A couple of months ago Air dropped the pro version
of the Flavor plug-in for the MPC and I've been having a blast with it. It's a multi-effect
plug-in aimed at changing the timbre of a sound through simulating analog gear and effects,
via a combination of six separate modules. I feel like it's underrated in most coverage I've seen of
it's been pretty surface level. This plugin has an incredible amount of depth and versatility which
I'll share with you in this video. I'd say it's mostly easy to use but it can be a bit deceptive
as not all the parameters are intuitive or clear about what they're actually doing to the sound. So
it might be a bit difficult to grasp it sometimes, but I'm hoping to demystify things a
little bit. This device's presets are great and varied but they might not always work
exactly how you want them to in your context, so it'll greatly benefit you to know what each
parameter does so you can effectively tweak these preset settings to fit your track the best. This
is not a review nor a "flipping through presets" video. This video will just be me explaining what
each effect in parameter does with some practical examples. If you don't own this plugin but want
to check it out, I thought I'd mention that you can get a 10-day trial before having to pay for
it. I'll leave the link in the description. Before we get started I thought I'd mention that this
tutorial was made using screen recordings of the plugin in the MPC software, simply because it was
a lot easier than filming my MPC's actual screen. It's also available as a VST plugin which you can
use in any DAW so it kind of makes sense, but it looks identical on the MPC hardware for the most
part and functions exactly the same. So let's get into it. The very top strip of the plugin contains
our Global or Master controls and are all mostly self-explanatory. These parameters will affect
the sound of the entire plugin. It shows our input level meter, the intensity controls basically just
our Master wet dry or mix knob. Then we have a low pass and a high pass filter, a width control knob,
a gain knob, and finally an output level meter. Before we get into each module or effect's
individual details, they all share some top level settings. Each module has an on and off switch.
The big knob at the top of each effect controls the amount or depth or intensity of each effect.
It's not a dry weight knob although it kind of feels like one sometimes. You actually need
to use it like that in some modules, but where the mix sliders just mixes the dry signal with
the affected effect signal, the depth or amount knob increases or decreases the intensity of the
effect. It has nothing to do with the incoming dry audio. If the effect does not have a mix slider,
use the amount knob for a similar function. Lastly, each module has a very slider which
enables you to increase or decrease the amount of random variation introduced within
the effect. The results of this can be very subtle and I wish the manual went into
more depth on how it does this exactly, but it doesn't. So I'll speculate by saying that
I think it's probably just subtly modulating some or all of the parameters within the effect, to a
certain degree around their respective settings. Let's get into each module. This plugin is very
easy to overdo but you have full control so just keep that in mind. Also the manual from which I
got most of this video's information is pretty vague. They don't elaborate on any technicalities
so even with me explaining and speculating on these things, I cannot stress enough how much
this is one of those plugins that you just need to experiment with and just hear for yourself. The
first module we have is Pitch. If you've ever used a tape emulation plugin - it's basically a way
to introduce that old worn out cassette or VHS tape wow and flutter effect in your sound. It
enables you to have the pitch of your sound drift or change over time. The results of this
module can be both subtle and completely over the top. We basically get two pitch modulators,
a fast one and a slow one. We can pick the speed of each based on the hertz setting. The higher
the amount, the faster the modulation will occur and vice versa. We can then also blend between
the two and that's what the Rate slider is for. As if that wasn't enough variation, there's
a Drift knob which makes the modulation rate drift or vary based on your two initial modulation
settings. Finally we also get a Stereo knob, which enables us to make the pitch modulation affect
sound more centered and mono or wider and stereo. The most confusing part of this module for me was
the Xmod settings. The manual states that this setting "cross modulates the wet and dry signal
by multiplication or difference to create more intense modulation". In all honesty I have minimal
experience with this concept so I'm still not sure if I get it other than that it's further more
extreme modulation that's added to the existing modulation. I personally think it's overkill but
hey it's there if you want more options. Even with the Xmod amount slider on zero percent, flicking
between the Multiplication and Different switches will change the overall sound of our pitch effect.
So be sure to experiment. The Mult setting seems to add a bit of drive and distortion because I'm
assuming it's multiplying and in turn stacking the signal somehow. That's kind of what it sounds like
to me. I definitely recommend being conservative with the amount here because it just starts
turning into a mess at 100%. The Diff setting on the other hand sounds smoother, almost like
a chorus effect. Compared to the Mult setting, even at 100%, depending on what instrument or
sound you're processing, the chorus type sound the Diff setting ads can be quite pleasant. Finally we
have this module's dry/wet mix knob at the bottom, which just mixes some of the unaffected
dry audio in with the affected wet audio. if you're finding these tips helpful, I'd
really appreciate it if you'd like this video and subscribe as I'm trying to build the channel
into something more significant. I have a whole bunch of other MPC and sampler videos in the
works, so I hope to see you around! Distortion is one of my favorite modules. This effect gives
us 9 Distortion models each with their own sound and character. We have amp classic, amp heavy,
tubes, transformer, vinyl, speaker, diodes, synth and digital. Compared to the Pitch module,
it's much easier to understand and use. Basically you simply flick through the different models and
then use the filter settings along with the mix slider at the bottom, and the big distortion
amount knob to get the desired saturation. There's a high pass and low pass filter which
is self-explanatory, but then we also have a smoothing filter. According to the manual this
is just an additional low pass filter which is applied to the existing filters, to smoothen
the effect. In layman's terms, it just makes the filtering sound brighter with more treble with
the slider all the way to the right at 20K, or darker and dull with a slider all the way to the
left at 1K, and everything in between obviously. The filters affect the effect
signal, not the dry signal or what you're feeding into the plug-in. So
use them to shape your Distortion. You can for instance distort only or more of the
high end than the low end and vice versa. The Digital module is basically our bit-crusher
effect where we get to mess with sample and bit rates, as well as some extra digital degradation
goodies. The bit slider lets us set the bitrate reduction of our effect from a max of 16 bit to
a minimum of 2-bit. The higher the bit rate, the higher the quality. You will very obviously hear
what you're doing to the sound, but you can also follow the module's MPC picture which visually
illustrates the quality of the signal bitrate. Next we have the sample rate reduction slider,
which works in the same way. We can go from a high of 50 kilohertz all the way to the left,
or a low of one kilohertz if it's all the way to the right. I recommend you mess around with
both the bit and sample rates to more or less get the sound you're going for. After that
use the low and high pass filters to shape the effect. Use the smoothing filter to make
the overall filtering sound darker or brighter. Then we have the Glitch knob which adds
some "glitch artefacts" to the sound. Next to that there's the Length knob which
sets the length of these glitch artefacts. The manual again does not elaborate on what
this actually does, but it sounds like it adds additional white noise as well as a subtle
delay effect of sorts, maybe even a bit of a stutter or beat repeat. It basically adds an
extra layer of unpredictability which is cool, but you're gonna have to experiment to get the
results you want out of this function and to hear if it's even feasible using. This module
has an Envelope Follower which is great as you can get away with a more extreme effect, but
make it sound less chaotic and more dynamic, as this ties the digital effect level with
the incoming audio level. So instead of just a flat effect level across the board, using
the envelope knob will make the effect more intense with louder incoming transients,
and less so on the softer quieter parts. Finally we have a Stereo knob, which affects
the stereo width of the effect signal. So you can make the digital reduction sound wide and
spacious, or more centered. This is our vinyl simulator module. The rate slider adjusts the
speed or "thickness" of the vinyl noise, and you can use the graphic as a visual guide again. It
gives us complete volume control of each type of vinyl noise we're introducing to our signal, which
includes crackle, clicks, pops, rumble, noise and hum. The first three are self-explanatory. Rumble
however adds what sounds like a bit of room noise, while Noise is a white noise generator of sorts. If you want to add static electric
hum, the Hum slider is your guy. You can basically make your perfect vinyl
noise by balancing these six sliders to taste. The tone knob then basically just makes
the vinyl effect brighter or darker. We also have a Stereo control for our vinyl
noise's width, as well as an envelope follower which I explained in the Digital
section. Using the envelope control with a positive setting will add more vinyl noise
to the louder parts of the incoming signal, and less to the quieter parts. If you use a
negative value it will do the opposite. Finally, we have a Release control which functions like
you'd expect - like the release setting on a compressor. It controls how quickly the effect
releases from the dry audio. A faster setting will be snappier, while a slower release adds
more of a gradual tail to the end of the effect. The Volume module can be seen as a tremolo effect. It's
basically the equivalent of having someone repeatedly turn the volume of the signal up
and down at a certain speed. It's an amplitude modulator. Similar to our Pitch module, we
again have two modulators to choose from. A fast one and a slow one. The higher the hertz
setting, the faster the modulation will be and vice versa. We can again blend between the
two using the Rate slider. This time though, each modulator has its own Drift knob
which again introduces some variation in the set rate, drifting from the center
frequency, introducing some randomness. The Dropout slider basically introduces
very quick random cuts to silence within the signal - little gaps in playback, is the best
way to describe it. I assume it's to simulate bad analog signals. In most cases, if you use
this, it would probably be quite sparingly. Finally we have another Stereo slider
which enables us to adjust the width of the effect. We can make it more mono sounding
or wider stereo. This final effect, Timbre, is the most straightforward of all and is
basically just the final tonal control of the overall plug-in. It's meant to simulate what
our input would sound like if played through various sources. I'm not going to mention them all
because there are 32 sources we can choose from. The neutral setting is just transparent and clean.
Then they also offer some guitar and bass amps, various earbuds and headphones, boomboxes,
gramophones, various studios and more. What ends up working for your chosen sound will
be up to experimentation. The results here are mostly drastic, so be sure to use your amount knob
to get more of a subtle effect or just disable and don't use this module, if it's not positively
contributing to the sound you're going for. So as you can see this is an effect that can be
overdone and it's also definitely something to experiment with, but you have a lot of control so
you can make it as drastic and aggressive or as subtle as you want it to be. You simply won't
know what certain sounds or instruments will sound like until you run them through this thing
and play around with them. So whether you start each Flavor Pro instance from scratch and tweak to
taste, or whether you just use and alter presets, I hope this video gave you a better understanding
of how this device works. These videos take a lot of time to make, if you found this video
helpful and want to support what I do, you can buy me a coffee through the link in the
description. No biggie though, just a like and a sub on this channel also goes a long way. Thank
you for watching, until next time...totsiens!
