Native Instruments Monark Manual page 29

MONARK implements ADS envelopes instead of the more common ADSR (Attack, Decay, Sus-
tain, Release) type. The envelope basically behaves like the well known ADSR envelope,
though: During the attack phase the envelope will rise until its peak value is reached, which
starts the envelope's decay phase. In the decay phase the envelope drops to the sustain level.
In the release phase (when the note is released) the envelope will fall to its minimum value.
While MONARK doesn't offer a dedicated parameter to set the release time there is a release
button that, if active, applies the decay time in the release phase. Otherwise, the release time
is basically a small fraction of the decay rate. The envelope times range from milliseconds to
several seconds.
The envelopes always continue from their current internal state. So, if you retrigger the enve-
lope during a long release they do not jump to an initial value to start off the attack phase but
continue smoothly from the current state. This envelope implementation in MONARK comes
with an interesting side effect relevant to playing that somewhat makes up for the lack of re-
sponsiveness to velocity sensitivity: With a short attack and long release times MONARK's en-
velopes will keep building on top of themselves and actually keep rising. So notes played
quickly in succession get more and more accentuated. You can either increase the attack or
decrease the release time to avoid this behavior.
To allow more flexibility the filter section was extended with a polarity switch to allow for nega-
tive filter cutoff modulation by the envelope in addition to the more common positive filter
modulation. With negative polarity the effect of the envelope on the filter cutoff is inverted: It
will fall during the attack and rise in the decay and release phase.
When you switch from positive to negative modulation, remember that you might now have
to raise the filter cutoff, to be able to hear the effect of the negative envelope modulation!
Filter Modulation by the Modulation Source
The filter can be modulated by the same modulation source it shares with the oscillators, so
the filter can be modulated by
both. Filter cutoff modulation is activated by the
set by the modulation wheel. Jump to section
the modulation capabilities of MONARK.
OSCILLATOR 3 or the noise source or a variable combination of
MOD
↑5.2.4, CONTROL Section
Overview of MONARK Ensemble
View A—Overview of MONARK User Interface
switch and the modulation amount is
for more details on
MONARK - Manual - 29