So I was messing around with the Configurator on an Android phone today and learned that I can click and drag a plug, hold onto it while changing tracks, and place that plug on the new track. Even if they’re not the same track type.
I didn’t know this was possible, so I’m not sure if this is just a glitch on my device or what. Either way, it seems to let me do things I don’t think we’re supposed to be able to do.
Of course this means I’ve spent the rest of the day crashing my device and emitting harsh feedback trying a bunch of different plugs on different tracks. Here are my notes so far, in order of easiest to hardest to use:
Delay plug on FX Track 2 - no issues; even works when there’s a delay on FX1
FX plugs on Tape track - no issues; can send signal to FX1/FX2. I swear I had issues with the delay plug but I can’t recreate it. Either way you mostly lose control of the tape track because…
Tape plug on FX track - just absolutely miserable. The tape plug routes to the FX tracks, so I kept ending up with feedback. It’s really difficult to fine tune the send volume without also adjusting the LFO and making the track unlistenable, so you’d probably have to do it from the receiving track. Plus the FX track is monophonic so I can’t figure out how to adjust the start point and the duration at the same time. Maybe I’m missing something.
Those are the most stable combinations I was able to find. The OP-Z will crash if I play a synth engine on a drum track, for instance.
Honestly, I’m kind of confused: I can’t find this described anywhere else online but it seemed way too easy to do. Could be my searching skills.
Explain a bit more if ya don’t mind…does this make tape act as FX3?
Yes, exactly!
It’s a lot like a third FX track but, because it’s on the tape track, it can still send the processed signal to FX1/FX2. Which allows for routing options like these:
synth → delay on tape track → reverb on FX1 or FX2
synth → crush on tape track → dist on FX1 or FX2
drum → delay on tape track → delay on FX1 or FX2
As I typed this I realized that this means you can use the tape track as a group bus (e.g., all drums → tape track with filter or panning or FX → master track).
Here’s hoping we can continue to mess with this without totally destroying our OP-Zs!
Just to confirm: by controls, are you talking about the pages of parameters you can change with the encoders? That’s how I read it but please let me know if I misunderstood.
When I put an FX plug on the tape track, it’s almost like an FX/Tape hybrid: the first page is FX Parameter 1/FX Parameter 2/Filter/Resonance, and the second page is FX1 Send/FX2 Send/Pan/Master. No LFO that I’m aware of.
It’s trickier if you put a tape plug on an FX track. Page 1 is the same, but page 2 controls the tape plug AND the track LFO at the same time. Which can get ugly: if the tape plug is on FX1, you’ll want to turn the FX1 send to 0 to avoid feedback… but by doing so, you’ll also be turning the LFO intensity to -50 and applying a really dramatic LFO to the tape parameters.
Hope I’m making some sense.
EDIT/Update: Ok, I messed around more with it and it’s not acting how I described. Page 1 of the tape plug is the same, and Page 2 is just an LFO on the track. So the tape plug on an FX track has a built-in LFO that can be applied to the tape parameters.
I recorded a video showing the glitch, a regular pattern (warning: abrupt audio at 0:43), the same pattern with three tape delays, the same pattern with three FX plugs, and then the same pattern with two FX plugs and one tape delay.
@jtswearingen This is such an awesome find and I can’t believe that this post isn’t getting more hype!? I made a video so hopefully more people can understand what you discovered.
Awesome! Thank you for making a clear and concise video about it. Plus more people knowing about this means we’ll learn more about what’s possible with this glitch.
I’ve noticed a couple more things since I last posted:
Beyond layering FX, I think there are some cool ways you could play with how much of the Dry signal is mixed in (track button + red encoder). I haven’t messed with it much, but you should be able to adjust how much of the tape track FX is mixed into the FX tracks.
Sometimes when I change from a track with 3 FX plugs to a regular track, the regular track’s FX and Tape tracks will be weirdly distorted until I power cycle the unit–almost like it’s messed up until I clear the memory. Similarly, sometimes weird artifacts will sneak in between patterns, though they seem to go away when I restart the unit. I know very little about this sort of thing, but I wonder if this is due to memory or processor limitations.
do they still follow the ~xx.engine file naming scheme for the synth engines?
always wondered if u plugged different numbers in there
if there were any hidden engines
