Fake Delay

Thanks to Dan Stesco www.danstesco.ro for providing us with this trick.

This doesn’t apply to the microSTATION only, but since the effects processor of that little board is limited, and not as flexible like his older brothers, we need to look for options to combine different effects. So, lets get to it:

The thing is, I’m rebooting my Genesis cover band with a few friends, and my son as the drummer. So, I got a microSTATION, expecting to recreate all the sounds I used to have on my M50, but to my horror, I can’t assign effects freely as I could with the M50. There are so many effects available depending on the slots, if they are IFX or MFX or TFX. So, I need to use them wisely.

I was building a combi for Fading Lights, including an arpeggio pattern to mimic the drum machine that Tony Banks used back in 1992. But, the sound have a delay kind of effect. Now, if I put Chorus, which is vital for any Genesis sound, and add some reverb, to give the sound ambience and presence, I can’t use the delay effect anywhere else. And if I use the delay for the drum machine, I can’t use reverb, and the whole sound is bland and flat.

So what can we do?

 

Well, first of all, duplicate the timbre that the arpeggiator is using, in my case Timbre #5 House Kit, to Timbre #6. Copy all the parameters, but reduce the volume to around 40% compared to Timbre #5. That way, the delay, or “Echo” will be fainter than the main sound, which is the idea.

Remember to assign Arpeggiator A on both timbres, since we want it to play on both, only dephased by a bit.

 

Now the trick. Put a delay on Timbre #6 (the fainter one), I used 800ms, but you can adjust it to your taste.

And that’s it. Now you have delay, without using an FX slot. As simple as that.

Again, thanks Dan.