Specifications

SUBTRACTOR SYNTHESIZER
110
Decay
After the maximum value has been reached, the value starts to drop. How long
this should take is governed by the Decay parameter.
If you wanted to emulate the volume envelope of a note played on a piano for ex-
ample, the Attack should be set to “0” and the Decay parameter should be set to
a medium value, so that the volume gradually decreases down to silence, even if
you keep holding the key down. Should you want the decay to drop to some
other value than zero, you use the Sustain parameter.
Sustain
The Sustain parameter determines the level the envelope should rest at, after the
Decay. If you set Sustain to full level, the Decay setting is of no importance since
the volume of the sound is never lowered.
If you wanted to emulate the volume envelope of an organ, you theoretically only
really need to use the Sustain parameter set to full level, as a basic organ volume
envelope instantly goes to the maximum level (Attack “0”) and stays there (De-
cay “0”), until the key is released and the sound instantly stops (Release “0”).
But often a combination of Decay and Sustain is used to generate envelopes
that rise up to the maximum value, then gradually decreases to finally land to rest
on a level somewhere in-between zero and maximum. Note that Sustain repre-
sents a level, whereas the other envelope parameters represent times.
Release
Finally, we have the Release parameter. This works just like the Decay parame-
ter, except it determines the time it takes for the value to fall back to zero after re-
leasing the key.
Amplitude Envelope
The Amplitude Envelope is used to adjust how the volume of the sound should
change from the time you press a key until the key is released. By setting up a
volume envelope you sculpt the sound’s basic shape with the four Amplitude En-
velope parameters, Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release. This determines the ba-
sic character of the sound (soft, long, short etc.).
Filter Envelope
The Filter Envelope affects the Filter 1 Frequency parameter. By setting up a fil-
ter envelope you control the how the filter frequency should change over time
with the four Filter Envelope parameters, Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release.
Filter Envelope Amount
This parameter determines to what degree the filter will be affected by the Filter
Envelope. Raising this knob’s value creates more drastic results. The Envelope
Amount parameter and the set Filter Frequency are related. If the Filter Freq
slider is set to around the middle, this means that the moment you press a key
the filter is already halfway open. The set Filter Envelope will then open the filter
further from this point. The Filter Envelope Amount setting affects how much fur-
ther the filter will open.
Filter Envelope Invert
If this button is activated, the envelope will be inverted. For example, normally the
Decay parameter lowers the filter frequency, but after activating Invert it will in-
stead raise it, by the same amount.