This is part 5 of my exploration of the A6
The previous parts are here:
The A6 provides lots of forms of modulation (keyboards, pedals, LFOs, mod wheels
ribbons, envelopes). It also incorporates a "Modulation Matrix" allowing you to route virtually
any source to any destination.
This post mostly covers the A6's envelopes.
These envelopes are very flexible and quite complicated.
They offer endless possibilities.
This post really only covers the basics but should get you started.
Refer to the manual for more depth.
At it's most basic level, the Andromeda has three 7-stage loop-able envelope generators per voice.
The envelopes are essential modulation sources for every Program
in the A6.
Envelopes can be used to effect many things like:
The VCO frequency (ENV 1)
The filter (ENV 2)
The loudness (ENV 3)... connected to the output VCA.
They can shape the
amplitude of an LFO or alter the shape of a VCO’s waveform.
Default Modulation Paths.
Many of the
modulation paths in the A6 are already routed in the instrument’s design.
These are
called default modulation paths and are included
because they are used so often.
Pre-routing makes setting them up
much easier.
There are 3 basic default envelopes.
ENV 1 defaults to the frequency of OSC 1 and
OSC 2 (It is Bipolar)
ENV 2 defaults to FILTER 1 FREQ and FILTER 2 FREQ (Also Bipolar)
ENV 3, which defaults to the A6’s amplifer -- (positive only)
Of course, you don’t have to use the default settings.
You can route any of the
default modulation sources to a whole slew of other destinations.
The A6 has three 7-stage loop-able envelope generators per voice.
Normally, each of the A6’s three envelope generators has a start level of 0,
and end
at a level of 0. They have four target levels in between.
The 7 stages are:
DELAY TIME
ATTACK TIME
Decay 1 TIME (D1 time)
Decay 2 TIME (D2 time)
SUSTAIN Stage
Release 1 TIME (R1 Time)
Release 2 TIME (R2 time)
Pressing a button or turning a
knob on any of the three envelope areas displays that parameter.
You can also press
the VIEW button on the desired envelope and then use any of the
display’s soft knobs
and buttons to work with a specific parameter as well as its dedicated panel controls.
The 8 Soft knobs (in the above pic) correspond to Delay, Attack, D1, D2, Shape, R1. R2, blank.
The 8 Soft buttons correspond to Time, Level, Trig, Dym, Loop, Mod 1, Mod2, Mod3.
Envelope Polarity
As mentioned earlier, ENV1 and ENV2 are bi-polar.
(In the pic above, you can see ENV2 is negative, and R1 & D1 are off)
Each stage level setting has a user
range of - 100 through +100.
They can create unusual envelope shapes
Some synths like the Jupiter 6 allow you to invert envelopes to -ve values
If the initial setting of the module is at the max , you can subtract from this.
ENV3 is positive only because it is hardwired to the
final output of the voice.
It's hard wired to the VCA -- thus you cant reduce loudness to below zero
Its stage level ranges, therefore, are 0 through +100.
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As mentioned earlier, the A6's LED display breaks up the various envelope properties.
The 8 Soft knobs (in the above pic) correspond to Delay, Attack, D1, D2, Shape, R1. R2, blank.
The 8 Soft buttons correspond to Time, Level, Trig, Dym, Loop, Mod 1, Mod2, Mod3.
Looking at the buttons, first.
Time Page
Press the TIME soft button to enter this page.
Use the soft knobs to adjust the time settings of the various stages ...
OR press the same button (TIME) to jump between the various
stages eg Delay, attack, Decay 1, Decay 2, and Release 1 & R2. if you don't wish to touch the knobs.
TIME stages can be bypassed by setting their TIME
page
parameters to 0.
Sustain Level is bypassed by
setting its level on the LEVEL page to 0.
LEVEL Page Parameters
This page of parameters is where the four levels of the envelope are set.
Notice that
you can use a negative value for any or all of the levels in Envelopes 1 and 2.
The TIME & LEVEL page are most often used together to shape the envelope.
+ Level sets the amt of change the envelope will provide
+ Offset produces fine adjustment of the level amt.
+ Polarity will establish whether the envelope is normal or inverted
TRIG and RETRIG Pages Parameters
An envelope starts its cycle when it receives a trigger.
The most typical and often used trigger source is the keyboard.
Triggers can also be generated from incoming MIDI ,the A6’s Sequencer and Arpeggiator,
and a slew of
other trig sources.
You can even trigger an envelope using the level of one of the other envelopes.
The TRIG and RETRIG pages let you determine:
• where the trigger comes from – the keyboard/MIDI, another envelope,
an
LFO, the Sequencer and so forth
• under what conditions an envelope responds to a received trigger
• how an envelope proceeds through its cycle once a trigger is received
• if an envelope is re-triggered and how responds
There are seven modes.
(Turn soft knob 7 to access these)
This parameter instructs the envelope how to
execute
its Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release
stages.
The modes are:
NORM 1
NORM 2
FRERUN
FR-SUS
SUSREL
MODTRG
MOD-TG
NORM 1 --- triggers with Key ON.
That is, the envelope will proceed through its cycle to the Sustain stage
as long as a
key is being held down (Note On).
But if the key is let go before the Sustain stage is reached,
the envelope
“jumps” to the Release 1 stage.
NORM 2
The envelope jumps to the Release 2 stage (instead of the Release 1 stage in NORM 1)
if the
key is released before the Sustain stage is reached.
FRERUN (Free Run)
envelope plays through its (every stage) cycle even if the key or pedal is
released before reaching the Sustain stage.
FR-SUS
Free - sustain
SUSREL
(Sustain-Release) envelope mode merges Sustain and Release 1 stages.
MODTRG
(“modulation trigger”) envelope mode is very similar in function to
FRERUN, except that the envelope is triggered by a user selectable modulation
source instead of the keyboard or other “note source” (the A6’s Sequencer,
Arpeggiator, or a received MIDI Note).
Trigger Polarity
You can choose between six types of trigger polarity
negative
bipolar,
positive
ABS negative
ABS bipolar,
ABS positive
NEGATIVE The trigger will occur only when the source is
“moving in a negative direction.”
BIPOLAR The trigger occurs when the LEVEL is reached
but the source can be either increasing or
decreasing in amplitude.
POSITIVE The trigger will occur only when the source is
“moving in a positive direction.”
ABS: Absolute – the following polarities treat positive and
negative LEVEL settings as if they were all positive. Thus a value of -50 is treated the same as +50.
MOD-TG
(“modulation trigger-gate”) envelope mode is very similar in function to
the NORM 1 mode, except that the envelope is triggered by a user selectable
modulation input instead of the keyboard.
TRIG vs RETRIG
Not only are envelopes triggered, they can
also be configured to be re-triggered.
Use soft
knob 8 to toggle between the TRIG page and
the RETRIG pages of parameters.
DYN Page Parameters
The DYN or Dynamics functions permit you to modulate certain parameters of an
envelope “live” or as you are playing the A6.
Access this page with soft button 4.
The parameters are
RESET - Normal, Legato, Re-assign, Analog (Soft knob 1)
Determines what the envelop will do when new notes are played.
Normal will always reset the note from the beginning.
Legato will always maintain the current envelope stage, where-ever it may be.
RE-ASSIGN …the envelope will behave as in Legato mode,
with the exception
that if the voice is being
reassigned from a different Program in a Mix,
it will
continue on from the present stage
according to the new Program's envelope.
ANALOG …the envelope will start its attack stage from
the present level,
not necessarily zero.
SUSPDL - Sustain Pedal
Control (Soft knob 2)
Turns Sustain Pedal control on and off for the
envelope.
KEYTRK -
Key Tracking (Soft knob 3)
adds and subtracts decay & release times depending on the Note
Number
that triggered this envelope.
KTBASE
- Key Tracking
Base Note (Soft knob 4)
sets the midpoint between the
range of notes where adding time
to the
envelope and subtracting time occurs.
LVLTRK
- Level Tracking (Soft knob5)
You can alter the overall output
level – of the selected envelope
by the Note
Number that triggered this envelope.
VELMOD
Level Velocity
Modulation (Soft knob 6)
You can alter the overall output
level – of the selected envelope
by the Velocity
of the key that triggered this envelope.
RELMOD
Release 2
Modulation (Soft knob7)
These parameters relate to how you are playing.
If you play short notes ... its called STACCATO.
Long smooth notes that blend into each other is called LEGATO.
Velocity relates to how fast or slow the key is pressed.
LOOP Page Parameters
Each of the three envelopes has the ability to loop – repeat selected stages over and
over.
The parameters in the Loop page allow you specify how the loop behaves.
Access this page with soft button 5.
This is a great feature.
The envelope can be made to behave a bit like an LFO.
There are three conditions.
1.When it starts (eg you can set the envelope to
start looping when
the DECAY 2 stage is complete)
2. Where it starts (eg which stage?)
3. How it continues. (eg does it repeat, and for how many times)
The page parameters are:
Start
End
Count - This parameter determines how many times the selected
envelope will loop
Type (forward, reverse, rock-n-roll)
Smooth
SSshape - selects the slope (EXP/LOG 1, 2 & 3 and SCURV1 & 2)
SHAPE: Selecting the Stage Slope
Each time parameter of an envelope (except Delay) has a user-selectable property
called slope.
This term refers to how the attack, decay and release stages accelerate
(speed up) or decelerate (slow down) as each stage approaches its target level.
The slopes can be
1. Linear (Rising or falling)
2. Exponential 1 (Rising or falling)
Exponential 2 (Rising or falling)
Exponential 3 (Rising or falling)
3. Logarithmic 1 (Rising or falling)
Logarithmic 2 (Rising or falling)
Logarithmic 3 (Rising or falling)
4. S-Curve 1 (Rising or falling)
S-curve 2 (Rising or falling)
The Attack, Decay and Release stages can have different slopes.
You can mix
and match slopes any way you want within the same envelope.
MOD Pages
In addition to the modifications offered by the TRIG and DYN pages,
each envelope
can be modulated by any of the A6’s 71 mod sources.
In fact, three separate mod
paths can be created per envelope from the
three MOD 1, MOD 2 and MOD 3 pages.
