Sound Color FX are the ones on the knob for each channel on your DJ controller that’s usually right under the low, mid and high EQs. You probably use this knob the most for “per-channel” filters, but in many cases it can be used for other effects too, such as echoes, pitch effects and “noise”.
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Usually though, whatever effect you choose is applicable to all your channels – you can’t have, say, a bit crush effect on channel 1, a noise effect on channel 2, a filter on channel 3 and an echo on channel 4.
However, in Rekordbox this is possible, and it’s actually pretty simple to do – it’s just that many people don’t realise it. So in this tutorial, I’ll show you how.
Why would you want to do this?
This is especially useful with four-deck controllers, because in truth, most DJs don’t treat all four decks equally. They’ll typically DJ most of the time on decks 1 and 2, with the “outer” decks 3 and 4 reserved for say acapellas, loops, DJ idents etc. So having different effects for those channels (for instance, an echo effect for your acapella channel) can be really useful.
How To Do It
1. Enable FX – Firstly, you need to enable the FX panel in Rekordbox, which is where the controls you’ll need for this exercise are located:
2. Choose multi FX – Then, in the CFX panel, you need to click the three dots to enable Multi sound Color FX:
3. Choose different FX – Once you’ve done that, you’ll see four (or two if you’re using a two-channel controller) buttons for each of your deck Sound Color FX, which will be labelled with whatever they’re currently set to – probably Filter. So it’s time to set them to something new:
4. Confirm your choices – Once you’ve done that, you’ll see that your drop-downs now all contain different Sound Color FX, which means the knobs on your controller will add your chosen effects only to their particular channels when you turn them – ie you’ve got a different effect on each channel!
5. Turn them on – However, if you turn the knobs now, nothing will happen, and that’s because these buttons need to be turned on to activate them – so click on the buttons to do so. You can leave them turned on, as the knobs themselves can effectively be used as on/off switches (ie when they’re at 12 o’clock, the chosen effect is “off”).
Finally…
Once you’ve set this you don’t have to keep the FX panel open – clicking the little “FX” top left of Rekordbox will hide it to give you more screen space, and your filters will still work. Be sure not to press any controller select buttons for them though, as this will override the settings you just made.
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Phil Morse
