effect to KALEIDODELIC.Makes the picture break up like a malfunctioning computer screen.
EXTRAS settings, set Background Effect to GLITCH.Separates the picture into red, green and blue layers and slides them over each other.
EXTRAS settings, set Background Effect to HUEY.Reflects the picture around its centre into two moving halves.
EXTRAS settings, set Background Effect to MIRROR.Rolls the picture along in one direction, forever.
EXTRAS settings, set Background Effect to SCROLL.Leaves the picture still, with nothing moving it.
EXTRAS settings, set Background Effect to NONE.