emusonacid! legacy

I've been playing around with the RFX, and I gotta say, I'm very impressed. Lots of power here, once I get my head wrapped around the new screens and implementations.

However, with the RFX installed, I've come up against an issue I've always had with my outboard mixer and effects.

When programming in effect amoutns, is it better to use the wet/dry amount in the effect, or just set that to 100% and use the bus send amount to control how much effect I get? For example, if I want to have 20% reverb on something, should I set the wet/dry in the effect to 20% and the bus send to that reverb at 100%, or the wet/dry to 100% and the send amount to 20%?

Which way do you guys work?

Hello,

for the wet / dry or bus level , i dont have rfx card but if its like on a hardware mixer n multi fx unit its better to set the effect 100% wet then set the level on the fx bus/return for me i think .

Klassed --

I was interested in your question so I passed it on to a skilled producer I know... and he responded:

"First things first:
Unless you are looking to overdrive your effect unit, it's probably not wise to send 100% signal and output only 20%. Be it virtual or actual.

To get the best results from an effects unit in the natural sound realm, it's best to get your sound well leveled, and equalized first, then add effect until you are pleased. taking care not to overdrive the input, or the output of the mixer, the effect unit (or plugin) and the input of the mixer or recording device.

sometimes overdrive is a pretty cool trick. so this is not always true. but presuming when you add reverb, you want reverb, then the above is always true.

There is also the issue of amp volumes. In any given device, the effect unit's ability to match the dry output must be equal to, or greater than the line level.

If it is not, then you will never be pleased with the fully effected sound's final volume, or really any degree of percentages in send.

For example:
the MPC 4000 comes equipped with an effects card installed. on various message boards there is a good deal of complaining about the effects, and essentially the only issue is that they are pathetically quiet.

when you install the multi output board in the MPC you get the full story. The specs that come with them describe the internal audio bus of the MPC as -17db, and the main audio path of the device is +/- 0 db.

So the reverbs are distorted, and the delays sound thin and strangely quiet.

However, the multi output board solves this problem by addressing all of it's input and output at -17 db as well.

so, if you run audio on your multi outs, and send your effects out the main bus, all will be well at any percentage of send or return.

[i am not endorsing this bad planning, but it's good to know!]

Next this to think about is: What are the desired results?
This will determine which method of effecting is best.
If you are looking for dirty, and possibly even inaccurate time, then taking the dry signal from the effect and subduing it at source is best.

If you are looking for a clean and clear signal, then you definitely want to preserve as much of the source as possible, and send as little out to an effect unit set at a low input, 100% mix, and high output.

In the end, it doesn't matter. All that really counts is what actually sounds best!

hope this helps out."