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Chapter 20 ES2 237
The Parameters of ENV 1
At first glance, ENV 1 appears to be rather poorly equipped. Its few parameters,
however, are useful for a vast range of synthesizer functions.
Trigger Modes: Poly, Mono, Retrig
In Poly mode, the envelope generator behaves as you would expect on any polyphonic
synthesizer: Every voice has its own envelope.
In Mono and Retrig modes, a single envelope generator modulates all voices in
parallel—identically, in other words.
 If ENV 1 is set to Mono, all notes must be released before the envelope can be
triggered again. If you play legato, or any key remains depressed, the envelope won’t
start its attack phase again.
 In Retrig mode, the envelope will be triggered by any key you strike, no matter
whether other notes are sustained or not. Every sustained note is affected by the
retriggered envelope.
The design of early analog polysynths led to polyphonic instruments where all voices
passed through a single lowpass filter. This design was primarily due to cost factors. The
best known example of these polyphonic instruments were the Moog Polymoog, the
Yamaha SK20, and Korg Poly 800. The sole lowpass filter of such instruments is
controlled by a single envelope generator. To simulate this behavior, use the Mono or
Retrigger modes.
Say you’ve modulated the Cutoff 2 target with a percussive source, such as ENV1, which
is set to Retrig. If you play and sustain a bass note, this note will receive a percussive
filter effect every time you hit another key. The newly struck key is also shaped by the
same filter. Playing a sound set up in this way feels like you’re playing a polyphonic
synthesizer with one filter. This is despite the fact that the ES2’s filters remain
polyphonic and can be simultaneously modulated by different polyphonic sources.
∏ Tip: If you want to simulate the percussion of a Hammond Organ, you will also need to
use the Mono or Retrigger modes.
Trigger Modes menu
Decay Release button
Attack via Velocity slider