Envelope shapes the volume of an audio signal with MIDI notes. Play a note and the sound fades in, settles and holds; let go and it fades out. It turns a drone, a pad or any continuous sound into something you can play from a keyboard.
Controls
The four classic stages:
- Attack: how long the sound takes to rise to full level, up to 2 seconds.
- Decay: how long it then takes to fall to the sustain level, up to 2 seconds.
- Sustain: the level it holds while the key stays down.
- Release: how long it takes to fade out after you let go, up to 5 seconds.
You can drag the curve directly: the peak sets attack, the bend sets decay and sustain together, and the tail sets release. The four knobs move the same values. The curve shows the shape of the envelope; how long a note lasts is up to how long you hold it.
Good to know
Envelope is mono and responds to every note the same way. Any new note starts the envelope again from the top, and any note-off releases it, whatever the pitch or velocity. It shapes the audio you send it and makes no sound by itself, so connect an audio source first. Hear it plays a held middle C through it so you can check a setting without a keyboard.
Getting started
Send a sustained sound into Envelope and play it from a MIDI keyboard. Try Pluck for short one-shots however long you hold, Hard Gate to chop a drone into rhythm, Stab for a short percussive hit with a little body, Slow Swell to remove every transient, and Pad Hold for a gentle start and a long tail.
