Alternate Volume Envelope - E-Mu MORPHEUS Operation Manual

• Alternate Volume Envelope

Turn the Alternate Volume Envelope On for the primary instrument.
This enables the next screen, the primary volume envelope.
Going back to the block diagram model, the preset now looks like this:
Every sound you hear, be it a piano note, a drum, a bell or whatever, has
Spectrum
Pad
a characteristic volume curve or Envelope which grows louder and softer
in various ways during the course of the sound. The volume envelope of
a sound is one of the clues that our brain uses to determine what type of
sound is being produced.
Every instrument in Morpheus has its own volume envelope which is
used when the Alternate Envelope parameter is turned Off. By turning
the Alternate Volume Envelope On, we can re-shape the instrument's
natural volume envelope any way we want. By re-shaping the volume
envelope, you can dramatically change the way the sound is perceived.
For example, by adjusting the envelope parameters you can make
"bowed" pianos or backwards gongs. The diagrams at right show the
volume envelopes of a few common sounds.
Set all the numbers to 00 and listen to the sound. You should only hear
a little blip. Now move the cursor under the Attack Time (A) and slowly
increase the value while playing the keyboard. The attack controls the
amount of time it takes for the sound to reach full volume when a key is
pressed and held.
Set the attack to "00" and slowly increase the Decay (D) instead. Notice
how percussion-like the sound becomes. You have just created the
percussion envelope shown at the right.
Set the Sustain (S) to 99 and slowly increase the Release time. Note the
effect as you release the note. The release time controls the time it takes
for the sound to die away when a note is released.
P: A H D S
00 00 50 99 15
DCA Pan
Alternate
Volume
Envelope
R
R
L
Chapter 10: Step-by-Step
STEP-BY-STEP
Piano
Organ
Strings
Percussion
••• The generalized envelope
shapes of a few types of
sounds are shown above.
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