There are even more effects you can use! The basic, most common effects are covered here, but feel free to experiment with other effects now that you have a good idea what the parameters do.

Distortion

Remember how we said that overloading a circuit is bad? Well, most of the time it is, but ask any guitar player and he or she will tell you that distortion is good. Distortion amplifies the incoming signal wildly, letting it distort, but this doesn't incur “bad” clipping like overloading a recording channel does. When you overload a recording channel, you ruin the recording; distortion, instead, gives the effect of overloading a circuit on a guitar amp. It can make for an interesting effect when used! It's a great way to add “dirt” to a sound.

Delay

Delay is a simple effect that copies your signal and re-creates it, only it does so at a specified interval after you play. This can range from short delays in the milliseconds to long delays of many seconds. A short delay will thicken up a track much as a chorus will. A long delay can have many musical possibilities. If you set the delay right, the delay will follow you around, playing back what you played. Delay has long been a favorite of guitar and keyboard players. Try it on your tracks to see how it sounds.

Noise Reduction

Noise reduction is one of those amazing effects that once you have it, you can't live without. Unlike a gate that limits noise when you're not playing, a noise reducer listens to the signal and gets rid of all unwanted noise. Hums and hisses? Gone. Crackles and pops? Gone. Simply talking about Waves X-Noise plug-in can't possibly convey how amazing it is. It knows the sonic fingerprint of different noises that the designer has programmed in.

The most incredible button to press is the difference button. That button isolates only the noise it took away so you can hear what's no longer there. It's amazing to hear all the high frequency hisses and buzzes just magically vanish. For those of you who rely on hardware processors, check out the Hush line of noise reducers — they are equally impressive.