Sustain
The Sustain stage controls a level, not a rate. It sets the target for the Decay stage, the
resting point for the decay of the harmonic content.
• Set the ADSR Decay slider to the halfway point
• Play a note and listen to resting point of the harmonic content
• Raise the ADSR Sustain slider to about 2/3 of the way up
Now play a note and hold it. The harmonic content of the sound will decay as quickly as
it did when the first note was played, but it will not decay the same amount this time. The
Sustain level tells the filter that it should remain somewhat open as long as the note is held.
This allows a certain amount of harmonic content to remain audible.
Release
Until this point in our ADSR experiments the filter envelope has always cut off quickly after
the note has been released. The Release stage controls the amount of time it will take for
the filter to die out after releasing the note.
• Raise the AD Decay slider to about 3/4 of the way up
• Set the ADSR Decay and Sustain sliders to about 2/3 of the way up
Play the same note repeatedly and raise the ADSR Release slider gradually. The harmonic
content of the notes you play will take longer to die out after the notes are released.
But this part may be more difficult to understand unless we also perform the following
experiment.
• Lower the AD Decay slider to minimum
• Play a note and release it. The sound will die out as soon as the note is released.
Now play the same note repeatedly as you raise and lower the ADSR Release slider. The
slider doesn't seem to be doing anything now. This is because the AD envelope controls the
amplitude of the sound; if the amplitude has been reduced to zero by the AD Decay stage
upon the release of the note, the ADSR Release stage will not be heard because the sound
itself is no longer audible.
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Arturia - User Manual MiniBrute 2S - Basics of synthesis
