Tremolo/Panner block

Available on which products

• Axe-Fx III: 2 blocks
• FM3: yes @@
• Axe-Fx II: 2 blocks
• AX8: 1 block
• FX8: 2 blocks

Channels or X/Y switching

• Axe-Fx III and FM3: 4 channels
• Axe-Fx II Mk I and II: no
• Axe-Fx II XL and XL+: X/Y
• AX8: X/Y
• FX8: X/Y

Position of the Tremolo/Panner block on the grid

If the Tremolo block is placed before the Amp block and there's a lot of amp gain, the tremolo effect will be less noticeable because of the compression of the signal. Adjust the waveform or the Duty parameter to emphasize the pulse. Or move the Tremolo block to a position after the Amp block.

The Panner pans the signal left and right, just like a ping pong delay. This requires the signal not being summed to mono after the Tremolo/Panner block.

You can make the Panner effect appear “fuller” and “wider” by adding the Enhancer block after it.

Parameters

Parameters table

Parameter	Axe-Fx III / FM3	Axe-Fx II	AX8 / FX8
Type	yes
Rate	yes
Tempo	yes
Depth	yes
LFO Type	yes
LFO Duty Cycle	yes
LFO Phase	yes
Start Phase	yes
Crossover Slope, Freq	yes
Panner — Width	yes
Panner — Pan Center	yes

Type

The block provides the following types in firmware Ares:

• Tremolo
• Panner
• Bias Trem — tube emulation algorithm to replicate the bias tremolo used in vintage tube amps
• Harmonic Trem — recreates the famous sound of the tremolo circuit in the old “Brownface” amplifiers. This effect splits the spectrum and applies modulation to the two frequency bands. The Crossover Slope parameter selects the filter order for the crossover. The original circuit used a 6 dB/octave crossover. Higher slopes can give a more intense effect. The crossover frequency can be changed with the Crossover Frequency parameter. Note: unlike most implementations the Axe-Fx III version is full stereo and can be used before or after the Amp block without losing stereo separation. Additionally the effect supports LFO phase for the left/right which can be used to achieve unique sounds. Furthermore the effect supports LFO types other than Sine for even more unique sounds

Both Bias Trem and Harmonic Trem use nonlinear processing techniques and, as such, may add distortion to the audio signal, just as their tube-based counterparts would.

"I like the Harmonic Trem on clean and light crunch before an amp. It takes on a slight phaser vibe. Another cool thing to try is to put it near the end of the chain and set the LFO Phase to 180. Funky stereo tremolo." source

Forum discussion about harmonic tremolo

Strymon's white paper on tremolo types

LFO Phase

Set LFO Phase to 0 for mono output, and to any other value for stereo output.

Depth

There's no Mix parameter In the Tremolo block. Depth is the same as Mix, because a tremolo's modulation is volume-based.

"Mix makes no sense in a tremolo as it is the same as reducing the depth." source

Start Phase

You can start the Tremolo on the beat (triggered) by using the Start Phase parameter. This applies to engaging the effect, not to hitting the strings.

To align the Tremolo to the moment that you hit the strings, set Rate to “LFO1 SYNC”, sync LFO1 to a Tempo, and attach the LFO to the Envelope follower.

Duty

Use this parameter to change the character of the tremolo peaks, from a regular tremolo to electronic "blobs".

Tips and tricks

Tremolo in Amp block

The Amp block in the Axe-Fx II and III (not in the AX8 and FM3) provides its own Bias Tremolo.

Ring Modulator as a tremolo

You can configure the Ring Modulator block to operate as a tremolo, by turning down Frequency all the way.

Flanger as a tremolo

You can turn a Flanger block into a tremolo.

Shuffle tremolo

Create a "shuffle" tremolo