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366 Chapter 24 Sculpture
Media Loss Release
The blue slider (in the outer ring of the Material Pad) controls the Media Loss release
time. To activate it, you must first click on the Release button, to the bottom right of the
Material Pad. Values above 1.0 cause media losses to increase when the key is released.
This parameter can be used to simulate a string that is dropped into a bucket of water
after initially vibrating in air, for example. Obviously, this is not what the average
violinist or pianist would do, but it can be useful for a number of interesting sound
variations.
Tension Mod (morphable)
Strings, such as those of a guitar, exhibit a particularly prominent non-linear
behavior: if the string excursion is large, the string is detuned upwards. As this
detuning is caused by the momentary, rather than the average excursion of the string,
the detuning occurs very quickly. This phenomenon is known technically as “tension
modulation non-linearity”. Non-technically, setting or modulating the Tension Mod
parameter to values above 0.0 emulates this momentary detuning effect in Sculpture.
Please note that this non-linear effect can produce some surprising results, and can
also make the entire model unstable, especially when combined with low Media Loss
and Inner Loss values. So, if you have a sound that “spikes” or “drops out” during the
decay phase, try reducing Tension Mod (and perhaps Resolution).
Tension Mod Scale Low/High
Allows independent adjustments to tension modulation key tracking, for notes above
and below middle C (C3). The green “low” slider (down to C0), inside the Material Pad
ring, is visible when the Keyscale button is clicked. To adjust, click-hold, and drag. The
blue “high” slider (up to C6) runs along the left-hand side of the outer ring. Click-hold,
and drag, to adjust.
Note: If you find that your instrument seems slightly sharp or flat as you play up/down
the keyboard, look at making adjustments to the Tension Mod and perhaps Media Loss
keyscaling parameters.