What Is Chorus Effect
If you have ever asked what the best chorus pedal is on gear forums, then I’m sure you know that the answers vary from person to person. Like all other pedals, it’s subjective to your tastes, style and gear. What we’ve gone ahead and done was put together a list and reviews on some of the more highly touted chorus pedals available on the market. What is a Chorus? A chorus is part of a song or poem that is repeated following each verse. The Chorus of a song or poem is the part where you repeat a verse or a phrase. There are various patterns of repeat. The example of a song with a chorus below has a repeated verse and then a chorus. The example of a poem has just a repeated chorus.
What Is Chorus Effect
Chorus Effect - what is it and how does it work
Thorough explanation of what Chorus is, how it works and when to use it
Effects
With effects such as chorus, flanging, phasing and vibrato pitch modulation is used along with delay. With chorus, , an equal mix of the wet and dry signal is used with the wet signal being delayed and pitch modulated. The pitch is modulated using an LFO as the source and both the depth and rate are used to create varying ‘colours’ or textures of the effect.
The modulation depth is defined as intensity which is the range between the maximum and minimum values.
The rate determines the speed at which these maximum to minimum shifts occur. Too much depth when using chorus can sound as if the output is detuned whereas too little depth can make it sound less and less pronounced. Rate can have a dramatic effect on the chorus as slow rates create a more undulating and smoother effect whereas fast rates will create a speeded up wobble effect.
The relationship between rate and depth is very important and it is about finding a good balance between the two when processing sounds. The modulator shape is also critical as the shape denotes the periodic (unless chosen otherwise) cycling of the modulation destination. A sine wave shape will give a smoother cyclic effect, and is the most common LFO shape for chorus and flanging, as opposed to a square or pulse waveform which will have an extremely distinct effect as it cyclically switches between two delay times.
Whereas flanging will take the output and feed it back into the input (feedback) chorus does not adopt this process creating a far more subtle shimmering effect.
Chorus is often used on guitars, basses (mainly acoustic) and keyboard sounds like electric pianos and so on. Although chorus can thicken and widen a sound it can also push it into the background, so you need to be wary of the rate and depth of modulation particularly when using it for these purposes as opposed to using it for a specific colour.
Stereo chorus is even more interesting and dynamic and works by inverting the polarity of the delayed signal and combining it with the dry signal in one channel whilst keeping the polarity the same for the delayed and dry signals in the other channel. The result is interesting in that one channel will have frequency peaks whereas the other channel will have frequency dips.
One of the most important effects in the industry and rightly so. Let me explain what a chorus is, how to create it and how to use it.
Topics covered in this video are:
- What is Chorus
- How does it work
- Mastering the features of a Chorus effect
- The colour and dynamics of Chorus
- Chorus techniques for different sources
- Understanding Modulators and the Matrix
- Best practices.
The Chorus phenomenon
Chorus effect occurs when several individual sounds with similar pitch and timbre play in unison. This phenomenon occurs naturally with a group of singers or violinists, who will always exhibit slight variations with pitch and timing, even when playing in unison. These slight variations are crucial for producing the lush and shimmering sound we are accustomed to hearing from large choirs or string sections. The chorus audio effect simulates these pitch and timing variations, making a single instrument source sound as if there were several instruments playing together.
Chorus origins
What Is Chorus Effect In Guitar Pedals
Origin of the chorus effect can be traced back to the 1930`s with the use of the Hammond organ instruments. This was actually the first time that one signal was out of tune on purpose and therefore the physical detuning is created. Later on in the 1960`s ADT (Automatic Double Tracking) effect was first used by some professional recording studios. This effect used a copy of a recording, which was slightly delayed and played over the original signal. The first use of this effect and the reason why it became widely popular was in 1966 when The Beatles requested it for their recording in Abbey Road Studios.
In the following years, various combinations between synthesizers and organs had the similar approach in order to create chorus type of sound. The classic chorus sound that we know today was widely popularized by the appearance of now-famous Boss-CE 1, which was first presented in mid-1970`s as a first stand-alone chorus pedal. This device left a mark on countless records of that time and continued to be immensely used in the decades to follow.
Usage
Chorus can be considered as common guitar pedal effect that gives a clean electric guitar a “dreamy” quality. It’s also widely used on the acoustic guitar, electric piano, and clavinet. Furthermore, on strings and synth pads, chorus creates a richer, more complex sound. Stereo chorus effects also can be used to widen a stereo image.
Modern-day Chorus
Nowadays we have a large number of chorus effects in both analog and digital realm with many variations. The principal controls of modern chorus software effects include parameters such as LFO speed (a.k.a. rate or period) and depth (a.k.a. amplitude or intensity). LFO speeds are usually in the range of natural human vibrato (up to about 10 Hertz). In addition, some plugins include control of the wet/dry mix. At 100% wet, the pitch modulation of a chorus effect sounds like vibrato. To blend the modulated audio with the original, the wet/dry mix is often set at 50% of each.
Most common variations of chorus effect are :
Chorus Pedal Circuit
– Mono, Stereo or Surround chorus
– Single and Multi-voice chorus
– More advanced types of chorus effects with complex LFO`s
Additional Resources & Source Texts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorus_effect
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