Chorus is an effect that’s used to make one instrument sound like more are playing
at once.
Chorus creates a richer sound by adding duplicates to the track with slight variations in pitch
and timing.
This works well in an empty sounding mix, but may cause some problems when there are
many instruments playing together.
There are many different controls available depending on the chorus effect being used.
In this video, we’ll take a look at some of the different options of two different
effects, and then we’ll give an example of some of the sounds created by the presets.
Slight differences in pitch and timing can create an effect that sounds similar to tremolo,
as the volume quickly increases and decreases.
Some chorus effects will give an option to control this.
We’ll play our track back and adjust the speed option to let you hear it.
If you are using a stereo track, you may have the option to adjust the width.
This allows a single mono track to spread out in stereo.
This can sound nice in some situations, but may also clash with other instruments, so
make sure to use it carefully.
In this case, our chorus effect has a control for intensity.
When the intensity is at 0%, the chorus effect does not appear to be applied at all.
Turning this option up to 100% we can hear the effect increase.
Using another chorus effect, we now have an option for number of voices.
This option controls how many other simulated instruments are playing together at the same
time.
We’ll play back our track with 2 voices and then move up to 6.
This option gives control of how much the different duplicated instruments created by
the chorus effect are delayed from each other.
Keep in mind that low delay values may put the sound out of phase or create a flanging
effect, so use it with a medium delay setting.
Since the delay created by the chorus is not constant, this control affects how fast the
delay goes from 0 to full.
Once again, to get a nice sounding chorus effect, we will want to use a medium setting
for this control.
Now that we’ve covered many of the basic controls for different chorus effects, we’ll
move on to some of the presets provided by our DAW so you can get an idea of what this
effect should sound like.
This preset is called rich chorus, and it provides a good example of what a chorus effect
sounds like when it’s used fairly excessively.
The Acoustic Duet preset is another example of what a good chorus sound, but it is much
more subtle than the previous example.
So that covers the basics of the chorus effect and how the different controls are used.
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