RACKS AND DIY MULTIEFFECTS
>Digital music production offers a lot of advantages over its analogue counterpart. We have easy automation, infinite recall of files and versions, and many other advantages besides. If one of the worst things about working solely on the computer is a lack of creativity and inspirational flow, one of the most crucial benefits is a system built to overcome that: the rack.
Racks can be found in most DAWs as a solution to combining processors or instruments together into a more functional unit. They might not even be called ‘Racks’, but the concept is the same, and their purpose is to make multiple instruments or effects into more than the sum of their parts.
STRENGTH IN NUMBERS
At their most basic, racks group a number of effects or instruments (and sometimes both) into a single unit. One early example was the Combinator, found in Propellerhead’s Reason software, which could command multiple audio devices at the same time within one container.
Let’s say you’ve got two effects on your channel, and you’re creating a build-up effect using a high-pass filter and a phaser. This combo can be stored in a rack and recalled for use in a later project – settings and all. Instant recall – and even redistribution, as seen in the flourishing market for Live rack instruments – is one big appeal of using racks in production.
Back to that hi-pass and filter combo. As things get pumping, you automate the parameters of the two effects, bringing the high-pass filter and phaser depth up. Having grouped the two effects inside a Rack (or ‘Combinator’, or ‘FX Chain’, or ‘Channel Editor’, or whatever), you can take command over both controls from a single master parameter, making automation easier.
This extra level of integration, using Macro controls to command multiple parameters to different extents, is what makes racks and other such systems great for sound designers. As well as re-using combinations of effects and instruments that have worked before, you can create unique setups that others could actually buy themselves!
SIGNAL SOLUTIONS
Depending on the system you’re using, racks can also mean extra possibilities in signal routing. With extra flexibility over the signal flow from the output of one device to the input of another, some systems make it possible to construct parallel chains, alternative branches and signal paths. You could split your original stereo audio signal into right and left or mid and side feeds, or split by frequency as in a multiband processor. From here, your rack system may be able to construct different chains of processors for each split, and it may also be able to nest splits inside splits for even more complexity and creativity.
Whether you’re particularly old-hand at racks or are just getting started off, we’re going to show you how to formulate new ideas and signal processors, using your existing plugins and components as mere building blocks to help create larger systems.