sreveR

[ijustwannastrat]

I apologise for the aweful name of this thread.
And my atrocious spelling.

But back to the topic, what type of effect would you be looking at for a reverse decay type sound? sort of like when you play a sound bit backwards, where the sound starts very quietly and becomes louder, ending with the attack. Is there such a thing?

[ashcatlt]

There are various ways to do this with varying results.

The "right way" is to actually do it. Record the part and flip it around backwards.

In the analog world this is as simple as flipping the tape over. Remember that tracks get reversed. On a cassette 4-track, for example, track 1 becomes track 4, track 2 is track 3, etc.

Most DAWs have some way of reversing audio once it's recorded as well. Depending on the implementation, it can sometimes be a little complicated to flip all the accompanying tracks, record, and then reverse everything back and keep everything lined up, but it can be done.

If you're looking for a real-time solution, you're going to be shooting for "good enough".

There are several pedals out there which duck the attack, and ramp up into the sustain of a note. The Boss SG-1 Slow Gear comes to mind, but I know there are others.

You can accomplish a similar effect with much more control using a volume pedal, as long as it goes all the way to silence.

For a more "effecty" version, there are several options for "reverse reverb" where the reflections start quiet and get louder over time. The old Yamaha SPX boxes are well-known for this, thanks to Kevin Shields. My Alesis Quadraverb does it, as do their MidiVerb boxes. The old Boss reverb pedal had an acceptable reverse reverb as well, and there are some newer boxes out there as well.

Then there are a few reverse delays out there. These record a short sample of the sound and play it back in reverse. My Boss DD3 does this, but the timing on the reversed repeats is so random as to be useless except for special effects.

One of the problems shared with all of the real-time solutions is that there is always a short delay between when you hit the string and when you hear the note. That's kind of the point, but it means you have to adapt your playing style and play ahead of the beat to get things to sound like they're in time.

Oh, and AFAIK none of these will have the note end with the attack except for the reverse delay.


HTH

[sumgai]

stratty,

ash explains it correctly. In order to get the pick attack at the end of the note, you have to record the whole thing, and then play it back backwards. (Perhaps this is why it's often called a "reverse tape loop", do ya think? ) My Boss RC-50 can do this with ease, but that's a bit costly. I'm pretty sure the RC-20XL can do it, and other, more feature-rich looping pedals are also probably capable, I'd be willing to bet.

The trick is, you record a loop of one or more notes, then set it for "one-shot" (it doesn't keep repeating). In my case, I can auto-trigger it, or I can wait for the fateful moment and then hit the footswitch. Either way, it's startling to hear the pick attack in reverse, at the end of the note(s).... much different from just blowing off the initial attack, then increasing the decay volume over time, as in most "slow gear" or "reverse reverb" setups.

But all of this depends on what you want to hear. You'll need to sit down with several different rigs and try each one for the actual sound, as well as ease of obtaining said sound. (And not to mention, the cost of doing so.)

HTH




sumgai