XT2 includes some native effects which are not only integrated within the Synth/Sampler component, but also included in a multi-effect component for use in other areas of a given project.
The Browser contains a special folder Comps which is where the XT2 native components are found for drag-n-drop into a project. The multi-effect unit can be dragged onto the XT2 main component window where it becomes an additional component in the mixer for routing, or it can be dragged directly into the mixer as a send or insert effect.
Additionally, a multi-effect component can be added by right-clicking on the main component window and selecting the multi-effect from the context sensitive pop-up menu.
The multi-effect editor window can be opened just like any other component and will default to a tempo delay setting. The interface is quite simple and acts like a chain of effects that can be added to/subtracted from, reordered and saved and effect presets for future projects.
Adding a new effect to the chain is as simple as left-clicking on the FX button at the top of the component view. This will give an option of four different effects:
-
Delay -
Reverb -
Phaser -
Chorus
From each effect front panel a right-click will bring up a context sensitive menu which will allow reordering of the effect in the chain via a Move Up command and also the ability to delete the effect from the chain.
Like all components in XT2, the mult-effect unit contains program management so that multi-effect programs can be added, named and saved for later recall. In the case of the multi-effect component XT2 saves the created programs in a proprietary format with an .xte extension. This format stores the complete bank of programs created within the component not just the selected program.
Each effect has a couple of common features. Firstly, each has an on/off icon in the top left corner of the front panel. Additionally, each effect contains dry/wet text boxes for controlling the output signal from the effect. What follows is a brief tour of the effect-specific parameters of the included effects.
Delay
The delay contains two simple parameters for control of the effect: delay and feedback. Feedback is given as a percentage value and the delay can be either in milliseconds or in beats synchronised with the host tempo. The Time drop-down is used to select which delay method is used, and the delay value controls alter depending on the mode selected. Both left and right channel delays are configurable.
Reverb
The reverb contains two parameters for control of the effect: pre-delay and size. Pre-delay is the time in milliseconds before the reverb takes effect and has a value between 0 and 250 milliseconds. The size is a parameter that attempts to describe the size of the room being simulated with a value in milliseconds; the higher the value, the bigger the room being simulated. Room sizes can be between 1000 and 10000 milliseconds.
Phaser
A phaser works by mixing one signal (dry) with another (wet) but modulating the phase of the wet signal. This creates what is known as a "phasing" effect. The XT2 phaser has 4 major parameters for control of the effect: feedback, rate, phase and a combination low/hi cut filter. The feedback is a percentage value. The rate controls the modulation of the phasing effect in Herz and can be anywhere between 0.1 and 10 Hz. The phase control describes a value in degrees of the amount of phasing - in this case, a value between 0 and 180 degrees. The low/hi-cut filter contains two values in Herz which determine the lower and upper frequency values outside of which to cut the wet signal. This is flexible enough that it provides the ability to describe a low cut (high pass) filter, a high cut (low pass) filter, or a bandpass filter. Both filter values can set a frequency range between 20 and 20000Hz.
Chorus/Flanger
A chorus/flanger works by mixing one signal (dry) with another (wet) but modulating the frequency of the wet signal. This creates what is known as a "chorus" effect. The XT2 chorus has 5 major parameters for control of the effect: feedback, delay, depth, rate and phase. The feedback is a percentage value. The delay describes a value in milliseconds that the signal should be delayed from the dry signal and can be a value between 1 and 300 milliseconds. The depth is a value between 0 and 100 and determines the amount of frequency change to the incoming signal. The rate controls the modulation speed of the depth value between 0 and the selected depth and is a value between 0.1 and 10Hz. The phase control when set above zero describes a value in degrees of the amount of phasing - in this case, a value between 0 and 180 degrees - this is also modulated by the rate value and when set above zero alters the chorus to become a flanger - a combination of a chorus and phaser effect.