CRUSH PACK Explained

If your tracks are feeling a bit sterile, and you're looking for an easy way to infuse some character and life into your sounds, then Native Instruments' CRUSH PACK is an excellent choice. In this CRUSH PACK tutorial, recording wiz Gary Hiebner will teach you everything you need to know in order to make this effects pack work for you in musically creative ways. Whether it's just a subtle touch of saturation or full-on bit-crushing destruction, you'll learn how to navigate the parameters of these powerful plugins like a pro in no time! These videos are for new CRUSH PACK users.

Videos

• Introduction (01:31) - Gary starts off by explaining what effects are included with the CRUSH PACK and what you can do with them.

• Dirt Parameters (04:14) - Explore the parameters on the Dirt plugin and learn how to use them. Gary also explains the dual distortion modules that you have on this effect and how you can route them.

• Using Dirt on Drums (04:21) - Discover how to use the Dirt effect on some drums, adding some warmth and saturation and giving it a vintage tonality. We combine two different distortion modes to color the sound.

• Using Dirt on Bass (03:35) - You can take a simple, subtle-sounding bass and turn it into a gnarly instrument with the Dirt effect.

• Using Dirt on Synths (04:20) - Hear what it sounds like using Dirt on a synth instrument. We saturate the sound and hear how it can lend an analog flavor to a digital synth.

• Bite Parameters (05:27) - Explore the Bite parameters, including downsampling and bit crushing, and see how you can use the parameters on each section to change the color of a sound.

• Downsampling a Beat (03:22) - In this video, Gary demonstrates how we can use the downsampling feature of the Bite effect to change the sample rate of the audio and alter the tonality of it, creating a vintage, retro-sounding beat.

• Bitcrushing a Synth with Bite (04:22) - Discover how you can use Bite to bit crush a synth instrument. Learn how to reduce the bit rate and use other parameters to crush the sound more.

• Using Bite on a Bus Channel (03:24) - Here, we send some tracks to a Bus channel and then add Bite as a bus effect, morphing and manipulating the bus channel.

• Freak Parameters (07:50) - Gary shows you the different modes of the Freak effect that are available: Radio, Oscillator, and Sidechain. The parameters change as you switch between the different modes.

• Using the Freak on a Rhodes to Create Modulation & Saturation (03:29) - Here we take a look at what it sounds like using the Freak effect on a Rhodes keyboard to produce some modulation with the Frequency Modulation. We'll also add some saturation to color the sound.

• Creating Robotic Voices with Frequency Shifting & Ring Modulation (03:03) - Discover how you can use the Freak effect on voices to create robotic and alien-style voices. In the video, Gary demonstrates this with the Frequency Shifting oscillator and the Ring Modulation oscillator.

• Dialing in an AM Radio Filtered Effect (04:44) - Here we take a look at the AM mode on Freak and show you how you can dial in that classic filtered AM radio sound. Also learn how you can sweep the frequency and crossfade it in in a production.

• Using Sidechain Mode on Freak (09:58) - In this video we explore how to use the Sidechain mode. First, Gary shows you how to setup the side chain in the DAW and then how to route in in Freak. Then he explains how to use the Sidechain mode and parameters on the Freak effect to transform and modulate the audio.

• Combining All Three Effects in a Song Pt. 1 (07:47) - Here we take all we've learned about Dirt, Bite, and Freak and apply them in a mix with several different instruments to change and color their sounds. In this first part of the mix, we take a look at how to use CRUSH PACK on the drums and bass.

• Combining All Three Effects in a Song Pt. 2 (13:35) - Following on from the previous video, here we take the production and mix further. We work on the rhythm and lead guitars and completely change the character and timbre of the instruments. Finally, we take a listen to the full mix and compare it before and after the added CRUSH PACK effects.