CHAPTER 23. LIVE INSTRUMENT REFERENCE
436
The Damper Section
Tension's Damper
Section.
All string instruments employ some type of damping mechanism that mutes the resonating
string. In pianos, this is a felt pad that is applied to the string when the key is released. In
instruments such as guitars and violins, the player damps by stopping the string's vibration
with the ngers. Dampers regulate the decay of strings but also produce some sound of
their own, which is an important characteristic of a string instrument's timbre.
Although a damper functions to mute the string rather than activate it, it is somewhat
analogous to a hammer, and shares some of the same parameters.
The Mass knob controls how hard the damper's surface will press against the string. As you
increase the value, the string will mute more quickly.
The stiffness of the damper's material is adjusted with the Stiffness control. Lower values
simulate soft materials such as felt, while higher values model a metal damper.
Note that very high Mass and Stiffness values can simulate dampers that connect with the
string hard enough to change its effective length, thus causing a change in tuning.
The Velocity control adjusts the speed with which the damper is applied to the string when
the key is released, as well as the speed with which it is lifted from the string when the key is
depressed. Be careful with this parameter - very high Velocity values can cause the damper
to hit the string extremely hard, which can result in a very loud sound on key release. Note
that the state of the Gated switch determines whether or not the Velocity control is enabled.
When the Gated switch is turned on, the damper is applied to the string when the key is
released. With Gated off, the damper always remains on the string, which means that the
Velocity control has no effect.
