Sustain:
Part of the ADSR envelope which deter-
mines the level to which the sound will settle if a key
is held down.
Timbre:
The tonal color of a sound, which reflects its
harmonic content and envelope.
Transpose:
The process of adjusting the pitch of a
note or an entire song by a musical interval.
Triangle Wave:
Symmetrical triangular-shaped wave
containing odd harmonics only, buth with a lower
harmonic content than the square wave.
Unison:
In convenetional sense: playing the same
melody using two or more different instruments or
voices. Today its definition is extended: the sound
generator (synthesizer, sampler) plays multiple voices
sligthly detuned compared to each other.
VCF:
A voltage-controlled filter (VCF) is an electronic
filter whose operating characteristics can be
controlled by means of a control voltage applied to
one or more inputs.
VCA:
A voltage-controlled amplifier is an electronic
amplifier that varies its gain over time.
Velocity:
It means the speed at which you depress a
key. Also means the MIDI message that communi-
cates the keypress information and determines how
loudly or softly a sound will play.
Velocity-sensitive:
A characteristic that means the
keyboard responds to a player's touch. For example,
with an acoustic piano, if you hit a key softly, the
sound is soft, and if you hit a key hard, the sound is
loud. Depending on the weight of the touch, the volu-
me level and timbre of the notes will vary.
Voice:
The capacity of a synthesizer to play a single
musical note. An instrument capable of playing 32
simultaneous notes is said to be a 32 voice instrument.
Waveform:
A two-dimensional graph of a signal,
showing changes in pressure (amplitude) as a func-
tion of time.
XG:
An extension to the General MIDI standard,
defined by Yamaha and used in some of its newer
instruments and sound modules. XG adds new sound
banks with variations of General MIDI sounds (for
example, brighter versions of the same instruments)
and also standardizes some effect parameters.
11
NORD MODULAR G2 SERIES - VOL. 01. - Club Life
USER GUIDE •
www.samplerbanks.com
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