Volta has two effect layers and the difference is audible: a voice effect is built into every note; a track effect is one box the whole track plays through.
VOICE effects live inside the patch, in the source chain: source = saw (freq pitch) |> chorus 0.4. Each note gets its own chorus that dies with the note — no tail past the release.
TRACK effects hang on the mixer bus: play keys comp |> optical 0.5. One instance, shared by every note — which is why reverb tails overlap and compressors hear the whole performance.
Rule of thumb: tone-shaping (drive, chorus, EQ, bitcrush) goes per-voice; time & dynamics (reverb, delay, compression, width) go per-track.
optical is a gentle studio compressor, fet an aggressive one; width 1.4 spreads the stereo image past unity. All three are track-level moves.
The starting point#
The lesson opens with this song in the editor. Every edit recompiles and plays.
-- Two effect layers: this electric-piano comp has neither. Add one of each.
keys = patch {
source = triangle (freq pitch) + sine (freq pitch) * 0.5,
ampEnv = adsr 2ms 250ms 0.3 200ms,
cutoff = 2200Hz,
gain = vel * 0.45
}
comp = play keys !"c3 [eb3 g3] ~ bb2 ~ [c3 eb3] g2 ~"What to watch#
A voice effect changes the shape of every single note; a track compressor flattens the differences BETWEEN notes. Watch which one levels the peaks.
Goals#
The workbench checks these as you work; the solution is there when you want it.
- Shape the tone inside the patch
- Glue the bus with a compressor
- Stretch: widen the stereo image
Make it yours#
Put a delay per-voice (in the patch) and then move the same delay to the track. Listen to what happens to the echoes when the notes stop.
Further reading#
The effects reference in the reference.