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Understanding the Effects 

The focus of this article will be to introduce you to 

the XS effects. “A picture is worth a thousand 

words”, some great mind said. Please refer to the 

XS Reference Manual pages 15-16 for the full 
graphic story on the Effects routing in the XS for 

VOICE mode, PERFORMANCE mode and for MULTI 

modes. This makes it very clear where the Effects 
blocks are and when they are available via a block 

diagram flow chart. We will try and make clear 

how this impacts you using the XS to its fullest. 
 

In VOICE mode:  

 

 

There are up to 8 Elements

1

 in a normal XS Voice. 

They can be individually assigned to the 

INSERTION EFFECT block, which is a dual block 

(Insertion A and Insertion B) that can be routed in 

series

2

 or in parallel

3

 (see the routing as A-to-B, 

                                                           

1

 

Element – is a multi-sampled instrument or part of and 

instrument sound. 

2

 

Series – is one after the other

 

3

 

Parallel – is one besides the other

 

B-to-A or parallel). Each Element has a signal 

path to the Insertion block – they can be routed 
to “ins  A” to “ins B” or to neither (“thru”). The 

two System Effects (Reverb and Chorus) each 

have their own send levels for the entire Voice 
(that is, all the Elements together). And there is 

an independent RETURN level and PAN position 

control for each System effect – mixing the signal 

back into the main flow; and a PAN position 
control. Next, the entire signal then goes on 

through the Master EFFECT, the Master EQ (a 5-

band EQ) then on to the main stereo output.  

 

An important thing to understand about these 
VOICE mode effects is that the Insertion Effect 

assignment can be recalled for up to 8 of the 16 

Parts when a VOICE is used in a multi-timbral 

setup in MULTI mode and all 4 Parts of a 
PERFORMANCE plus the A/D INPUT can each recall 

their own two Insertion Effects …more on this 

point in a minute. There is one A/D INPUT PART 
for all of Voice mode – it can be routed to its own 

two Insertion Effects. 

 
What this means in simple terms is: An XS Voice 

can be very complex in terms of how it deals with 

Effects. Each component that makes up a Voice 

can be routed to one or the other or both or 
neither of the INSERTION processors. In the flow 

chart from the S90XS/S70XS Editor (shown 

above) there are 8 Elements on the left. They are 
all routed (green) to Effect A. Effect A is in 

“series” with Effect B – this means the signal of 

each Element goes to Insert Effect A first, then to 
Insert Effect B… before it travels to the System 

Effects. You see a rotary control (Send Level) for 

the entire signal going to each the Chorus effect 

box and one to the Reverb effect block. There is 
also a rotary knob between the Chorus and 

Reverb blocks. After these blocks there is a 

RETURN Level and Pan position control for the 
effects, then on the OUTPUT. In the column at left 

is the same routing situation from the manual. 

 
The INSERT EFFECTS are the effects that you can 

control in real time – by assigning important 

parameters to physical controllers like your Mod 

Wheel, Foot Pedals, Assignable Knobs or 
Assignable Function buttons, etc. The INSERTION 

Effect often gives the Voice its personality.  The 

Rotary Speaker for a B3 sound, the soundboard 
Damper Resonance for the piano, and the 

Overdrive Distortion for the electric guitar are all 

examples of effects that give a sound its 
identity/personality. They are intimately involved 

with the Voice itself. The soundboard on a piano is 

like its own internal reverberation, while the 

 

2

Summary of Contents for S90 XS Editor VST S70 XS Editor VST

Page 1: ...y POWER USER MUSIC PRODUCTION and PERFORMANCE With the S90XS S70XS Introducing the EFFECTS Phil Clendeninn Senior Technical Sales Specialist Technology Products Yamaha Corporation of America ...

Page 2: ...s when a VOICE is used in a multi timbral setup in MULTI mode and all 4 Parts of a PERFORMANCE plus the A D INPUT can each recall their own two Insertion Effects more on this point in a minute There is one A D INPUT PART for all of Voice mode it can be routed to its own two Insertion Effects What this means in simple terms is An XS Voice can be very complex in terms of how it deals with Effects Ea...

Page 3: ...ity effects Insertion Effects as the personal property of the Voice it may become clear The guitar player sitting a home in his apartment VOICE mode connects inserts his guitar to an overdrive stomp box and a wah wah pedal these are his personal effects when he joins the band at the rehearsal hall Performance mode he can bring these two personal insert effects with him Each Voice in a Performance ...

Page 4: ...er you need to switch to a lead sound then back to piano and finally to strings again You could place these sounds in a MULTI and easily accomplish this by pressing the PART SELECT button associated with where you placed these Voices And with a little imagination you can see that this can be used to call up complex splits and layers as well because PARTS of a Multi can be segregated to specific re...

Page 5: ...you will see where a subjective return is allowable a DRY WET balance parameter This is so that you can mix your amount of effect return but from a device like an EQ there is no DRY WET balance control parameter because the design will not let you make that mistake This is a good thing As you will learn not all parameters are available for real time control again a design decision is made to preve...

Page 6: ...ality check an idea of what would happen in the real world can only help No one is saying you cannot create some science fiction sound environments of course you can just know when you are doing so An important parameter in all the reverbs is the INITIAL DELAY this is the time before the reverb receives the signal and can help position the listener near far from the instrument source The initial d...

Page 7: ...ymphonic VCM Flanger Classic Flanger Tempo Flanger VCM Phaser Mono VCM Phaser Stereo Tempo Phaser Early Reflection additionally you will find three SPX Reverbs available in the Chorus processor very useful when you want to set a lead or section of instruments apart from the rest of your mix a Hall Room and Stage reverb Phasing is another category of effect it is where the two signals are basically...

Page 8: ...There is a composite return signal that is mixed to the stereo output An Insertion Effect on an audio console is usually accessed via patch points interruption points in the channel s signal flow that allow you to reroute all of the channel s signal via a patch bay through the desired effect or device You are literally inserting a processor on that specific channel alone This is how the INSERTION ...

Page 9: ... other rather than in parallel side by side An example of how this can make a difference is when you select a DELAY as the effect for the Chorus processor and a REV HALL for the Reverb when parallel routing is selected you could send a signal independently to the delay and to the reverb Only the initial note will have reverb each repeat would be dry By routing 0 send to the Reverb but send the sig...

Page 10: ...rithm among the list of Dual Insertion Effects The MASTER EFFECTS are DELAY L R STEREO COMP DISTORTION DELAY VCM COMPRESSOR 376 MULTI BAND COMP LO FI RING MODULATOR DYNAMIC FILTER ISOLATOR SLICE These are sometimes called DJ type effects for lack of a better term because like a DJ would they are applied to the entire recording DJ s are either playing back a record or CD that is a finished mix So t...

Page 11: ...ion removes that channel from the auxiliary sends the ones feeding the Reverb and the Chorus processors but you would be doing this interruption precisely because you are going to process the signal in isolation separately When you take a PART of your MULTI program and route it to any of the assignable outputs it is removed from the main stereo mix and it no longer is pooled with the others via th...

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