Envelope Generators - E-Mu Planet Phatt Operation Manual

PROGRAMMING BASICS
Percussion
Organ
String
Plucked
••• The generalized envelope
shapes of a few types of
sounds are shown above.
••• Long release times can
increase the incidence of
"channel ripoff". If you are
running out of voice
channels, try reducing the
volume envelope release
time.

ENVELOPE GENERATORS

An envelope can be described as a "contour" which can be used to
shape the sound in some way over time. Each channel of the Planet
Phatt contains two envelope generators. One of the envelope genera-
tors, the Alternate Volume Envelope, controls the volume of the
primary or secondary instrument over time and has 5 stages, Attack,
Hold, Decay, Sustain, and Release. The other envelope, the Auxiliary
Envelope, can be routed to any realtime control destination and is a
general purpose envelope. The Auxiliary Envelope has 6 stages: Delay,
Attack, Hold, Decay, Sustain, and Release. The time of each stage can
be adjusted to create myriad envelope shapes, which in turn shape the
sound. The Envelope parameters can be described as follows:
• Delay
The time between when a key is played and when the attack
phase begins.
• Attack
The time it takes to go from zero to the peak (full) level.
• Hold
The time the envelope will stay at the peak level before starting
the decay phase.
• Decay
The time it takes the envelope to go from the peak level to the
sustain level.
• Sustain
The level at which the envelope remains as long as a key is held
down.
• Release
The time it takes the envelope to fall to the zero level after the
key is released.
level
time
D
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a
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key
down
40 Planet Phatt Operation Manual
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Sustain
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