Signal Processors

Paul White nervously opens Pandora's box — and realises that instead of being the mythical source of demons and sorrows, it's just Korg's new compact guitar multi-effects processor...

Now that Waldorf have released their 4-pole filter as a stand-alone unit, giving your digital synth an analogue spin is as easy as popping it in the microwave. The result, as Paul Ward discovers, isn't always fast food.

What would modern popular music be like without effects? Can you imagine rock without distortion? Ambient techno without delays? New age without reverb? Effects are second only in importance to the instrument needed to produce the music in the first place. Over the next nine pages, Derek Johnson and Debbie Poyser present their guide to what's on the effects market today...

Paul White explores a few ways of taking nature's most common audio phenomenon and manipulating it to create special effects.

Paul White gets the first ART eight-channel Pro Gate to land in the UK &mdash and discovers that behind the hi-tech facade, it's a bit of a Harley-Davidson.

Inside the GX700 lies a heart of gold: Roland's innovative physical modelling technology. Paul White straps on his guitar and puts this advanced multi-effects unit to work.

Paul White finds Behringer's new 'more of everything' box a plentiful source of cheap thrills.

Descending Mosses-like from the mount, Lexicon's new dedicated reverb processor brings intelligence from the company's top-end reverbs. Paul White gets a debriefing...

It looks like a flagship reverb, yet it checks in at the price of a jet ski. Paul White cuts a dash with Yamaha's versatile new digital reverb.

Paul White looks at the many parameters which govern compression, how to improve your recording technique, and how not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Paul White goes beyond the final frontier with Roland's latest 3D sound processor.

Paul White checks out a signal processor with no knobs, no buttons and no display, designed to add valve warmth to 8-track recording.

Alesis reverbs seem to get ever-more cheap and cheerful. But can low price and simplicity go hand in hand with studio-quality performance? Paul White finds out.

Paul White plugs into the all-singing, all dancing digital box that can perform graphic, parametric and shelving EQ functions all at once — and even handle real-time room analysis and auto EQ'ing during its quieter moments...

There have been Leslie simulators before, but none to exploit the sympathetic warmth of valves.

Paul White tries to pigeonhole Digitech's new effects unit — but quickly discovers that it can mean different things to different users.

Digitech have trimmed back both price and features for the latest addition to the TSR effects family. But does the newcomer offer enough bang per buck?

Can a low-cost processor really clean up noisy recordings effectively? Paul White finds out.

You might think that EQ is simply a tone control, but as Paul White explains, it's really a powerful mind-manipulating tool inextricably linked to the survival of the species!

There's more to gating than just getting rid of unwanted noise: the humble noise gate is capable of truly creative studio trickery. David Mellor reveals some of the unusual uses for your Drawmer DS201, but if you don't own a DS201, don't despair: these tips can be adapted for most good quality gates.

Where equalisers are concerned, quality is more important than quantity, but does this Swiss-made equaliser justify its hefty price tag? Paul White finds out.