Boss GT-X - Fade out; Decay Acceleration; Tremolo; Swelling & Reverse Swelling

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Section18FootVolume
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©Copyright2000-2002BarryS.Pearceetal.  97
(expressional) control over the attack and you have the
option of turning the attack delay on and off at will!
Although it takes a little practice, it is much easier than
usingyourpinkyontheguitar’svolumeknob,andtherefore
additionally leaves your right hand free for whammy bar
movesorothertechniques.
FadeOut
Well,it’sjusttheoppositeoffadeinreally.Strikethechord
andsmoothlycomebackonthepedal.Nuffsaid.
DecayAcceleration
JustasyoucanusetheFVforattackdelay,youcanuseitto
accelerate the decay. This is attack delayturned round if
youlike,andisthesamefortheattackdelayasfadeoutis
tofadein.Althoughitispossibletousetheguitarvolume
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control for this, the GT-3/5 has no effect that can
adequatelydothisforyou!!Here’ssomethingtheFVhas
whichisuniqueontheGT-3/5!!PushtheFVforwardspick
thenoteandthenrollbackonthepedal.Makesurethenote
no longer rings by muting the string and roll the pedal
forwards again ready for the next pick. Now, I'll bet not
manyofyouhadconsideredDecayAcceleration...
Tremolo
TheFVcanproduceatremoloeffect.Thisisfairlyeasyto
recreate.Justrockbackwardsandforwardsonthepedalas
youplay. Althoughfor faster or more accurate variations
youcan use the tremolo/paneffect or a wavepedal,it is
easiertosynchronisewiththesongtempo—mainlybecause
your ear is the controlling factor here. You can also add
moreexpressionhere byveryeasilychangingthetremolo
depth and rate, in an extremely variable manner. Don't
forgetyoudon'thaveto use itfulldepth,youcouldrock
backandforthoverjustasmallsweep.
Swelling&ReverseSwelling
The FV canbe usedtocreatingaswellingeffect.Thisis
donequitesimplystartingoffwiththepedalbackabitand
then pushing it forwards, you can reverse the action to
produceadiminishingeffect(reverseswell),aswellwithout
goingasfarasafadeout.
FeedbackControl
Sometimes, (in certain situations) feedback will start to
develop, sometimes controlled, sometimes uncontrolled.
Certainlyifyouexperienceuncontrolledfeedbackbacking
offthevolumepedalmayhelptameit.
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Itmustbesaidthatyouaren'tgoingtobeabletocreatea
SlicereffectfromastandardFV.Ifyoureallydowishtodo
thisthenyouwillneedtolookattheControlAssignsthat
arecoveredinsection23.
ModifyingtheSweepRange
Normallythevolumewillchangeoverthefullsweepofthe
pedal. However,it ispossibletolimittheactiverangeso
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that only part of the sweep alters the volume. It is also
possible to alter the amount of volume change (i.e.
Minimum/maximum volumes) that occurs over the active
sweeprange.Ishallexplainallofthisfullybelowwhenwe
discusscontrolassigns.
Summary
OnemorethingIwouldliketosayisnowandagainyou
shouldletyourimaginationgo.Withonesimplesettingand
onesimplepedalyoucaninstantlyswitchfromattackdelay
totremolothenreversetheswellslightlybeforeswellingup
andfadingout.Wecanplaywiththevolume,toyingwithit,
or we can be brutal and use it to really attack a piece.
Combiningthissortofplayingwithothereffectscanresult
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inanabsolutelystunningrollercoasterofasound.Putthe
EXPRESSION into what most people see as a mundane
pieceofequipment.Learntofeelit.
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Onafinalnote,usingthefootvolumetoproduce
AttackDelay(SlowGear)orTremolocanovercomesome
of the limitations of the GT-3's groupingof these effects
underSFX,allowingyoutouseanotherSFXeffectatthe
sametime.ThususingtheFVforattackdelayandsetting
theSFXforPanyoucangetbothsimultaneously!
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AsyoucanseetheFVismuchmoreusefulthanitwould
first appear. In fact when I started writing this I only
expectedtohavetowriteaboutaquarterofwhatIhave!
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