How should I dial in the tone? An intermediate guide for ISOLO players

Effects are like seasonings or sauces for your tone; when used properly, they can embellish your sound and give you a unique personal style. However, if misused, they can be as disappointing as adding too much salt to an already well-seasoned dish. This article is about to explain how to adjust effects blend and parameters when using ISOLO, helping you enhance your performance with the right touch of effect level.

Effect type, blend and parameter

For ISOLO users, one of the convenient features is that all receivers have built-in Effects. By selecting the type from 1 to 8 (there will be only 4 options if you’re using ISOLO LITE), it will process your original audio input with the specific algorithm.

Here, we use the ISOLO PRIME as an example. Whenever the EFX knob is turned to 1, it indicates that we’re using the “room reverb” for our designated effect. *For different receivers, the effects may vary. Please check your product manual for correct information.

For non-electric instruments, reverb and delay are the major effects that are widely used to enrich the sound with atmospheric trails. The following article will focus on how to set your reverb and delay to accomplish a quality performance.

Understand the acoustic of your venue

Before we head to the effect types and parameters, one thing that experienced players or sound technicians will do is check the reverberation of the venue. Don’t underestimate this! Different venues and spaces can have completely distinct acoustic characteristics. For example, in an open courtyard, the reverberation will be significantly less compared to an indoor space. Even within indoor environments, the number of reflective surfaces and the materials used in the decor will impact how sound bounces around. For instance, the acoustics in a cathedral built from granite will sound vastly different from those in a cinema lined with soft carpeting.

We usually use a clap or a short sound to assess the natural reverberation of the space. Based on that, we can then determine the appropriate amount of reverb and delay effects to layer on top.

Select your preferred reverb/delay type

By switching the effect knob, you can select a specific effect type on our ISOLO PRIME. We provide players with three kinds of reverbs, from a small room to a medium hall and a large arena. Since these reverbs will add different textures to your overall tone, we suggest testing them individually and writing down some notes so you can tell when to use or avoid them. For example, arena reverb may create a long decay. It sounds pretty cool if you are playing long notes in a ballad, but it will make your fast notes lose clarity and be less defined.

Effect number 4 and number 5 are delay and delay + reverb. They can add depth and space if used properly and enhance the rhythm when synced to tempo. However, too much delay or poor timing can muffle the mix, making it difficult to distinguish between the original signal and delayed notes.

This is an example of the natural delay effect

Adjust the blend for the exact amount of effect

This is how our effect blend-knob works. Players can turn the blend knob down to dry no matter which effect they’ve selected to get the complete dry signal. By turning up the blend knob, we begin to hear the effects (or wet signal). As mentioned earlier, your surroundings might change how the effects sound. Therefore, adjusting the blend accordingly is something you need to do on your own when playing in various venues. As a rule of thumb, you turn up the blend ratio for MORE effect, and turn down the blend ratio for LESS or even ZERO effect.

Fine-tune the effect parameters

For intermediate effect users, you might know that several different parameters will alter the characteristics of the effect. For example, changing the decay time of a reverb will make the reverb more or less intense. Meanwhile, to make a delay effect sound well-designed, one might need to fine-tune the delay time (how long the delayed note will come back), feedback (how many times you want to hear the bounce back), and other parameters such as modulations.

Due to the limitation of our ISOLO wireless receiver, we can only provide the freedom of fine tune these effects with one parameter knob. For the reverb effects, the parameter knob controls the decay time. On the other hand, the parameter knob will control the delay time if you are using the delay effects.

Is there a perfect preset that works universally?

The answer, in most cases, is NO (otherwise we would have this preset fixed!). This concept is similar to how everyone has their own preferred way of seasoning food. The ratio of spices that seems perfect to you might not work for someone else. What tastes just right to you could come across as too salty for others. Adding to this, as we discussed earlier, every space has its own acoustic characteristics, which will also affect how you adjust your effects. Rather than chasing an elusive “perfect” setting, it might be more practical to adopt a consistent method for making adjustments.

For instance, you could start by selecting the type of reverb or delay you want to use. After playing a staccato note or a short sound, focus on how much natural reverb you hear in the space. Based on that relative reference, choose your desired blend ratio. Finally, fine-tune the effect parameters—such as reverb decay or delay feedback time—to match the tempo and style of the music you’re performing.