Access Virus Rack User Manual page 22

20 CHAPTER 4
Introduction
Rotate the ATTACK encoder while you
repeatedly engage a key to hear the
note. The further you turn the encoder
up, the longer it takes for the sound to
achieve maximum volume after the start
of the note. So you can say ATTACK con-
trols the initial volume swell of the
sound.
Take a look at the display of the Virus to
gain an impression of the difference
between these two values. It shows two
numeric values when you dial a encoder:
at the left you can see the value stored
in the sound program and at the right,
the numeric equivalent to the value
determined by the current position of
the encoder.
Now fiddle with the DECAY encoder
while you repeatedly press a key to acti-
vate a note. Hold the key down for good
while. You will notice that the volume,
once it reaches maximum level at the
end of the ATTACK phase, drops until it
reaches a minimum level. The DECAY
encoder determines the speed, or in syn-
thesizer jargon, the rate at which the
volume decreases.
However, the DECAY level does not
always drop to the minimum level; you
can determine a random value between
the maximum and minimum levels at
which the volume remains constant. This
level in turn is controlled via the SUS-
TAIN encoder.
Whenever the SUSTAIN level is set to
maximum, the volume cannot drop dur-
ing the DECAY phase; in other words, in
this situation the DECAY encoder is inef-
fective.
. The individual functions of a synthe-
sizer are designed to interact; many
functions are dependent on other func-
tions. In a number of cases this means
that some functions are subordinate to
others, i.e. the effectiveness of a control
feature is altered, modified or even
negated completely by other related
functions.
The final encoder, RELEASE, determines
the speed or rate at which the volume
decreases when you release the key: At
low values the sound ends relatively
abruptly, at high values, the sound fades
out more gradually and softly. The
length of the RELEASE phase also
depends on which level the amplifier
curve is at when you release the key: The
lower the level, the shorter the RELEASE
phase. If you dialed in a brief DECAY or
SUSTAIN-TIME phase and it ended while
you held the key down then of course
there will not be an audible RELEASE
phase.
The next phase of the amplifier envelope
is determined by the SUSTAIN-TIME
encoder: If the encoder is set to the cen-
ter position, then the SUSTAIN level
remains constant through to the end of
the note.