In music, necessity has always been the mother of invention. When musicians tire of the sounds of their instruments, they’re willing to do anything for a fresh new sound. Back in 1964, the Kinks even took to slashing their speaker cones with razor blades, looking for cool new effects.
Today, there’ll be no need for any speaker slashing. Because on BandLab, we’ve just introduced 16 brand new guitar and bass effects on our web Mix Editor. These great-sounding, versatile, easy-to-use presets will save you the hassle of plugging in your pedalboard or amp. In fact, they turn any computer into an amp.
Let’s show you around.
Getting started is easy. Here’s how:
- Enter the Mix Editor and add a track. Select ‘Guitar’ from the pop-up menu.
- Plug your guitar/bass into BandLab (you’ll need an audio interface) and select it under the ‘Input Device’ dropdown.
- Turn on “Monitoring”, put on your headphones and you should be able to hear your instrument. You’re ready to rock out.
Don’t have an audio interface? They don’t have to be expensive or complicated—check these guys out.
16 great sounding presets
Now you can pick your effects from the ‘Preset’ dropdown.
Choose from lush, ambient reverbs or a rhythmic delay to create an ethereal soundscape. We’ve also got a range of overdrives perfect for bluesy rhythm chops, reverb-laced distortions for that ‘Wall of Sound’ all the way to a thick, sustaining lead tone with a hint of delay. Comfortably Numb, anyone?
And we didn’t forget the bass players, either—we’ve got presets for aggressive distortion, punchy lows, vintage clean and even delay.
It’s so easy to get a great tone, no matter what genre you play, without fiddling with knobs and settings—all you need is your web browser.
Post-effects
Here’s where it gets really cool — you can also add these effects after recording.
This means you can record your guitar clean, then add any effect—distortion, reverb, delay—you like to the track. Or if you record a guitar track with the ‘Classic Drive’ preset and realise you want something else, you can change it—no problem.
We understand there are some purists out there who refuse to leave the warmth of those glowing tubes—but that’s alright. You can use a mic to record your existing setup. And if you use a USB microphone, BandLab will detect it.
We’re sure these sounds will inspire you to create some great new music. So start experimenting and see if you can find your signature tone.
