Etches | Getting Started
Thanks for picking up Etches. Let's get you playing.
Hooking it up
Etches has a stereo 1/8" (3.5mm) output. Use a Y-adapter or TRS-to-dual-TS cable to break it out into two channels on your mixer or interface. You want the full stereo image — the reverb and delay are really doing something over there.
The note array and SWELL
Etches has a note array along the bottom and a row of articulation pads above it. Here's the thing that trips people up: the note array doesn't make any sound on its own. You can press those pads all day and hear nothing.
SWELL is what brings the sound out. Think of it as your volume. You'll have a finger on SWELL pretty much the whole time you play. Pick a note with one hand, press SWELL with the other, and there it is.
Calibrating with SENS.
Put INDEX at 12 o'clock so you've got a mid-range note to work with. Now touch SWELL — light, heavy, roll your finger around — and adjust SENS until it feels right. Too low and you'll get false triggers and stray notes. Too high and the pads won't respond unless you really lean in. Skin, weather, even the surface Etches is sitting on will shift things a little day to day. Somewhere between 1 and 2 o'clock works for most setups.
Just play
Hold a note. Swell into it. Let it go. Try a few different notes. Roll your finger on SWELL. Get comfortable with the relationship between the two hands.
And mess with the other controls too, even if you don't know what they do yet. Turn EDGE. Turn FLUX. Turn ORBIT. We designed Etches to be played with.
Keep going
From here, just keep messing around. Try things. Turn knobs you haven't touched yet and see where they take you. When you're ready to go deeper, the video series up top walks through the rest of the controls, and the user manual has the full picture including sound design tips, signal flow, and more.
Some inspiration...
With a little time spent learning its inner-workings and subtleties, you can discover a trove of sound design possibilities within Etches.
All audio demos below were performed and recorded live with only Etches processing. Demos by Taylor Deupree, Arovane and Micah Frank