Okay... so this is raw and mostly unedited straight from my notes. The first part is all my notes from the Groove3 X2 Explained vid. The second is a description of how to turn a stereo track into a mono track while compensating for the volume difference incurred and is from the Mixing with Sonar X1 tut. My apologies for any typos, errors or me just talking to myself... lol. Also it seems the forum is screwing up the formatting a little but I can't be arsed to fix it as I've got more crap to learn today. Cheers.
Groove3 X2 Explained.
FX Chain Modules:
Right click in an FX bin and select FX Chain to insert a blank FX Chain.
You can load an FX Chain preset by right clicking in the bin and selecting Load FX Chain Preset.
You can insert an FX Chain by dragging it from the Browser. To unbundle all of the effects in the Chain so they appear separately in the FX bin hold Shift then drag the Chain from the Browser into the bin.
You can replace the current contents of an FX bin with an FX Chain by holding Alt and dragging the chain into the bin from the Browser (this will also work with regular plugins).
You can save the current FX bin contents as an FX Chain preset by right clicking and selecting Convert Bin to FX Chain Preset.
You can separate the effects in an FX Chain module so they appear individually in the bin by right clicking the FX Chain name in the bin and selecting Extract FX Chain Plugins.
You can save the current FX and all it's settings by right clicking on the FX Chain name in the FX bin and selecting Save FX Chain Preset.
You can also save an FX Chain by simply dragging it from the FX Bin into the Browser.
You can drag effects from one FX Chain Module to another by holding Shift and dragging the effect from one to the other (this seems to not work sometimes). To copy hold Ctrl while dragging.
To delete an FX Chain from the bin right click and select Delete or click on the chain and press Delete on the keyboard.
When you insert an FX Chain the FX Chain module will appear. To insert effects into the module right click in the bottom bar of the module where it says In/Out and select the desired plugins. You can also drag effects into the module from the Browser.
The inserted effects will appear in the bottom bar of the module between where it says In/Out. You can rearrange the modules by clicking and dragging them. It does not seem that you can copy and drag/paste effects. Once you get above a certain amount of effects inserted (four I think) then the two little black squares on either side of the effect names will contain arrows that can be clicked on the scroll through the inserted effects.
Press the effects power buttons or right click to bypass effects. Right click > Delete to delete effects.
You can bypass the entire chain by clicking the main power button at the top right of the module.
Input/Output faders on the left/right of the module controls the input and output levels for the Chain.
You can rename the FX Chain in the name box at the top of the module by double clicking it. You can also rename an FX Chain in the Browser.
The large middle area of the module is called the FX Chain Properties Page. Right click to insert a knob or button to control a specific parameter of one of the inserted effects. You can only add 6 knobs and/or buttons so choose the most relevant parameters.
When you right click and select Add Knob or Add Button you will open the Control Properties page for that Knob or Button. The Name field allows you to name the control. The Position dropdown allows you to select what spot in the Properties area the Knob or Button will appear. The four destination fields allows you to select the inserted effect parameter(s) you want to control with that knob or button meaning you can control up to four parameters with one control and these can be from any of the inserted effects. The Start/End field will set parameter points that the control will be constrained to. For a Knob the Start point will be the setting that will be applied when the knob is turned all the way to the left and the End point will the setting applied when the knob is turned all the way to the right. Then you can sweep the knob between these to points. For a button the Start field will determine what setting the chosen parameter will be when the button is off and the End field will determine what setting the parameter will be set to when it is turned on.
You can also add a knob or button by right clicking in the FX Chain Properties area > select Learn Knob (or Button) then double click on one of the effects in the Chain to open the effect's GUI and manipulate one of the paramters. Now right click on the FX Chain's properties area again and you will see that the Learn Knob (or Button) option has a checkmark beside it. Click that option and a dialog will open saying that "(x) amount of Parameters were touched during Learn. Are you sure you want to assign these controls?". Click Yes and a new knob (or button) will appear in the FX Chain that is linked to that parameter. Now you can right click on the control and select edit to set the new control's properties. This is super useful because sometimes due to odd naming conventions on specific parameter control it may not be apparent which parameter name to choose using the Destination fields.
You can set parameter ranges of a control knob by setting the parameters within an effects GUI instead of using the Start/End fields of the Control Properties dialog. To do this right click on an FX Chain control knob that has already been assigned to a parameter. You will see a Ranges option and within that sub menu "All Parameters - Set Start" and "All Parameters - Set End". Before selecting these go to the parameter within the effect's GUI that the FX Chain knob controls and set the lowest value you want the knob to reach, now right click the knob in the FX Chain and select Ranges > Set All Parameters - Set Start. Now when you turn the FX Chain knob all the way down the actual effect parameter will stop at the point you set. Now set the desired End value in the effect's GUI and in the FX Chain knob's right click menu select All Paramaters - Set End. Now when the knob is turned all the way up the effect parameter will stop at that point.
If you right click on the FX Chain knob you can set a double click default value. Set the knob to the desired value, right click and select Set Default Value. Now when you double click the knob it will return to that setting.
You can customize how the FX Chain module looks by right clicking in the FX Chain properties area and selecting Customize UI then choose colors or images for each section from your computer.
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FX Chain MONO MAKER EXAMPLE
Mono Maker (FX Bin Automation tut):
This is going to turn the drum bus into a mono signal (thus making all the drum tracks play in mono) for a section of the song to create a different effect. Turning a stereo track to mono like this can make it cut through a dense mix a little better. It can create more energy and width because it is getting out of the way of the other frequencies in the stereo field. He is doing this for a rather hectic build up in the example song.
In this he uses the FX Chain feature which I'm not sure is necessary but it does have some special on/off style features which seem to facilitate the process. Remember this is in X1 so it may be different in X2 (it's actually not different in X2).
Make sure you do not have the Automation Read button enabled on the bus.
Right click in the FX Bin and select FX Chain (this will insert an FX Chain module into the bin and a blank FX Chain property page will open. If not double click FX Chain in the bin).
Right click on In/Out in the FX Chain GUI and select Channel Tools.
Then Right click in a blank space in the FX Chain GUI and select Add Button. A Control Properties dilaog will pop up which I will now refer to as the Button Properties Dialog. Name the button (Make Mono).
In the Button Properties Dialog there are four dropdown menus under the section labeled Destination. Click the first Destination dropdown. This will give you a list of the plugins that have been inserted into the FX Chain and every plugin listed will have a sub menu that lists all of that plugins control parameters. In the Channel Tools sub menu select "Angle L". That is the Left Channel Angle control (the Left fader in the Pro Channel Plug In).
In the second Destination dropdown do the same thing except select the Right Angle controller (Angle R).
Now in the Start/End parameter boxes leave Start value on the left controller at 0% (this is hard left) and change the End value to 50%. On the Right controller set the Start value at 100% (this is hard right) and the end value at 50%. This will make it so when the button is engaged both faders will jump to their center positions (centre pan which will create the mono effect).
Now he clicks OK and tests out the button but he hasn't set the other parameters yet so do the following first or if you do click OK then right click on the button and select Edit Control and the Button Properties Dialog will reopen.
Making the track mono will increase the volume of the track so the Gain needs to be automated so that when the button is enabled it is turned down slightly to compensate. To do this:
Select the Left and Right Gain controls in the two remaining destination slots in the Button Properties Dialog (one control in each slot).
The start and End values are in Percent but the controls are in dBs and there is no way to figure out how that translates so through trial and error you have to figure out what percentage value will produce the desired dB value. I guess this can be done by entering a value into one of the Start/End boxes and clicking the button to see where the knob ends up in dB values. Once the desired values are determined enter them into the Start/End value boxes.
For this he wants both the Left and Right Gain values to go down to -3 dB when the Mono Maker button is engaged (the start value is 0 dB). The perecentage values to do this are 75% on both left and right to achieve 0 dB as the Start value and 65% on both Left and Right End values to acheive -3 dB. Adjust the End values if they end up being too loud or quiet.
Test this by clicking the button to make sure the knobs and faders are going to the right spots. Then start playback and engage/disengage the Mono Maker FX Chain's power button in the FX Bin to check that the levels between on and off are okay (should be no noticeable increases/decrease in volume).
Now click on the Bus's (drums) edit filter, select Automation > Mono Maker (or whatever you named the FX chain) > Make Mono (or whatever you named the button). This will put an automation envelope for the button in the Track View. Then insert some automation nodes onto the envelope around where you want to engage the effect and drag the line between the nodes upward (basic automation envelope editing). Make sure you have enabled the bus/track's Read Automation button. Now the effect will turn on at that part automatically.
EDIT: Fixed up the formatting a little so it's easier to read.
post edited by Beepster - 2013/02/28 11:03:38