VST effect weirdness (presumably...)

[landslidepurist]

Hello,

I've got a strange problem where a snare sample I'm using suddenly sounds like it's got a low pass frequency effect put on it, yet I'm actually using BJ Overdrive on it.

This is how it happens: the song starts, the sound is fine, then there is a part in the song with no snare, then when the snare comes back in at the end it is really muffled. If I start the song again, the snare sound is back to normal (usually, but I sometimes have to press play a few times).

Any ideas on this? I think it's a bug in one of the VSTs i'm using, but I don't really know which, if any, is causing this.

VSTs i'm using (no VSTi)

Classic EQ
BJ Overdrive
2 x camel crushers
Glaceverb
boost moog

Any help greatly appreciated - I really don't want to have to mix the snare separately in Traktion.

[CrazyAznGamer]

Try this fix: go to the instruments editor, to the snare drum in question, check cut-off frequency, and ramp it all the way up until it's at the max or says off or something to that effect.

When you apply macros that effect the cut-off frequency and/or the resonance in the song, the effect stays in that channel. I've had this problem, so maybe that's what's happening to you (in which case the above would solve it).

EDIT: w00t 69th post!

[landslidepurist]

Thanks for replying!

Your suggestion seems to have done the trick!

Oddly enough, I haven't used any macros or effected the cut-off or resonance of the snare in question.

To get over the problem I had even recreated the original snare and overdrive in new banks and it was still doing it! Completely weird.

Thanks for sorting it out.

[LPChip]

Thanks for replying!

Your suggestion seems to have done the trick!

Oddly enough, I haven't used any macros or effected the cut-off or resonance of the snare in question.

To get over the problem I had even recreated the original snare and overdrive in new banks and it was still doing it! Completely weird.

Thanks for sorting it out.

I can explain this behavor.

When you set a filter on any instrument, the filter will actually not be applied to that instrument, but to the channel it is being played on. Although the channel filter settings are being set each time that instrument plays, it doesn't mean that when the instrument stops being played, that those settings are being returned to normal.

So basically, if you put a filter setting on instrument 2, and you first play instrument 1 without filter settings in that channel, then once instrument 2 is being played, instrument 1 will sound differently.

The best way to solve the issue is to either set the snare to the correct settings so it is being forced restore the channel settings, or organise your song in such way that you reserve channels for instruments with filter settings on them.

[landslidepurist]

Thanks for clearing that up. Quite strange behaviour - is it a bug or something that can't be changed?

[CrazyAznGamer]

It's the way the IT format is designed. The Z macro, which actually originally was used to set off programming flags in some other applications (games), being used to indicate cut-off frequency, would have to conform to the the way other effects are set. Unless you give the instrument a default pan, the instrument would use the pan set in the channel (XMs are a bit different, hehe...). In this manner, the Z macro lo-pass cutoff was designed like the panning effects in the original IT.

In short: it's not a bug, it's a feature.

[Sam_Zen]

Thanks for useful info, but since I'm still a user of XM myself you made me curious..
In what ways are XMs a bit different ?

[CrazyAznGamer]

The panning effects in XM channels aren't "memorized", since samples being played are forced to specify a specific panning. Thus, to achieve dynamic panning in XMs, one has to reset the panning each time the instrument is reused.
It's not a big deal after you get used to it though. Just a different way of doing things.