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Adding and adjusting effects

Many of the familiar sounds in popular music are created by adding effects to voices or instruments. Each Real and Software Instrument has a set of effects, which include a compressor, an equalizer (EQ), echo, and reverb. Real Instruments also include a noise gate. You can turn an instrument's effects on or off, adjust effects, and add up to two additional effects per instrument. Additional effects include treble and bass reduction, distortion, chorus, flanging, phase shifting, tremolo, and amplifier simulation.

Each project has a master set of echo and reverb effects, which you turn on and off in the master track. The echo and reverb effects for each individual track control how much of the echo and reverb from the master track is applied to the individual track. If you turn off echo or reverb in the master track, they will be unavailable for individual tracks.

Track Info pane

To add and adjust a track's effects:

  1. Select the track, then click the Track Info button, or double-click the track’s header, to open the Track Info pane.
  2. Click the Details triangle to show the track’s effects settings.
  3. Click the checkbox next to an effect to turn the effect on or off.
  4. Adjust the compressor, echo, and reverb effects by dragging the effect’s slider until you get the sound you want. Adjust the equalizer effect by choosing a preset from the Equalizer pop-up menu. If your project is playing, you hear the changes as you make them.
  5. Add an effect by choosing the effect from one of the two pop-up menus marked None, then choosing an effect preset from the adjacent preset pop-up menu.

You can change the preset for the equalizer effect, the additional effects available in the effects pop-up menus, and the master echo and reverb effects. To learn how, see Related Topics below.

You can save effects settings to use with other instruments, or in another project. To do so, click the Save Instrument button at the bottom of the Track Info pane.

For information on specific effects, see the Glossary.

Related Topics

Adjusting and saving effect presets

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