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notes to “glide” from one pitch to the next. This effect is known as portamento or glissando. The
Dual
EnvVCA
can perform this effect by patching the step-wave into the
Follow
jack and taking the output
from the
Env Out
jack. The amount of glide effect is controlled by the rise and fall times. If you’re
patched into the pitch input of a VCO, you can adjust the tuning with the
Level
and
Offset
pots. Keep in
mind that the
Dual EnvVCA
is not designed to be a precision portamento effect, so tuning will not be
accurate over a wide range.
Creating ASR and ADSR Envelopes
ASR Envelope
An ASR (attack-sustain-release)
envelope is trapezoidal, with a rising
slope (attack), a flat plateau
(sustain), and a falling slope
(release). See Figure 7. The width of
the sustain stage is controlled by the
width of the gate input: holding the
gate high longer results in more
sustain. This is in contrast to an AR
(attack-release) envelope, which is
the triangular shape that results
from patching into the
Trigger
jack
or using the
Cycle
button.
One channel of the
Dual EnvVCA
can be used to generate a variable
pulse width, and the other generates
an ASR envelope. Turn Channel B
Cycle on and patch the EOF output
to the
Follow
jack and the
Trigger
jack, using a mult or stacking cable.
Patch an audio sound source into
the
Audio In
jack, and run the
Audio Out
jack to a mixer or amp.
Make sure Channel A’s
Cycle
is off.
Set all four
Rise/Fall
switches to
Med. Adjust the sliders so that
Channel A’s sliders are lower (faster)
than Channel B’s. Now adjust
Channel B’s
Rise
and
Fall
sliders to
control the overall tempo, and the
Rise
slider alone to control the
length of the Sustain portion.
Alternatively, you can use a keyboard instead of Channel B’s
EOF
jack. Patch the gate output into
Channel A's
Trigger
and
Follow
jacks. Tapping a key quickly will result in a staccato note, while holding
the key down longer will result in a longer note. Keep in mind that the minimum note length will always
be determined by Channel A’s rise and fall time parameters, no matter how short the gate input is.
Another alternative instead of the
EOF
jack or a keyboard, is to use the gate output of a sequencer that
has control over the gate length (pulse width). Setting longer gate lengths for certain notes will
emphasize or accent them in the sequence. If you don’t have pulse
width control on your sequencer, you could patch it into Channel B’s
Trigger
jack and turn off
Cycle
.
This patch works because we patched the gate into both the
Trigger
and
Follow
jacks. The
Trigger
jack ensures a complete envelope
will output even if the gate width is very short. The
Follow
jack
produces the sustain. If we had just patched a gate into the
Trigger
jack, the envelope would start to fall once the peak is reached and
we would have no sustain. However, if the gate at the
Follow
input
is still high, the envelope will remain high, creating the sustain
portion of the envelope. On the other hand, if we had only patched
Page of
16
20
Figure 7: ASR patch: Gate length
controls sustain length
Rise
Fall
Rise
Fall
Rise
Fall
Level
Rise
Fall
Cycle
Follow
Follow
Trigger
Time CV
Rise
Fall
Time CV
EOR
In
In
Fall
Rise
Level
Offset
Offset
Slow
Fast
Slow
Fast
Audio B
Out
Out
Audio A
A
B
VCA CV
VCA CV
Trigger
B
EOF
ENV
OUT
OR
A
Env
Out
Slow
Fast
Med
Slow
Fast
Med
Dual EnvVCA
A
Cycle
on
Rise/Fall
switches to
Med/Med.
Channel A
Sliders to
taste
To mixer/
output amp
From sound
source
Cycle
off
Channel B
Rise
sets
Sustain time.
Rise+Fall
sets tempo