Guitar effects software

Overdrive

Overdrive is a type of gain effect that produces a warm, natural-sounding distortion by overdriving the amplifier's tubes. It's a popular effect among guitarists and is often used to achieve the classic "crunch" sound associated with rock and blues music. In metal music, overdrive can be used to add aggression and bite to the guitar tone, making it sound heavier and more powerful. Overdrives are also used to tighten up the low end and add clarity to the guitar tone.

Typically, overdrive pedals have a lower gain level than distortion pedals, producing a mild to moderate amount of distortion. This makes overdrive a versatile effect that can be used to add sustain, warmth, and depth to a guitar tone, making it sound fuller.

Related articles:

• How to use an overdrive pedal

Distortion

Distortion pedals produce a highly distorted sound by clipping the audio signal. They are often used in heavy metal and hard rock to create a thick, aggressive tone. Distortion pedals are different from overdrive pedals in that they produce a higher amount of gain and a more intense distortion, often resulting in a sound that is harsher and more extreme.

Distortion pedals can be used to create a range of sounds, from mild overdrive to full-on heavy metal distortion. Some distortion pedals have a more compressed sound that can increase sustain, while others have a more open, dynamic sound that allows for greater note definition and clarity.

Related articles:

• How to use a distortion pedal

Fuzz

A fuzz pedal creates a distortion effect that produces a characteristic fuzzy or buzzy sound. The fuzz sound is achieved by clipping the guitar signal. This produces harmonic overtones and creates a distinctive sound that can range from a mild buzz to a heavily distorted and saturated tone.

Fuzz pedals were popularized in the 1960s, particularly in the context of psychedelic rock, and have remained a staple effect in many genres of music. In music styles such as alternative rock and heavy metal, fuzz pedals are used to create unique and experimental guitar sounds.

Booster

Booster pedals are a type of effect pedal that increase the volume or gain of the guitar signal, providing a clean or slightly distorted boost to the overall sound. Booster pedals are used to push the amplifier or entire sound chain, resulting in a more dynamic and powerful sound.

There are two main types of booster pedals: clean boosters and dirty boosters. Clean boosters are designed to provide a clean volume boost without adding any color or distortion to the sound. They can be used to increase the volume for solos or to drive the amp harder for more breakup. Dirty boosters, on the other hand, are designed to add some amount of gain or distortion to the signal. They can be used to push the amplifier or other pedals into overdrive, producing a grittier or more saturated sound.

Compressor

Compressor pedals help to even out the levels of your guitar signal. They work by reducing the dynamic range of your guitar's signal, meaning that the loudest parts of the signal are reduced while the quieter parts are boosted. In other words, if a string is struck with a lot of force, a compressor will reduce the volume. If something is played very quietly, a compressor will boost the output making it more audible. This results in a more consistent overall signal level, making it easier to achieve a smooth and balanced guitar tone.

By reducing the dynamic range of the guitar signal, compressors can make the guitar's attack sound more prominent, adding depth and character to the tone. This is often used to allow the guitar to cut through a dense mix or to emphasize the picking technique of a player in genres like funk or metal.

Compressors can also add sustain to the sound of the guitar, giving notes more time to ring out before naturally decaying.

Related articles:

• How to use a compressor pedal

Noise gate

A noise gate is a tool that eliminates unwanted noise and hum from your signal. Essentially, a noise gate pedal acts like a gate that only allows the signal to pass through when it's above a certain threshold. This means that any noise or hum that falls below that level will be effectively silenced, making the signal cleaner and more transparent. This is particularly useful for music that uses high-gain tones where unwanted noise and hum can be an issue.

It is worth noting that a noise gate can affect sustain by cutting off the decay of notes that fall below its threshold. This means that if the threshold is set too high, sustained notes may be prematurely cut off, resulting in shorter sustain. The threshold should be set to a level that cuts out the noise you want to eliminate, but doesn’t affect the tone or feel of your playing.

Chorus

Chorus pedals are one of the most commonly used modulation effects. They create a rich, thick sound by duplicating the guitar signal and adding a slight delay and modulation to the duplicated signal. This adds depth and richness to the tone by making it sound like it’s being played by multiple guitars at once.

Phaser

Phaser pedals work by splitting the guitar signal into two separate paths, altering the phase of one of the signals and then recombining them. The result is a sweeping sound that moves up and down in frequency, creating a unique and dynamic effect.

Tremolo

Tremolo is a modulation effect that modulates the volume of your signal rapidly and repeatedly, kind of like turning the volume knob back and forth. This creates a pulsating rhythmic effect. The speed and depth of these volume changes can be adjusted, which affects how noticeable the effect is.

Some amps, like the Tone King Imperial MKII for example, have the tremolo effect built into them.

Delay

Delay pedals create an echo or repeat of your guitar's sound by recording and playing back the original signal with a slight time delay. By adjusting the timing and intensity of the delay, you can create a range of different sounds and effects, from short, slapback-style repeats to long, sustained echoes.

Related articles:

• How to use a delay pedal

Reverb

Reverb pedals create echoes that simulate the sound of playing in a large space, such as a concert hall, cathedral, or studio room. The effect is created by producing a series of echoes that vary in time, frequency, and amplitude, creating a sense of spatial depth and fullness to your sound. Reverb pedals are used to add ambiance and dimension to your guitar tone. 

In addition to emulating natural room ambience, reverbs can be used to create a variety of unique and creative sounds such as dreamy soundscapes, or eerie and haunting sound effects.

Octave pedals

Octave pedals shift the pitch of the guitar signal either up or down by one or more octaves. They work by taking the input signal, duplicating it, and then transposing the duplicate signal up or down the desired number of octaves. The processed signal is then mixed with the original one, resulting in a blended tone with a unique sound.

They are often used to create a thicker, more robust guitar tone by adding an octave below the original signal, filling out the low end of the mix and creating a more powerful sound. Octave pedals are also used to create unique and experimental sounds, such as high-pitched solo tones, interesting harmonies or even making a regular electric guitar sound like a bass.

Whammy pedals

A whammy pedal allows you to bend the pitch of notes in a variety of ways, creating a distinctive and expressive sound. Whammy pedals work by manipulating the guitar's signal, allowing you to create pitch bends, harmonies, and other pitch-shifting effects in real time. This can be done by raising or lowering the pitch of the guitar's signal, often by a specific interval or range of intervals.

Along with various controls for adjusting the amount and type of pitch shifting, these pedals usually feature an expression pedal that is used to control the effect. In the case of digital plugin effects, you can easily connect a MIDI expression pedal to your computer, and use it to create the same functionality as a physical whammy pedal.

You can use whammy pedals to create a wide range of sounds, from subtle pitch bends to extreme and experimental effects. Whammy effects are often used in solos and other lead guitar parts to add expression and character to the performance.

Other pitch effects

In addition to the effects described above, our guitar plugins have some rather unique pitch manipulation effects. For example, Archetype: Tim Henson has the “Multivoicer” effect that allows you to add 4 pitch shifted voices on top of your signal. The voicing library in the effect gives you absolute control over the root note, modes, and chords for harmonizing as well as arpeggiating, allowing you to create complex, layered sounds.

Archetype: Gojira X, Morgan Amps Suite, Archetype: Plini X, Archetype: Mateus Asato, Archetype: Tom Morello, Mesa Boogie Mark IIC+ Suite, Archetype: Rabea, and Archetype: Petrucci have the “Transpose” feature allowing you to shift the pitch of your guitar signal up or down to simulate alternate tunings or make your 6-string guitar sound like a 7-string.

Equalizer (EQ)

Equalizer (EQ) guitar pedals allow you to shape your guitar tone by altering the frequency content of your signal. An EQ is essentially a filter that lets you selectively boost or cut certain frequencies in your guitar signal. EQ pedals typically feature a series of sliders or knobs that allow you to adjust the level of specific frequency bands. For example, you might have controls for bass, midrange, and treble frequencies, along with additional controls for shaping the overall tone.

By boosting or filtering out certain frequency ranges, you are able to shape the texture of your tone. By cutting out high frequencies, you get a warmer and smoother sound, while filtering out low frequencies will result in a brighter, more focused sound.

All Neural DSP guitar plugins include either a 9-band graphic equalizer or a 4-band semi-parametric equalizer.

Related articles:

• A guide to electric guitar EQ

Wah

A wah pedal alters the tone of the guitar signal to create a distinctive "wah" sound. The effect is achieved by sweeping a frequency range up and down using an expression pedal (read our guide on connecting a MIDI expression pedal to your computer). When the pedal is rocked back and forth, the center frequency of a bandpass filter changes, creating the classic "wah" effect. As the pedal is rocked forward, higher frequencies are emphasized, and as the pedal is rocked back, lower frequencies are emphasized.

An auto-wah doesn't require a pedal to control the effect. Instead, the sweep of the filter is triggered automatically by the volume of the guitar signal. As the volume of the signal increases or decreases, the filter sweep moves up or down, producing a similar effect to a manually controlled wah pedal.

Wah pedals are used to create expressive, vocal-like tones in guitar solos and other lead parts. They can also be used for rhythm playing, particularly in funk music, where the rhythmic "wah" sound is used as a percussive element. The wah pedal is one of the most iconic effects in the history of rock music and has been used by countless guitarists to create some of the most memorable guitar sounds in music history.

Envelope filter

An envelope filter is essentially a dynamic EQ that uses the volume of your guitar's signal to control a filter. The filter alters your tone by enhancing or cutting off specific frequencies. Envelope filters are especially popular in funk music, as the filtering effect creates a percussive quality to the guitar playing.

Overlord Synth

The Overlord Synth in Archetype: Rabea is a true achievement in the world of guitar synthesis. Unlike traditional guitar synth pedals, the Overlord Synth is a real synthesizer that uses a guitar to trigger its two oscillators and ADSR (attack, decay, sustain, and release) envelope.

The ADSR envelope refers to how each part of the sound changes over time. When you first pluck the string, the sound gets louder (attack), then gets quieter as you hold the note (decay), stays at a constant volume while you're holding the note (sustain), and finally fades out when the note stops ringing (release). This means that the synthesizer follows the same pattern as the original guitar sound, making this a truly unique effect that gives you the ability to organically play a full-featured synth with any standard guitar. The result is a transformative and highly flexible experience that blurs the lines between guitar and synth in a way that has never been achieved before.

Try the Overlord Synth in Archetype: Rabea and add a whole new dimension to your playing.

Doubler

The doubler effect found in Archetype: Plini X, Archetype: Mateus Asato, Archetype: Tom Morello, Mesa Boogie Mark IIC+ Suite, Archetype: Rabea and Archetype: Petrucci projects your signal to a stereo field with an adjustable spread control. This adds richness and depth to your tone and makes it sound like a double-tracked recording.