Instruments and Effects

546 Chapter 28 Sculpture
Within the framework of these short experiments, it’s of course impossible to
comprehensively cover all of Sculpture’s possibilities. Please experiment with the
suggested settings and closely observe the results of the changes you make. In this
way you can learn a lot about the instrument, and hopefully be inspired to create new
sounds and variations.
Note: You will find the settings for these tutorials in the Tutorial Settings folder in the
settings menu (in the head of the Sculpture plug-in window).
The Sustained Sound
First, please load Sculpture’s default setting again; the very simple sound consisting of a
plucked string that vibrates and fades away. Obviously, this sound needs some drastic
changes as you’re going for a sustained or extended sound for pads, rather than one
that dies away.
Have a look at the three objects: you can see that only Object 1 is active, and acts on
the string with an Impulse. As in the pick example in the bass section, the string is
briefly excited when the note is played, and then the sound decays. A sustained pad
sound requires an exciting agent that constantly acts upon the string; the appropriate
object types are Bow or Bow wide (the string is played with either short or long,
extended bow strokes), Noise (excited by a random noise signal) or Blow (excited by
being blown—much like a clarinet or flute).
Please test the above mentioned object types one after the other, and move the Object
1 (Pickup) slider, responsible for the exact position of the exciting agent, up and down
the string while you’re playing. You will come to two conclusions. First, the sound is
now sustained for as long as you hold the key down. Secondly, shifting the Object 1
slider, with the Bow type selected, results in the most pronounced sonic changes. This
setting promises the most rewarding possibilities for varying the sound, and that’s why
this type has been chosen.
Recording an Envelope
The sonic variations created by the Bow type are very appealing when the virtual bow
stroke is moved along the string. You can control this movement through the use of an
envelope, thus creating the foundation of your pad sound.
It makes more sense (and it is more convenient) to record the envelope, rather than
programming it, even if the latter is easily achieved with the graphic display.