GSX Graphic Shaper/Effects

After nearly a decade of helping you make incredible music, we regret to announce that Sononics is closing up shop. It has truly been an honor working with the great people at Reason Studios and YOU the wonderful users! GSX will be available for purchase through the end of August, 2022 – and at a new lower price! Sadly, GSX will be removed from the shop at the end of the day on August 31st and will no longer be available for purchase. Thank you again for a great decade of making music!

Bob Currie - Owner, Sononics

The GSX is an audio effect Rack Extension that combines audio routing, multiband crossover/equalization, transient shaping, pattern delay and audio effects such as resonant filters, distortion, noise-replacement, FM and stuttering. It can be used with just about any sound source but it really shines when it is used with drums and percussive instruments. Using the GSX with just a single drum loop unleashes a new world of sonic possibilities.

GSX 1.0 Users Guide

Performance Section:

• All performance features are triggerable via GUI buttons, MIDI (including automation) or CV-input.
• Bank-switching between audio transform groups A/B/C/D, including a Bypass mode that passes the original audio material through unprocessed.
• Tape-stop (pitch-drop) with variable stop and re-start times (20ms to 2 seconds).
• Mute-stop.
• Stutter effect on quarter, quarter-triplet, eighth, eighth-triplet, sixteenth, sixteenth-triplet, thirty-second, thirty-second-triplet. Stuttering is a multi-band effect. Each band’s stutter-type is user-selectable in the Modifiers panel.
• Bank-switching can be tempo-synced on sixteenths, eighth-triplets, quarters (beats) or whole-notes (bars).
• Stuttering can be tempo-synced on quarters (beats) or triggered in “free” mode, which is dependent on current stutter key (e.g. quarter, sixteenth, thirty-second, etc.)
• Bank Latch mode holds last bank until changed by the user. Unlatched mode reverts to Bypassed when no key is held.

Modifiers Panel:

• Graphic-EQ/Crossover with 1-5 frequency bands (user-defined). When configured for two or more bands, the crossover frequency for the bass band is configurable (50Hz-250Hz). The remaining bands are divided equally on a logarithmic scale (similar to a graphic EQ).
  Modifiers and effects on each frequency band (per-bank A/B/C/D):
• Transient shaper with Attack and Decay controls.
• Gain control.
• Pattern delay with 13 patterns (various sixteenth, eighth, eighth-triplet and quarter-triplet patterns).
• Seven stutter types (Normal, Bypass, Silent, 2X, 4X, 8X and Scratch) used with performance section stutter controls. A global Chirp-amount control adds a band-limited electronic click or chirp-tone to audio that is stuttering in the Normal, 2X, 4X or 8X stutter mode.
• 13 Effects type (Mod-wheel Filter, Inverse Mod-wheel Filter, Saw LFO Filter, Inverse Saw LFO Filter, Triangle LFO Filter, Inverse Triangle LFO Filter, Envelope-follow Filter, Inverse Envelope-follow Filter, FM, Saturation, Noise, Scratch and External Effects Insert. All internal effects have variable resonance/tone control.
• LFO selectable- sync (sixteenth, eighth-triplet, eighth, quarter-triplet, quarter, half, whole, 2-whole).

Master Section:

• Main Volume (-infinity to +12dB).
• Peak Limiter with variable Ceiling control (-12dB to 0dB).
• Analog-style master/output VU Meter with gain-reduction (GR) mode that can be used when the limiter is engaged.

Back Panel:

• Stereo Audio Inputs: Main/A is routed to ALL banks (A/B/C/D) by default. Override-inputs B/C/D override the Main input and supply material to the associated bank.
• Stereo Main Audio Output.
• Graphic-band Effects Inserts allow external effects to be patched into individual graphic-bands on actively-playing banks whose FX-Type is set to EXTERNAL.
• Bank Effects Inserts allow external effects to be patched into any actively-playing bank (A/B/C/D).
• Main Effects Inserts allow external effects processing on the final signal before output.
• CV-Inputs (Note/Gate) for triggering bank-switching, tape-stop/mute and stuttering from an external device such as Reason’s Matrix. Pitch-bend and Mod-wheel inputs (overrides MIDI) are also provided for external modulation.