The effects, one by one

These effects change the balance of frequencies rather than adding anything new. Filter+Drive is the quick one: it has a key of its own and can roughen the sound as it filters. Move to Super Filter when you want a very steep slope, a band-pass option or a cutoff that moves by itself. Isolator is for lifting a whole band or taking it out, Equalizer for setting three bands at frequencies you choose, and SBF for something stranger, letting only slices of the spectrum through.

All of these repeat the sound, so the choice comes down to character and control. Sync Delay is the plain tempo-locked echo on its own key, and SX Delay is the same idea with fewer controls and a balance instead of a level. Ko-Da-Ma adds a send and can place the effect on both sides. TimeCtrlDly is the one to sweep by hand, because its time changes smoothly and it can run free of the tempo. Tape Echo brings playback heads and wow and flutter. Zan-Zou needs a stereo sound and leaves a ghostly afterimage, Cloud Delay blurs its repeats into a thick wash, and DJFX Delay adds echo to a short repeating loop.

Use Reverb when you want to choose the kind of space and shape the tail with low cut, high cut and pre-delay. SX Reverb has just time, tone and balance, which suits a quick setting when you only need to decide how much you hear. Ha-Dou is the unusual one, generating a rippling wash from the input with a depth control for the movement. For echoes and reverb in one effect, see Cloud Delay in Delays and echoes.

Most of these keep a sound moving. Chorus and JUNO Chorus thicken and widen it: Chorus gives you more control, including low and high EQ, while JUNO Chorus recreates the JUNO-106 and JX choruses with little to set. Flanger is the jet-plane sweep and Phaser the phase-shifted swirl; both can lock to the tempo. Wah keeps changing the tone on a cycle, and Tremolo/Pan moves the volume or the stereo position. Ring Mod is the odd one out, for making a sound metallic.

Reach for these when a sound is too clean. 303 VinylSim and 404 VinylSim each recreate the vinyl effect of an earlier SP: the 303 gives you a compression feel to set, and the 404 lets you shape the frequency response. Cassette Sim swaps the record for a worn tape, with controls for age and stretch. Lo-fi damages the tone between two filters, and Crusher lowers the sample rate. All but Crusher also work as Input FX, so you can colour a sound on the way in (Add an effect to what’s coming in). Take care with Lo-fi, which can get very loud.

Overdrive and Distortion have the same four controls and differ in strength: Overdrive is mild and Distortion intense, so try the other if one is too little or too much. WrmSaturator is the one for warmth, with its own low and high tone controls, but it can get very loud, so raise its values carefully. Gt Amp Sim models six guitar amps and only works as an Input FX (Add an effect to what’s coming in). For distortion together with a filter, see Filter+Drive in Filters and EQ.

These mess with time, and they’re the ones you tend to play as fills. DJFX Looper traps a tiny slice that you can run forwards, backwards or stop dead; for echo on top, use DJFX Delay in Delays and echoes. Scatter rearranges a loop in steps, while Slicer chops a held sound to a rhythm. Downer and To-Gu-Ro keep dragging the speed down on a cycle: To-Gu-Ro adds tone and volume changes that follow the speed, and Downer can correct the pitch as it goes. Stopper winds down like a turntable, and Back Spin throws the record backwards.

There are two families here. Resonator and Hyper-Reso make a sound ring at set pitches: Resonator for keys and chords, Hyper-Reso for melodies and bass lines. Chromatic PS adds two shifted voices in semitones. Auto Pitch, Vocoder and Harmony are for voices and only work as Input FX, so they process what’s coming in rather than your samples (Add an effect to what’s coming in). Choose Auto Pitch to correct and reshape a voice, Vocoder to play it with notes on the unit or over MIDI, and Harmony to add a harmony to it.

Compressor is the one to pick when you want a sound’s level to stay more even. If you want one bus to duck another instead, use Duck one bus with another using side chain, which also works as a plain compressor when SOURCE and TARGET are the same bus. Take care with Compressor, as it can get very loud.