Reference Manual
CHAPTER 23. LIVE INSTRUMENT REFERENCE 437
a hammer, a pick or a bow. The frequency of the oscillation is determined by the effective
length of the string, which is controlled by the nger/fret interaction or termination. A
damper can be applied to the strings in order to reduce the decay time of the oscillation.
This is the case on a piano, for example, when felt is applied to the strings by releasing the
keys and sustain pedal. The vibration from the string is then transmitted to the body of the
instrument, which can radiate sound efciently. In some instruments, the string vibration
is transmitted directly to the body through the bridge. In other instruments, such as the
electric guitar, a pickup is used to transmit the string vibration to an amplier. In addition to
these main sections, a lter section has been included between the string and body sections
in order to expand the sonic possibilities of the instrument.
The Tension interface is divided into two main tabs, which are further divided into sections.
The String tab contains all of the fundamental sound producing components related to the
string itself: Excitator, String, Damper, Termination, Pickup and Body. The Filter/Global
tab contains the Filter section, as well as controls for global performance parameters. Each
section (with the exception of String and the global Keyboard section) can be enabled or
disabled independently. Turning off a section reduces CPU usage.
23.13.2 String Tab
The String tab contains the parameters related to the physical properties of the string itself,
as well as the way in which it's played.
The Excitator Section
Tension's Excitator
Section.