Effects

Putting together guitar effects is a bit like pairing wine with dinner. The "experts" will tell you all the rules, but in the end you're better off just picking the one that tastes best to you. That's why we have made it fun and easy to experiment with effects in iShred.

iShred has 8 different effects pedals, an amp simulator, and a pickup selector to help you find that killer sound, whatever your flavor of music. Effects can be used individually, or you can chain the amp simulator and up to 4 effects pedals together to form custom Presets. Once you have your sound perfected you can save up to 6 different Presets for easy recall at any time. Effects settings are also saved with your songs, allowing you to create and save an unlimited number of sound possibilties.

From the Main window, tap the Song Menu button in the bottom right corner to see the Song-related options. These include Edit, Effects, and Recorder. Select "Effects" to enter the Effects Pedalboard view.

Initially the pickup selector, 8 effects pedals, and amp simulator will reflect the settings of the currently loaded song. These may be tweaked any way you like, and the pedal order rearranged, as you experiment with different sounds. When you create a great sound you can save it with the song, or as one of your favorite Presets. Details of these actions are described below.

Note: The effects pedals take the sound from the guitar pickup and are wired from right to left (like most real stomp box pedals), and from lower row to upper row, and finally to the amp simulator at the top. The picture shows the order of the sound processing from the pickup selector (1) through the effects in order (2 through 9) to the amp (10). If a pedal is not turned ON then it is completely bypassed, regardless of where it is in the order. This is important to remember because each pedal will only affect the signal coming from the ones before it. For example, if you enable the Wahsabi wah pedal before the HK-2000 Delay Unit, then the wah effect will be repeated as part of the delayed signal. However, if you reverse their order then the wah effects the output from the delay.

Each pedal has 1 or more user adjustable controls to help you customize your sound. We will describe each pedal in detail in a moment, but first, here is an overview of their common features and behavior.

- Tapping the lower-half of any pedal will toggle it ON or OFF. A yellow outline is used to show which pedals are ON. - Tapping the upper-half of any pedal will open an expanded view of the effect where you can access all of its settings.

- When viewing a pedal in its expanded form there are 2 additional buttons on its lower left and right corners. The right button closes the expanded view. The left button opens the Help screen for that pedal. The Help screen includes a detailed description of that pedal's controls, as well as any useful tips for using that pedal.

- To rearrange the pedals, touch the upper-half of any pedal and "drag" it over the one you want to swap it with. A yellow glow will follow your finger tip to indicated it is being dragged. - Up to 4 pedals may be active at once. If you select a fifth, then iShred will automatically turn OFF the effect that you first turned ON.

- To turn a knob just touch the display near it and drag your finger in a circular motion clockwise or counter-clockwise around the knob. As long as you don't lift your finger it will remain "attached" to the selected knob. This way you can slide you finger away from the knob to see it more easily as you turn it.

At the very top of the Effects window is the "Amp Simulator." This is another effect just like the pedals below, except that it cannot be moved. To turn the Amp Simulator ON or OFF just tap the red power switch on the right side. The Amp Simulator has an "Overdrive" function. Tap the slide switch to turn Overdrive ON or OFF, and use the knob on the right to adjust the amount of overdrive in your signal.

Just below the Amp Simulator are 2 buttons labelled SAVE and LOAD. These are used to save and recall your effects Presets. More on that in a bit.

At the very bottom of the Effects window are 3 additional controls. Tapping or strumming the small strings at the lower left lets you audition your effects as you tweak them. This feature saves you from flipping back to the Main window to check out a sound, and makes experimenting much easier. The currently selected chord or fret position on the Main window is used by these strings.

In the middle is your "Pick-up" Selector switch. This is a 3 position switch that lets you adjust the overal tone of your sound by choosing a pickup closer to the bridge or neck, just like on a real guitar. Move it to the left (closer to the neck) for a darker sound, or to the right (bridge) for a brighter sound. There's also the middle position if you just can't decide. :-)

Finally, pressing "Done" takes you back to the Main window where you can put your new sound to the test.

OK, you now know the basics of how to configure your pedal board and turn the pedals on and off. Let's look at each of the pedals in detail. Tap on an effect name to go to its page, or scroll on past to learn about Saving and Recalling your sounds.

The 8 pedals include:

• Adrenaline Treble Booster, for when you need that extra shot.
• HK-2000 Delay Unit Dial in up to 2 seconds of delay for that fat slap sound or cavernous echo.
• Hot Fuzz Add a few bolts of buzz with this electifying distortion.
• Kömpressör Power chords wouldn't be the same without one. Now with "Rock Dots™!"
• Q-36 Space Modulator Multi-pattern modulation pedal with an attitude.
• Sybil Dual chorus pedal ... lets you hear your evil twin and his cousin.
• Trembler Shake up your song with a healthy dose of Tremolo.
• Wahsabi Put some spice in your music, 'cause this wah pedal is hot. (With tilt control!)

Saving and Recalling Effects

Once you have found that perfect sound you don't want to lose it. With iShred it's easy to store and recall as many different effects combinations as you want. iShred saves all of your pedal and amp simulator settings as well as your pickup selection. There are 2 ways you can save and recall your favorite effects settings in iShred: as a numbered "Preset," or with an individual song.

Saving Sounds

Once you have an effect combination worked out that you want to have quick access to, press the SAVE button to expose the "Save Sound to..." window. Here you will find 6 Preset buttons labelled P1 though P6, and a button called Current Song.

Presets

Preset buttons are for instant recall of the sounds you use most often. This is a good place to put your signature sounds, and works kind of like the station selector switches on your car stereo. Simply press any one of them to save your current settings to that button.

Songs

Optionally you can press Current Song and iShred will save your effects settings with the song you are currently working on. This allows you to reproduce the same sound each time you recall that song from your playlist.

There is another time when iShred will save your current effects settings. If you have modified the effects settings of the current song and then attempt to change songs, whether from the Main screen, or from the Playlist, you will be prompted by the following popup window.

Answer Yes to save the current effects settings with the song, or No to change to the new song without modifying the current song's stored effects settings.

Loading Sounds

Recalling your effects settings in iShred is just as easy as saving them. While in the Pedalboard view press the Load button. Here you will find the 6 Preset buttons where you may have stored your most frequently used sounds. Select one of these buttons to load its stored effects settings and immediately return to the Pedalboard view. If any of the buttons are highlighted in yellow, that is a visual indicator that it is the currently loaded sound. For example, in the picture above, Preset #2 is currently loaded.

If you decide that you just want to return to the original effects settings of the current song, press Load, then Current Song. Again, if the Current Song button is already highlighted in yellow on the Load window, that indicates that the current sound is saved with the current song.

If you want to recall a sound that was used in a different song, press the "Other Song" button.

This will open a selection wheel of your entire playlist. Just locate the song with the desired sound and press "Load Sound." If you used a particular sound once before and saved it with a song, you can easily recall that song's effects settings to use with a different song.

Done! It's that easy.

Note: If you are editing the effects on a song that you had previously saved, you will notice that the Save button in the Pedalboard view turns yellow. This is a visual cue to remind you that the current effects settings do not match the original settings for the song. You can still return to the original effects settings as long as you haven't yet saved the song with the new settings by pressing the LOAD button, then "Current Song." This will restore the last saved effects settings for the current song.