Effects

Effects change how an instrument sounds. Melony lets you build a chain of them on every track. This page covers how to open the effect panel, what each effect does, and how to make them move over time with automation.

Opening the effect panel

Every track has an FX button in its header, shown as a small sliders icon. Click it to open the effect panel on the right side of the window. The panel is tied to whichever track you clicked, so switching to a different track's FX button will load that track's effects instead.

Adding an effect

Inside the panel, click Add effect. A small browser opens showing every effect Melony has, grouped by category. You can scroll the list or type into the search field to filter by name, category, or description.

Click any effect to add it to the current track's chain.

Limit Each track can hold up to eight effects

Reordering, bypassing, and removing

Effects run from top to bottom, so the order matters. For instance, a compressor before a distortion will sound different from a distortion before a compressor. Each effect card has three buttons in its heading:

Bypass - temporarily disables the effect without removing it. Useful for A/B comparisons
Move up / Move down - the small chevron buttons on the right reorder the effect within the chain
Remove - deletes the effect from the chain entirely

Adjusting parameters

Under each effect's name is a set of sliders, one per parameter. Drag a slider to change the value, or click the Reset button next to it to return it to its default.

If you'd rather work with a knob instead of a slider, double-click the parameter's slider and it'll switch to a rotary knob. Double-click again to switch back to a slider.

Each parameter also has a value field showing the current setting, in its own units. For example, the EQ's Low parameter shows decibels, the Delay's Time shows seconds, and the Compressor's Ratio shows something like 4:1.

The available effects

Melony's effects are organised into categories in the browser. Here's what each one does.

Tone

EQ - a three-band equalizer with Low, Mid, and High controls. Each band can be boosted or cut by up to 18 decibels. Useful for shaping the overall tone of a track or removing a frequency that's getting in the way.

Dynamics

Compressor - reduces the difference between loud and quiet parts of a performance. Four parameters: threshold (where compression starts), ratio (how strongly it compresses), attack (how quickly it responds), and release (how quickly it lets go). A gain reduction meter shows how much it's working in real time.

Space

Reverb - adds a sense of space, as if the instrument were playing in a room. Two parameters: decay time, in seconds, and mix, the balance between the dry signal and the reverb.

Echo

Delay - repeats the sound at a set interval. Time sets the delay between repeats, feedback controls how many times the echoes repeat, and mix balances dry and delayed signal.

Distortion

HQ Guitar Amp + Cab - a full guitar rig with a tube-style drive, a three-band tone stack (bass, mid, treble), a presence control that brightens the top end, and an output level. Designed for guitar sounds, but works on anything.

Overdrive - a simpler, softer drive pedal. Three controls: drive (how much distortion), tone (how bright it is), and level (the output volume).

Pitch

Pitch Shifter - shifts the pitch of the track up or down by up to 12 semitones. Works best on sustained notes; short percussive sounds will sound unnatural.

Modulation

Tremolo - a rhythmic change in volume. Rate controls how fast it pulses, and depth controls how much of the volume it affects.

Chorus - thickens the sound by mixing in a slightly detuned copy. Rate and depth control the movement; mix balances the two signals.

Phaser - a sweeping, whooshing effect created by moving comb-like frequency notches through the sound. Rate, depth, feedback, and mix control the character.

Amp

Neural Amp - a neural-network amp model that recreates the sound of a real amplifier. Two controls: input gain and output gain. On first use, the amp model is downloaded from the internet. After that it's cached locally.

Cabinet IR - a speaker cabinet simulation that pairs naturally with the Neural Amp. It uses an impulse response to recreate the sound of a real cabinet and microphone. Mix controls how much cabinet is applied, and level controls the output.

Automating effect parameters

Any effect parameter can be controlled over time with automation. This means you can, for example, have the mix of a reverb slowly increase across a section, or the drive of a distortion ramp up into a chorus.

To add an automation lane, click the track's Automation button (the line-graph icon in the track header). A lane opens below the track. Choose the parameter you want to automate from its dropdown, and then draw points on the graph. Melony interpolates smoothly between them.

You can automate a track's volume and pan this way too, alongside any effect parameter. Automation lanes are saved with the project, and they play back whenever the transport is running.

Mapping parameters to hardware

If you have the Novation Launchkey 61 MK3 connected, you can map any effect parameter to one of its faders or knobs. Right-click the parameter's slider in the effect panel and a diagram of the keyboard appears. Click the physical control you want to bind, and from that point on, moving that control will move the parameter.

Mapped parameters show a small badge next to their name in the panel, marking which fader or knob they're attached to. Right-clicking the slider again lets you change or remove the mapping.

Audio tails Reverb and delay produce sound that continues after the notes stop. When you export a project to MP3, Melony automatically adds a small amount of extra time at the end so those tails are captured in full.