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M-Audio Torq & Xponent


Anderton

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Prologue

[a/k/a “Can I become a digital DJ?”]

I’ve really been looking forward to doing this Pro Review, because I want to find out if I can do the “digital DJ” thing. Up until now I’ve used Ableton Live for DJing, and tended to put together smaller bits of music to create mixes rather than entire tracks. I’ve also tried my hand at vinyl, and decided it just wasn’t my thing (in case any of you have wondered why I defend the skills of good DJs in forums, it’s because I’ve tried it myself and believe me, it’s not easy).

But the idea of combining a control surface with a laptop – that’s a combination that makes a lot of sense to me. What we’ll be reviewing here is actually a system, consisting of the Torq DJing cross-platform software and Xponent hardware control/audio interface, both sold by M-Audio.

If you’d like some background, there’s a dedicated web page for all things Torq at http://www.torq-dj.com/product_details.php?PID=d45a40965327c968eda528464bcd984c. Rather than just repeat that information here, I’d recommend checking out what’s on the site because there’s quite a bit of useful information and specs.

However, specs and marketing are one thing, and hands-on experience is another. As a result, this Pro Review will concentrate more on the “feel” of working with the Torq/Xponent combination. It should be interesting, as I’ll be coming into this as a total newbie. I’m sure I’ll embarrass myself a few times along the way, but I guess that’s the price of a more-or-less real time, interactive review. :)

I’ve always said that a Pro Review was part blog, part print review, and part forum. For this review, I really want to concentrate on the blog part that documents whether or not I become a decent digital DJ using Torq, because I suspect others might be wondering the same thing. During that process, I hope to describe the system strengths and limitations in such a way that experienced DJs can also understand what Torq/Xponent is all about, and whether it’s something of interest to them.

My first impression of the unit is that it’s compact and very portable. That encourages the idea of bringing along a laptop, because the two together aren’t onerous to carry at all. The case is made of high-impact plastic, not metal; it nonetheless seems pretty sturdy, and of course it’s lighter as a result. I did a cursory check of forums and Google to see if reliability was any kind of issue, and it seemed you’d be okay as long as you don’t play rough with gear.

Well, the unit’s unpacked, I’ve looked through the Quick Start, and I’m ready to fire up the system tomorrow. We’ll see what happens next…
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The good news: I have it running, all is working really well, and I'm having fun before even cracking the documentation...:thu:

 

The bad news: It took a lot to get to that point, and it's really late...now I need to get to sleep. I'll fill you in tomorrow on the saga. It wasn't just an M-Audio thing...you know how computers are.

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Okay, here's the story on yesterday's adventure...

For starters, I needed to decide which computer I was going to install the program on. Mac? Windows? Desktop? Laptop?

It seemed that as most people would likely use this setup with a laptop, that would be the option of choice. What's more, if I got into the digital DJ thing, then I'd be ready to "go portable" should the occasion arise. I have a Pentium-M-based Rain laptop running Windows XP that's aging, but still functional; as the Torq system requirements aren't particularly stringent (you can get by with a Pentium III), I figured that would be a good choice. Besides, I don't have a Mac laptop, only desktop machines.

However, I hadn't updated the OS since updating to SP3, and Microsoft said I needed to add a bunch o' updates. It took a looooooooong time to do the new .NET thing, all the security updates, etc. And of course, I didn't install Explorer 8 because it has caused problems with other music software in the past.

So a few hours (!) later, I had a laptop that was tweaked up and ready to go. I of course checked the M-Audio web site for updates, and found updated drivers. (BTW, I've seen a few people on forums claim you don't need drivers. In a way that's true; the Xponent controller will function if you just plug it into USB, but not very well. You definitely want to install the "real" drivers.) Then I started installing the drivers and Torq software, and ran into some issues.

First I installed the updated drivers - so far so good. I saw there was an update of Torq (1.07) as well as a paid update (1.5), but didn't know if I needed to install from the CD-ROM first, or whether the updates alone were sufficient (some updates require a previous version to be installed, and some don't; I didn't see any info with guidance about this).

So, I inserted the original distribution CD and went to install Torq. However, I selected to install Xponent from a drop-down menu because I figured this was Torq Xponent, so I should install that rather than just Torq. It then tried to install the older drivers (ooops), but returned an error message saying it couldn't do so. This may have screwed things up, because after I figured out to install only Torq instead, it didn't recognize there was hardware attached.

To make a long story short, I did some de-installs and re-installs, but Torq wouldn't recognize the hardware. I plugged into a different USB port, the controller did the "Found New Hardware" thing, and it seemed I was back on track...but then I couldn't get Torq to open.

I went back to the web site and figured I needed to get V1.5, and found that because I had obtained Torq after a particular date, I could get a free update to 1.5. Cool!

So I installed 1.5, and it asked for a serial number. Well, there was no serial number in the package, but when I registered the product a serial number was generated that (of course!), I didn't write down at the time. I returned to the web site and went through the motions of re-registering to get the serial number, and pasted it in when requested to do so. But Torq kept asking for the serial number over and over again. I checked my typing, made sure I had the difference between "0" and "O" figured out...still no luck.

I then went to the support nowledge base and found an entry that said the serial number for the original version of Torq wouldn't work with version 1.5, and I had to get a new serial number. It was starting to feel like one of those mid-80s raves where you were told to go to a phone booth on a certain street corner, and there was post-it in the phone booth saying to go to a particular place and ask for Harry, then Harry would tell you where to go next until you eventually found the warehouse with the giant sound system...

Fortunately the procedure for getting the new serial number was straightforward, I plugged it into the serial number field, and...success! Xponent lit up like a Christmas tree, and Torq filled the laptop's screen.

It was getting really late, but I still wanted to at least check it out. I found a browser, did drag-and-drop on some files, hit play, and everything was up to spec. I did a little scratching, added some effects, and confirmed that everything was working properly. It sure took a while to get there, but all is good to go. So, I'm going to grab my camera and post some shots of the controller, which is pretty impressive.

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I'm having too much fun!! So I just wanted to test this out to throw something up on the screen for a screen shot, but...I've been throwing in some African dance music, doing crossfades, marking off sections as loops, adding effects, transitioning...all of this without reading the manual!

 

I did glance at the manual, though, and it's obvious I really need to dive deep into it - so far I've just, uh, "scratched" the surface (bad pun, I know).

 

Okay, I'll tear myself away from this for a few minutes and get to those photos I promised.

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Let's look at the software (see the attached image), which the hardware mirrors. Xponent has two "decks," except that they have platters that control the files you're using - this isn't about CDs or vinyl, only virtual. Within that constraint, you can import MP3, WMA, AAC, AIFF, and WAV format files. The software analyzes the file (the more "dance-like" it is - heavy kick, heavily rhythmic - the more accurate the analysis) either offline or when you bring it into a session.

 

The lower part of the screen is all about the browser, where you can pick files to load into Torq, as well as see the file's analyzed BPM and other statistics. There's also a search function for finding files.

 

The controls for the two decks are on the left and right side of the screen. We'll get into the details later, but this is where you adjust tempo, looping, key, and the like. In the middle, you'll see the mixer and effects controls, and toward the top, a waveform display of what's going on with the two decks. Thin vertical lines indicate beats and thick vertical lines indicate measures, making it easy to beat-match. Within minutes, Ilearned to transition back and forth between different pieces of music, crossfade between them, and even blend them. The pitch-shifting isn't extraordinary, but does a decent job within a limited range - especially considering it's happening in real time.

 

However, I need to make it clear that just because I've been able to figure out a lot of how this works doesn't mean there aren't additional "layers" and frankly, for some of the stuff onscreen, I have no clue about what it does or how it does it...fortunately, the manual seems pretty clear and comprehensive. It's something I want to read from start to finish, so I guess I'll end up printing it out at some point.

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Now let's turn our attention to the controller. The controller itself is a gray color; it looks blue in some of these shots due to the lighting in my studio. Sorry 'about that.

 

The first attached image shows an overall view of the controller. Let's get closer, then move from left to right. The second attached image shows the left "deck," while the third attached image shows the mixer that occupies the middle of the controller.

 

The fourth attached image shows the right deck, which is identical to the left deck other than its location. Finally, the fifth attached image shows a close-up of the transport buttons to give an idea of how they're lit - yes, this is one piece where you will have absolutely no problems working it in a darkened club.

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  • 2 weeks later...
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So I've been wondering exactly how to review this...obviously features need to be covered, but a lot of this is about discovering the "digital DJ" process. So, I want to address those aspects for those who are new to digital DJing.

I want to offer a sort of "roadmap" for how I plan to continue this review in case anyone has comments.

1. I figure the next thing to cover is how well the software parses tunes in terms of identifying beats and tempos. I've gotten into this a little bit and found that if there's a good, strong kick, no problems. However, I've also tried bringing some African dance music into the mix, which tends to have a lot of percussion rather than relying on a kick. The software has a harder time with that, but it's possible to do workarounds so we'll see how effective they are.

2. Then, it's time to see how easy it is to do beat-matching and stopping/starting files. This is more about workflow than anything else.

3. Next would be looking at ways to alter and edit while in the midst of DJing, like isolating a particular loop on one cut while cuing up the other, and the whole process of cuing. This would also involve adding effects to the DJing process.

These would cover the main elements, then we'd get into various loose ends and details. Make sense?

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One of the main tasks facing DJs is creating seamless transitions from one cut to the next. With vinyl, this is a complex process that requires serious dexterity.

 

You'd have on disc spinning on one turntable, and while listening to a second turntable via a cue mix so the audience couldn't hear it, you'd mess with the variable speed control to get the tempos matched as closely as possible. If they lined up you could crossfade between the two, or pause the second turntable and "release" it as the precise right moment (which is why DJ turntables need serious torque in order to get up to speed from a dead stop as quickly as possible).

 

This isn't easy to do perfectly, especially over the course of several hours of spinning vinyl where you can't afford a "train wreck" transition that messes up the rhythm for the dance floor.

 

Torq/Xponent greatly simplifies the process. Here's how it does "digital beat-matching;" please refer to the attached image. Note that areas not pertinent to this post have been lightened for clarity.

 

The extreme left and right columns represent the two virtual decks. You can drag & drop music from you library to either deck, and the corresponding waveforms appear in the main window in the upper center. Note the yellow line down the middle, which represents the "now" time.

 

When you bring a piece of music from your library into Torq, it analyzes the tempo (not unlike Ableton Live's "complex warp" algorithm) and places markers (you can see them as a heavy, thick gray line for the downbeat as well as thinner gray lines) that define the beat. Sometimes the analysis process puts the downbeat on 2, but as long as the tempo doesn't change, you can easily move all the lines a beat earlier.

 

The analysis process is not instantaneous, so when you bring the file into Torq, you need to allow several seconds. This basically freezes Torq in terms of being able to make edits or changes, but the music does keep playing so you won't get in trouble. However, the analysis only has to be done once; on subsequent times you bring in the previously-analyzed file, it's available instantaneously. So, if you take the time to have Torq analyze all the tracks you'll be using in advance of a gig, you're covered.

 

Another issue is sometimes, the analysis algorithm gets fooled, and the tempo displays as half or twice as much as it should be. Fortunately there's a tempo multiplier function so that if, for example, a song with a tempo of 120 BPM appears as 60 BPM, you can multiply the tempo by two manually.

 

However, for anything with a strong kick, the beat detection really nails it. I'll be checking out optimizing detection with other types of music, but for now, I'm using tracks with a "four-on-the-floor" kick or something similarly regular.

 

As to the beat-matching itself, you can just free sync two tracks by using the virtual turntables to advance or ritard the music until both tracks match. Or, if you really want convenience (and assuming you've placed the downbeats in the right places in the file, if they weren't already), there's a sync function where you can sync either deck to the other deck's tempo, or sync both decks to a master (global) tempo.

 

To say this makes beat-matching simple is an understatement. As long as you've done the prep work on the files, they follow each other so tightly you can crossfade seamlessly between them - no flamming or other problems.

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So I had a problem...some of the controls didn't seem to work, like the left deck play button and the crossfader. This was likely due to pilot error - I'm not a Torq expert (yet!) - because I think I assigned those to non-existent MIDI functions.

I was contacted by M-Audio tech support and they solved the problem in a couple minutes - I went to preferences, and as instructed, simply clicked on the default MIDI map Reset.

Problem solved!

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I have a lot to learn still, but have some definite opinions so far.

One important point is that Torq/Xponent is deceptively easy to use. I was able to load files, do beat-matching, add effects, etc. with no complications or even reading the manual. This lulled me into thinking I'd be able to figure out Torq in its entirety pretty expeditiously, but this absolutely is NOT the case: Torq is a very, very deep program with a lot of options - learning it to its fullest is not unlike learning a DAW.

There are also a lot of expressive options within Torq, particularly with real time manipulation of effects. And the beat-matching is exceptional, it's just so easy to avoid train wrecks :)

So I'll get back to the nuts and bolts of the review, but overall, just wanted to interject that the more I work with Torq/Xponent, the more impressed I am :thu:.

I'm going to check out the videos on the Torq site, I hear there are about 20 of them and they should be able to get me up to speed faster on some of the more esoteric techniques, like exploiting snapshots and the built-in sampler.

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Although the whole sync issue is very cool, you can of course just alter the speed slider for a deck to bring its tempo to the same value as the other deck. This is the "old school" way of working, and some might prefer it.

But there are some other advantages to sync. One I've found is that you can use the Seek Forward and Seek Backward buttons on the deck that's synching, and produce a sound somewhat like rewinding or fast forwarding tape. When you release the button, you'll be in a different place in the track, but the two tracks will pick up in perfect sync.

Another cool effect is to use the Offset Track Ahead 1 Beat and Offset Track Behind 1 Beat on the "master" deck to which the other one is synching. When you hit these, you jump ahead or behind a beat, but again, everything remains in sync.

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Okay, now that I've had my fun, let's get serious and take a look at the decks. BTW I've invited Chad Carrier, the product manager for Torq, to participate in the thread in case I (or anyone else) has any questions. He probably knows more about Torq than anyone else, and will be joining us next week.

 

Incidentally as with so many other aspects of Torq, the decks are easy to use as is but there are also a variety of "hidden" options you can set in preferences or otherwise edit. For now, we'll stick with the basics (that's enough to assimilate in one post anyway!), and more advanced techniques will crop up during the course of the review.

 

Referring to the first attached image (in all these screen shots, I've lightened the areas not under discussion for clarity), the top field shows the track name, artist, time elapsed in the track, and time remaining in the track. These are all read-only parameters.

 

The next section down (second attached image) shows (from left to right) loop/loop in/loop out switches, seek and offset buttons, and to the right, the Sync indicator for whether the deck is synched to the other one.

 

Let's talk about looping for a second, as it's really easy. You just hit the loop in at the start of the loop, and loop out at the end - done. Torq quantizes your button presses to the beat as long as you're within a 16th note of where you want to be, but there's also a "smart" looping mode you can select in preferences that when you press the loop out button, results in a loop that's always an even number of beats or bars. All the buttons are of course on the Xponent controller, so you can go in and out of looping very fast.

 

The numbers 1 - 2 - 4 - 8 also involve looping. If you click on one of these at the loop in point, you get a loop that last 1, 2, 4, or 8 measures. But there's more. If you already have a loop going (say you created a one-bar loop) and hit a number, the loop will change to that number of measures. For example, if you click on 4, the one-bar loop will start at the same place, but last four measures. Similarly, you can shorten a longer loop.

 

We already mentioned the beat offset buttons; the other two that look like basic arrows are push forward/pull back "nudge" buttons, which you can use to tweak a song's "phase" if the deck isn't synched so the two tracks currently playing can match up.

 

Moving on to the third attached image, there's an overview of the track's waveform, with any cue points superimposed in white (you can see there's one cue point). You set a cue point by clicking on Set, then clicking on a number; from that point on, clicking on the number transports you instantly to the cue point. If a loop is active, you'll go to the cue point and the loop will continue from the cue point.

 

The area below specifies the virtual turntable mod - vinyl, CD, hybrid, or "quickscratch" options. We'll return to this in detail after finishing our overview of the deck.

 

The fourth attached image shows the "transport" area. We covered the Seek buttons, but there's also a cue button (the downward pointing arrow, which usually cues up the beginning of the track) and a play/pause button. To the right are buttons for changing key up to plus or minus one octave. This is all real-time compression/expansion, so don't expect great fidelity as you transpose further from the root pitch - although for transpositions of a couple semitones, it's fine (and if you want some goofy effects, use lots of transposition). You can also "lock" tempo and pitch together, so it sounds more like a physical turntable where if you speed up tempo, you also speed up pitch.

 

On the far right, there's a Speed slider (varispeed-type action) along with a readout of the tempo, range of available speeds, and current speed offset. This is also where you can double etc. the speed if Torq parses the file incorrectly. Of course, if a deck is synched to a master, then you can't change the speed - you have to change the speed on the master.

 

Finally, the fifth attached image shows the entire deck without any highlighting.

 

Usually with software/controller combinations, I learn the software first and then translate my moves to the controller. With Torq, it's different; DJing is such a physical process I found it much easier to learn the controls on Xponent, and use the display pretty much for looking at the waveforms and getting "read-only" information. In any event, the more I work with them, the more I appreciate how much the software and controller make a great team.

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It's great that we can set cue points, analyze files, set loops, and so on in a file, but what happens when you turn off the power? As mentioned earlier, the file analysis is saved because when you bring in a file you've brought in before, it's not necessary to re-analyze it. But what about things like beat offsets, or tempo multipliers if Torq didn't parse a file properly?

I asked Chad what the deal is, and he explained that like Ableton Live, Torq stores a small analysis file separate from the music file that's called up when you call up the music file, and remembers all your most recent settings. These files have a .TQD suffix and take up almost no space on your drive - less than 1 kilobyte. So, if you keep all your music on a separate data drive (which is a good idea anyway, as it's easy to back up, portable, doesn't interfere with what's happening on your C: drive, etc.) all the analysis files will be there as well.

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I noticed that you mention the sound quality of the time-stretching a couple times above. I just wanted to be sure that everyone was aware that Torq has two different time-stretching algorithms to choose from. By default, the "Standard" mode is selected. This is your usual time-domain algorithm found in many devices, though we've tuned ours to align its time-slices with the beats in the song (to help prevent doubled attacks, etc.). So if the Phase Grid (the sequence of grey lines superimposed over the scrolling waveform) is not aligned with the song, the time-steching could be negatively affected.

However, if your machine is fairly fast, you can open Torq's preferences and select "Elastique" mode for the time-stretching (note that you cannot change this setting on-the-fly--Torq will reload the tracks on the Decks after you make this change). The Elastique mode makes use of the elastique time-stretching algorithm developed by zplane.de. Elastique is what is used in Ableton Live when you select "Complex" mode for your audio clips. While this mode requires more CPU (and possibly a larger audio buffer), the sound quality is amazing and doesn't depend on the position of the Phase Grid. I find that I can stretch songs further from their original tempo using Elastique than I can with the Standard mode and still get good results. But most importantly, Elastique does a great job of maintaining the rhythmic subdivisions of a song. If you're playing a song with 16th-note hi-hats, those 16th-notes will remain evenly spaced as you slow down or speed up the song. I find that the mix sounds really tight when using this mode.

Of course, if your machine is slower (or if you just don't like the sound of any time-stretching at all) you can disable time-stretching altogether. Just turn on the Key/Speed Lock--this is a button that looks like a padlock and can be found in each Deck of Torq as well as on the Xponent controller. While this button is on, they Key and Speed of a track will be locked together making it behave like good old vinyl (slowing the playback causes the pitch to drop and vice versa).

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Thanks much, Chad, it's clear I need to spend some more time checking out the preferences :)

 

That's great news you're using Elastique for time-stretching, zPlane does excellent algorithms. When I fire up Torq later tonight I'll see if my computer can cope, and report back on the results.

 

I did mention the lock thing, which is very cool if you want to do the old "tape varispeed" trick of speeding up a song every-so-slightly to add a degree of excitement as it progresses. If done subtly, no one notices the slight pitch and tempo shift, but it affects our perception nonetheless.

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Like, WOW...the Elastique algorithms make a HUGE different in sound quality. I figured that it would be best to post some audio examples, as they tell the story better than I ever could in words. Each example takes the same loop, and transposes one semitone per loop iteration.

The first audio example uses the standard stretching to raise pitch.

The second audio example uses the Elastique stretching to raise pitch.

The third audio example uses the standard stretching to lower pitch.

The fourth audio example uses the Elastique stretching to lower pitch.

Quite a difference, eh? Also, I should mention that with my 1.73GHz Pentium-M - not exactly state of the art - Torq had no problem handling the Elastique algorithms using the Standard (not CPU-saving Economy) engine with 256 samples of latency.

Seems to me that Torq should use the Elastique algorithms as the default...I think there are probably more machines out there with equal or better specs compared to mine than machines with inferior specs that couldn't run Elastique. Chad, any comment on that?

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Using Elastique as the default time-stretching algorithm is definitely a possibility as computers continue to get faster and faster. In the end, we might be able to add some sort of CPU check the first time you run Torq--if your CPU is fast enough, Elastique would be selected automatically. I'd like to do a number of auto-configuration things like this in future versions of Torq.

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Chad simply Rulz! Hey Chad :wave:

 

Craig, I'd like you to try it ReWired to another app.

 

This is where the "Sync" function stops being "cheating" and starts becoming a powerful production tool. Once rewired and synced to the Master tempo, you can read / generate MIDI clocks and be in sync with your master app, together with FX. And a very powerful thing to try is to have the two decks playing together with up to 16 loops -that is 18 audio streams at once- and then, add whatever you want via ReWire. Infinite -or CPU limited- audio streams, perfectly synced. Drum machines, Guitar effects, Vocoders, loops... you name it. Impressive.

 

 

 

... and you have not mentioned the Snapshots and the Sampler! And you can sample while you play. Even better, one of the buil-in FX is also a sampler.

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Craig, I'd like you to try it
ReWired
to another app.

 

Sounds like fun...!

 

... and you have not mentioned the Snapshots and the Sampler! And you can sample while you play. Even better, one of the built-in FX is also a sampler.

 

Well, so far I've probably mentioned about 3% of what Torq can do :)...FX is what I'm going to cover next. On one level Torq is so easy...you can do things instantly. But on another level, it's really daunting, because it can do sooooo much.

 

The more I work with it, the more I think Torq is so much more than "DJ software"...it's some new kind of product category, because it blends live performance, DAW, and traditional DJ functions into one package. In a way, it reminds me of Ableton Live but not from a functional standpoint (although they do have commonalities) - more like the way it takes a fresh look at a particular way of working.

 

I started off this review thinking Torq + Xponent was pretty cool, but the deeper I get, the more I think it's a pretty genius app.

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It might seem strange to cover effects next, because there are many "fundamental" features we haven't covered yet. But, when I first was getting started with Torq, I was surprised how easy it was to use effects, and how much difference it could make to what was being played. Torq's effects implementation is very well done and a significant addition to the program, so now's as good a time as ever to investigate further.

 

I remember when DJs first started using effects with turntables. In fact, over ten years ago a guy in Europe started making the "Super Tone Control" from my book Electronic Projects for Musicians and had a nice little side gig selling them to DJs. He was very open about where he got the design, so I'd go to clubs in Europe and when I met DJs some of them would say "Hey, you're the tone control guy!"

 

But we've come a long, long, long way from the days when DJs had to cobble together a bunch of multi-effects and hope there was a tap tempo button. Torq not only integrates a bunch of effects and lets you have three simultaneous internal effects per deck, but there's also a slot per deck for VST effects. Now that's really cool. And of course, with Xponent, you have hands-on control over crucial effects parameters.

 

The attached image shows the menu that allows selecting any of the 10 onboard effects. Each effect "strip" has three controls (left to right):

 

* Enable/disable (the "power" button)

* Send amount control if the routing is Send effect, Wet/Dry mix if the routing is Insert effect.

* Routing button to choose Send or Insert routing

* Effect selection button (chooses the menu shown in the first attached image)

* Tweak button that alters one parameter per effect

* Tweak button that alters one parameter per effect

 

The routing defaults differently depending on the effect you choose - for example, opening distortion chooses the insert routing, while reverb or delay choose the send routing. However, these aren't set in stone - for example, you can use distortion as a send effect (which can make for a really cool effect, BTW).

 

In Torq 1.5, you can create effects chains, where placing an insert effect below a send effect processes the send effect with the insert effect. At first it didn't seem like this was working, but rather than look stoopid in front of Chad or Gus, I now know enough to check preferences :). Sure enough, there's an option to turn Chain mode on or off.

 

The function of the Tweak control and Tweak button depends on the effect that's chosen. There is no GUI for the effect, so this simplifies matters. (And now's probably a good time to mention that the Tooltip help is excellent, so it's easy to hover over a Tweak option and find out what it affects.)

 

As far as Xponent is concerned, for each deck there are four knobs and four buttons. Two knobs and buttons control the "top" effect, while the other knobs and buttons control the "middle" effect (the two controls adjust the controls, the buttons control enable/disable and the tweak button). I presume you can alter the lower effect only on-screen or via external control.

 

Next we'll cover how Torq handles VST effects, then we'll include some audio examples of the more esoteric effects (I assume y'all already know what delay and reverb sounds like).

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