Gate Time Parameter (3)
The Gate time parameter will let you specify how long the key stroke that triggers the hit will be held down ie how much of the decay,
and possible sustain stage and release of the 3 envelopes will be played for this drum hit in this step.
To specify the Gate time of each step : Just move the bar to the left or to the right in the active step display. The more to the left the
bar will be, the longer the drum sound will play.
Important Notes for the per step Gate Time parameter :
•
Default value of the Gate Time when triggering a Hit in the XoX editor is 50% of the total length of the Step.
•
If the Gate Time is set to zero, the drum sound will still be heard, and the Note On/Note Off interval will be set to 10ms, with the
consequence that only the Attack and the Release part of the sound will be heard. Furthermore, if the attack of the sound has been
set to a slower value than 10 ms, the sound will not be heard
•
In the same spirit, you can raise the Gate Time of each step to up to 200% of the length of the step ( ie Double length). Please
note however that if the sound is rby the next sequencer step, all envelopes will be reset to zero by the next step. So it might be a
good idea to avoid to make the next step hit the drumpad ( unless you want to generate some kind of repeat FX effects )
VERY IMPORTANT
:
StiX uses analog modeled traditional ADSR envelopes. If the sustain level is set to ZERO, the release
will be ZERO, because in this kind of envelopes, the RELEASE parameter starts with the value of the SUSTAIN parameter,
which is a Level, and not a Time factor. Therefore, depending on how the drum sound is programmed, some parts of the
envelope will be active ( heard), or not, depending on the GATE time in the sequencer. To ease the use of StiX, each factory
Drum Sound have been tagged with a recommended Gate Time. You can use this criteria to sort the displayed drum sounds
of a category.
Tip :
In all cases, if you replace a Drum Sound by another one, or work to create your own drum sound, and find that the drum
sounds ‘weird’ ( ie very short or on the opposite with strange sustained part) you can/should change the Gate Time of all the steps of
the Sequencer Line by activating the Gang Mode for the Gate Time. Most of the problems are solved with this solution.
The Envelopes Segment/ Sequencer Gate relation
and interdependencies are one of the most important things to master in StiX to
get full control on it. Once you’ll have mastered it, nothing will stop you. In most Drum Machines, there’s simply no Sustain
parameters, and sometimes there’s only a decay acting as a release, and the sound always sounds like a one shot. StiX allows you
much more control, and much more diversity in the sounds, dynamics and shapes. But there is a little price for this : The better you
understand this relation, the better you will manage your sounds, that will behave like you want them to behave.
The Step Matrix Modulation 1 & 2 Lines (4)
You can fully control up to three freely chosen Synthesis parameters inside the Single Lane itself, and specify the value of these
parameters for each step of the sequence. You can create extreme and impressive effects with these two parameters, especially if you
consider that they compliment very well the PolyStep modulator, and can be used simultaneously.
These three parameters are defined in the Step Modulation area of the Eazy Synthesis tab
To change the Modulation for each step of the sequence : Just move the cursor of a step. The Cursors are bipolar :
•
To the right of Center : A positive modulation will occur.
•
To the left of Center: Negative (inverted) modulation will occur)
•
Cursor Centered (Neutral position) : No modulation is applied, and no changes in the sound can be heard.
Please note that you can revert to the default value of each step ( Center ) by a Ctrl + Click command
Tip : Reset Default values also work in Gang Mode. Just activate it if you want to reset all the values of a Macro control line to the
neutral position ( Center )
The Gang Mode (5) :
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