Modulation - Akai MINIAK Reference Manual

Signal Flow Diagram

MODULATION

At this point, you may think that producing a sound with the MINIAK is simply a matter of configuring the
parameters for the oscillators, filters, and mixers, and then hitting a key. And although it's true that you can
design some nice instruments this way, generating the really awesome sounds invariably involves tweaking
some of those parameters while a note is playing. The problem with that, if you're anything like us, is that
you only have two hands, and you are probably using at least one of them to hit the notes in the first place.
Fortunately, the MINIAK is willing to lend you a helping hand — twelve of them, in fact.
The MINIAK allows you to set up twelve modulation routes. Each of these is a virtual connection between
some physical or internally-generated source and some program parameter. Basically, a mod route tells the
synth to automatically grab a knob and tweak it while a note is playing. Although there are quite a few
sources that you can use for your mods, the most common ones involve the LFOs and the envelopes.
The LFOs
LFO stands for "low frequency oscillator". Unlike the normal oscillators, however, the LFOs are not designed
for producing sound. Instead, their purpose is to tweak a program parameter according to a looping pattern.
For example, if you are looking to add some vibrato to your instrument, you'll need the pitch to continuously
waver up and down. An LFO is perfect for this application. Simply hooking up an LFO to the oscillator pitch
parameter will get you the effect you need. Each of the MINIAK's voices contains two LFOs.
The Envelopes
If you hit a note on a piano, you'll hear a burst of sound energy as the
hammer strikes the string, followed by lower level of loudness as you
hold down the note and let the string ring out, which fades quickly as
soon as you release the note and the damper is applied. Synthesizer
designers model this behavior using ADSR envelopes. ADSR stands
for "attack, decay, sustain, release", and represents the different stages that the sound goes through over the
life of the note. Since the most important application of the envelope is to control the loudness of the sound,
the MINIAK provides one envelope that is specifically designed for this purpose. This is the amp envelope.
However, envelopes are useful in all sorts of mod routes, which is why you can hook up any of the MINIAK's
envelopes to any modulatable program parameter.
Each of the MINIAK's voices contains three envelopes. "Env1" is the amp envelope. "Env2" is the filter
envelope. "Env3" is the pitch/modulation envelope.
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Envelope assignments
Envelopes can affect different
parameters depending on the
modulation routes you assign.