for Volume envelope
(ignoring Decay Sustain Release)
how can you start a sound during the Attack Stage from middle loudness?
attack always starts from 0 volume? is there a way for attack to start at middle volume instead


also another question
release = reverb basically?

and last question
0 Sustain = means always no release? right?

 

Last edited by a moderator: May 14, 2020

what you are asking doesn't make any sense.the attack stage is the first stage an envelope goes through.the middle would be the decay/sustain.the amount of time the attack lasts other than the length of attack you set is determined by note length.once you go beyond a certain short note length the attack and decay are mostly ignored and you get "NoteOFF"message sent to the midi trigger gate which jumps straight to the release stage

sustain is just the maximum volume that the MIDI note can be scaled to when the note is held.i practically never use sustain on ADSR's personally unless i am mimicking trigger from gate type VCA monophonic leads

If you just want the equivalent of an attack to start instantly (i'm assuming volume maybe)then just use a saw set to ramp up on LFO and have it retrigger from key press.if you are at all familiar with modular you can use slew rate generators to accomplish the same thing

Your other option could be a synth with an MSEG as you can set the stages curves to whatever you please or forgeo stages altogether and just have one curve continuously triggered on key press(that amounts to the same thing as an LFO though)

 

Last edited: May 14, 2020

Attack: How long it takes to your sound to reach it's maximum amplitude.
Decay: How long it takes for your sound to decrease to the sustain value you set.
Sustain: Volume that is going to be sustained as long you keep holding down your keys (or notes in piano roll); If it's 100% than your decay is useless.
Release: How long it takes for your sound to reach complete silence (ignoring effects like reverb and delay of course).

Hope it helps you to figure out how to set your ADSR envelope.

 

As i already pointed out.this stuff is pretty meaningless.the relationship between attack and decay is not that straight forward unless you are drawing in MIDI notes that touch each other (quantized note lengths)all this is determined by MIDI note length and even PPQ.release in MIDI and in ADSR's is incredibly misunderstood and oversimplified

 

Something like this? :

Reverb is an effect and depends on thc input signal. The release phase of an envelope is not an effect, it just modulated the amplifier's volume

An Envelope ist just like a volume curve, essentially it is just the automation for the volume of an ampifier.

hope that helps somehow.

 

Last edited: May 14, 2020

ADSR ebvelope cannot do this but multi stage envelope can. Like casio 8 stage or proteus.

 

You can't. If you could, you would have a click every time a sound starts and would have to add volume fade in to get rid of it. That's why attack is there, to do it for you. You can set attack to 0 for a very, very quick fade in if you want your sound to start right with the incoming MIDI.

Kind of, but not really. Reverb sounds different than the original sound, because it simulates reflections. With release, it's the same sound fading out. Remember release only happens *after* the note ends, so if you make a pluck with zero attack and some decay, sustain at zero - release will do nothing. Release is all about going from sustain level down to silence. If sustain is already at silence, you can't go any lower than that - effectively, your sound will be as long as the attack and decay, and that's it - it doesn't matter how long your MIDI lasts, you can keep a key pressed forever and you'll only getting a single pluck.

If you have trouble understanding ADSR, get yourself a MIDI keyboard, or at least find a way to use your computer keyboard as MIDI. That's what ADSR was made for, it's kind of tricky to understand just making patterns and drawing around with a mouse. Be sure to explore it on mono lead type sounds as well. Disabling the polyphony and adding portamento/glide changes the way you look at envelopes and it's good to understand the various retrigger modes.

 

AHDSR? A Hold D S R, main use is for drums.

 

thanks guys

 

Your questions absolutely makes sense. I suppose you want the envelope to start like at 50, or 60% and then reach the max with a given time/rate? Back in the days when I played synths and made my own sounds I often asked this question myself.
With a simple/usual ADSR envelope this can't be done but for instance with somthing like a multistage env genenerator (MSEG) as @Sarawak_Sam correctly said, which you can find in the modulation matrix of some synths.
Another option would be an env where you can alter the slope to make it more concave or convex, so you could use an attack shape with the looks of a soft knee compression curve, IYKWIM.
Thirdly choosing different attack times/rates for amp and filter could give a similar impression.

 

0 sustain doesn't always mean no release. it depends on how it was designed.

you can probably do tricks with a compressor after your synth to get the envelope you want.

 

Is that a smoke signal???

 

finally somone found thc easter egg heheh

 

It depends on what kinda of sound i'm about to design.

For example if i want to desing a pluck sound, i mostly start playing with decay and sustaion.
If i want to design a pad type sound, i mostly start playing with attack and release.