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Walrus Audio Lore Reverse Soundscape Generator
Create the soundtrack to your storybook adventure with the Lore Reverse Soundscape Generator. Made up of five different programs, the Lore is an ambient creation machine built around reverse delay and reverbs. Featuring two DSP chips running in series, each with their own analog feedback path, the Lore takes you on an adventurous journey rich with themes of reversing, time-stretching, pitch-shifting, and vast ambiance.
Ambience is only part of the appeal in this delay of many modes and moods.
Deep and varied while being intuitive to explore. Abundance of polyrhythmic textures can transform simple ideas.
Deep and varied while being intuitive to explore. Abundance of polyrhythmic textures can transform simple ideas.
$239
MXR Joshua Ambient Echo
jimdunlop.com
Like any art movement that sticks around long enough, “ambient” music has come to mean many different things. As home recording grows more accessible, it’s become a popular vehicle for quiet, introspective creations that can come together in small spaces. And when the pandemic raged, ambient music exploded both as an outlet for confined creators and as a service for stressed folk that needed to chill out. Regardless of how the form evolved beyond the prophecies and concepts of Satie, Eno, and ’60s minimalists—and some manifestations have been truly vacuous—its expansion opens a lot of opportunities for pedal builders.
MXR, for its part, hasn’t dabbled much with ambient effects. The recent MXR Reverb is, until now, probably the brand’s most ambitious effort along ambient lines. The new Joshua Ambient Echo, however, explores many such avenues by melding two delays, modulation, multiple echo divisions, octave tones, and reverb. And, yes, you can probably bet the house that, in name and sound, Joshua cheekily honors the Edge and the mega-platinum LP his band made with none other than Eno himself. See how beautifully everything intertwines in the mists of ambient space? You can reach a lot of these magical places with Joshua.
The Brink of the Abyss
Joshua’s basic voice, sans reverb, modulation, or octave, produces the kind of clean, precise digital echoes that I expect when I grab my Boss DD-3. One cool byproduct of this clarity is the way it highlights the rhythmic capabilities of the Joshua, which are a draw equal to its capacity for ambience.
Less than subliminally compelled to play a bunch of muted U2-style rhythms, I heard the Joshua snap with sharp, percussive presence in a manner evocative of the Edge’s Korg SDD-3000 sounds (check The Unforgettable Fire for a good point of reference). Predictably, the dotted-eighth and triplet modes hop and pop in a fashion that turns stupidly simple melodic lines and chord patterns into compelling riffs. But it’s when you add the second echo that these patterns really percolate. Getting these complex reflections just right can be tricky when tight rhythms are the underpinning of a riff. But getting there is hardly a chore (especially when using tap tempo), and when they come together they can add intriguing extra animation and space to simple parts.
“Predictably, the dotted eighth and triplet modes hop and pop in a fashion that turns stupidly simple melodic lines and chord patterns into compelling riffs.”
These twin-delay polyrhythms sound great in subtle, low-mix settings, too—adding dimensionality that, again, evokes the Edge’s twin SDD-3000/AC30 rig. They also benefit from the Joshua’s ability to operate at very high-to-maximum repeat and mix levels. Instead of oscillating out of control, echo patterns spool into long-to-infinite loops. In audio Clip 1 that accompanies the online version of this review, you can hear a single 12th-fret harmonic stab—played in the compound-eighth/dotted-eighth mode at maximum repeat and mix—turn into a sequencer-like pattern that’s perfect for a looper or the pedal’s freeze function.
Of course, Joshua’s most complex echoes can also unlock unusual textures and compel players to explore new dynamic techniques and approaches to songcraft. Check out Clip 2. This is a very Edge-like percussive pattern, again played on the compound-eighth/dotted-eighth division setting with a pretty aggressive mix. The first segment of the clip uses a single delay and a pattern using a heavy downstroke on the one. Played in dual delay mode, this complex tangle of echoes is a mess. But apply a light touch, add some modulation and mild octave-up content, and the same pattern of notes becomes the audio equivalent of light scattered through stained glass—producing many unexpected colors and overtones.
Generally, I’m not a big fan of octave-up content in delays and reverbs or the way they can turn otherwise engaging echo tones to cloying. The +2 octave range here can be syrupy sweet to my ears. But the pedal also has +1 and -1 octave settings, the latter of which can add ballast to a part or, at high mix and repeat settings, turn a single low E note to a haunting, endless foghorn blast. The modulation is very nice, too, adding much to the movement and harmonic makeup of the pedal’s most ambient tones, or simply working as a rich chorus at fast delay times as heard in Clip 3.The Verdict
The Edge regularly credits his old Memory Man and Korg delays for completely recasting his technique and compositional approach. And doubtless, players with free spirits and few preconceptions will find many fresh paths to wander here. That so many possibilities and complex sounds can exist alongside much more basic fare in a compact unit makes the Joshua a sensible investment—even at nearly 220 bucks. For the player that masters its complexities, it could flower into a deep well of inspiration capable of paying back that sum many times over.
MXR Joshua Ambient Echo Demo | First Look
To create an aux track in LUNA or Pro Tools, press Cmd+Shift+N (or Ctrl+Shift+N on a PC) and set “aux” as the type.
Here’s a lesson in how to apply automation settings to various parameters in your mixes.
Hello, and welcome to another Dojo! Tighten up your belts, because this time I’m going to take you further down “automation lane,” and point out some DAW features that may be missing in your mixes. You’ll recall that last month, I sang the praises of immersive audio and how having your automation skills “on point” can be a big benefit in your mixing process in this paradigm. I also dove into the differences between “write,” “latch,” “touch,” and “trim” settings. Now, you should be able to apply them to a multitude of different parameters available in most DAWs.
Three Plus One, Send/Return
Most of the time, in the latter stages of mixing, you’ll use the “big three” automation options: volume, pan, and mute/solo. As mentioned before, I generally use the “touch” setting when doing moves of this nature, because it will keep any previously written automation moves and only overwrite new data when the fader is touched. (Upon release, it immediately goes back to reading the previous automation data.)
In addition to these three, automation really blossoms when applied to send/return levels to aux bus effects, and will allow you to create dynamic mix textures such as delays and reverbs that evolve over time. I would add that the send/return automation is a key parameter for me, and something that I use on every mix. Every DAW, once in an automated “enable” state, will track your send levels to your aux effects (delays, reverbs, etc.).
Pre Fader, Post Fader…. What’s the Difference?
These terms are important to understand and describe the points in the signal path where various audio processes occur in relation to the channel’s fader. “Pre fader” is when you apply effects or processing before the channel’s volume fader—which means that the amount of signal you send to your reverb effect remains constant regardless of changes in the channel’s volume level. Thus, when you apply a reverb effect pre fader, increasing or decreasing the channel’s overall volume won’t affect the reverb level in the mix.
“Post fader” refers to a point in the signal path that occurs after the channel’s fader. So, any processing applied takes place after the audio signal passes through the channel’s volume fader. Changes made to the fader’s position directly affects the level of the audio signal that’s sent for processing. For example, using a compressor post fader on a vocal track means that the compressor’s response is influenced by the vocal’s volume changes. If you lower the vocal’s fader, the compressed signal will also be quieter. This can be useful for maintaining a more balanced dynamic range in the mix, should you choose.
“Automation really blossoms when applied to send/return levels to aux bus effects, and will allow you to create dynamic mix textures such as delays and reverbs that evolve over time.”
I’ve found that I do 99 percent of my send/return automations pre fader. Why? Because I don’t want any overall volume rides that I may do to affect my effect’s send levels (amount of reverb, amount of delay, etc.), and if I want to adjust the amount of effect levels, I simply automate the aux send fader and leave my overall volume fader alone. But, whatever works for you is the right way to do it.
Try This!
Instantiate some new aux buses. (In LUNA and Pro Tools, the hotkey to do this is Cmd or Ctrl+Shift+N; then set the track type to aux.) Most DAWs are very similar, but read your manual if you are unsure how to do this (Fig. 1). On each aux bus, place a plugin of your choice. Get creative! Don’t just use reverbs and delays, but throw in an amp simulator, bit crusher, tremolos, etc. Next, select the audio track(s) you want to assign to the aux bus(es) of your choice. Also, feel free to assign multiple aux buses to a single audio track, because each bus can be independently automated.
Pick an audio track and set it on “write” or “touch” mode. Regardless of what your GUI looks like, press play and start adjusting the aux send’s fader levels. Play back your automation, edit, and have fun with your mixing. Next time, I’ll guide you through the advanced ways to automating your plugin parameters for even more finely nuanced control and creative possibilities. Namaste.