11.3

SCREAM 4 SOUND DESTRUCTION UNIT569
Screamy tips and tricks
Don’t restrict yourself to using Scream 4 as a basic distortion stompbox, but try it in as many ways as possible - you
may be surprised to find how often Scream 4 can add power, warmth and color to your sounds. Here are some ex-
amples:
Creating a heavy drum sound
Scream 4 is ideal for processing drums. Try connecting it as an insert effect to a Redrum device and experiment with
the Damage Types and settings.
• For classic distorted drums, try the Tube, Tape or Distortion algorithms.
• The Scream algorithm is excellent for a really raw body or industrial drum sound.
• For more weird, synth-like effects, try the Modulation or Warp effects.
Remember that you don’t have to route the whole drum kit through the Scream device - sometimes it may be better
to route the individual outputs from the bass drum, snare and/or toms to a Spider Audio Merger (see “Spider Audio
Merger & Splitter”), connect the merged output of the Spider to the Scream 4 and route this to a separate channel in
the Mixer. That way, hi-hats, cymbals and similar are unprocessed.
Warming up a mix with the Tape effect
If you find your mixes a bit sterile, the Tape algorithm is excellent for providing some warmth and gentle distortion:
1. Create a Scream 4 device and connect it between the main outputs of the Mixer and the Audio Hardware de-
vice.
2. Set the Damage Type to Tape.
Make sure the Cut and Body sections are turned off.
3. Start with a low Damage Control setting and P1 (Speed) and P2 (Compression) at 12 o’clock.
4. Play back your mix and adjust the settings.
Raise the Damage Control for more tape saturation distortion, adjust P1 to get the desired brightness and raise P2
if you want a more controlled, compressed sound. If you like, you could also activate the Cut section and use the
three-band EQ to further adjust the sound.
Using the Body section as a sound enhancer/phaser/wah
Nothing stops you from using the Body section on its own, without Damage. Try this:
1. Create a sampler device (e.g. an NN-19) and select an electric piano patch.
2. Select the sampler and create a Scream 4.
It is added as an insert effect.
3. Turn off the Damage section and instead activate the Body section.
You will find that this adds a resonant character to the sound, which will make it more “alive” and help it stand out in
a mix. You should experiment with the Body settings to find the character that suits you best. You could also activate
the Cut section- if you e.g. find the sound too bassy, just lower the “Lo” slider a bit.
4. Now flip the rack around and connect the CV out from the sampler’s LFO to the Scale CV input on the Scream
4.
As you can hear, the Scale is modulated by the LFO.
5. Adjust the amount of Scale modulation with the pot next to the CV input on the back of the Scream 4, and the
speed (and waveform) of the modulation in the LFO section on the sampler device.
With this type of modulation setup, it’s easy to get lush, dreamy phaser effects. For a more wah wah-like sound, se-
lect Body type B and raise the Reso and Scale settings.