Reference Manual

399 Live Instrument Reference
24.3.3 Fork Section
The Fork section is further divided into Tine and Tone subsections. This area is the heart of Elec-
tric’s sound generating mechanism.
The Tine subsection controls the portion of the fork that is directly struck by the mallet. The De-
cay knob adjusts how long it takes the tine’s sound to fade out while a note is held. The Color
knob controls the relative amplitude of high and low partials in the tine’s spectrum. Low values
increase the amount of low harmonics, while higher values result in higher harmonics. The ampli-
tude of the tine is adjusted with the Level knob. This level can be further modulated by note pitch
via the Key scaling control.
The Tone subsection controls the secondary resonance of the fork. Decay and Level parameters
here work in the same way as their Tine counterparts.
The Release knob applies to both the Tine and Tone areas and controls the decay time of the
fork’s sound after a key is released.
24.3.4 Damper Section
The metal forks in an electric piano are designed to sustain for a long time when a key is held.
The mechanism that regulates this sustain is called the damper. When a key is pressed, that
note’s damper is moved away from its fork. When the key is released, the damper is applied
to the fork again to stop it from vibrating. But the dampers themselves make a small amount of
sound, both when they are applied and when they are released. This characteristic noise is mod-
elled in Electric’s Damper section.
The Tone knob adjusts the stiffness of the dampers. Turning this control to the left simulates soft
dampers, which produces a mellower sound. Turning it to the right increases the hardness of the
dampers, producing a brighter sound. The overall amount of damper noise is adjusted with the
Level control.
The Att/Rel knob adjusts whether or not damper noise is present when the dampers are applied
to the fork or when they are released. When turned to the left, damper noise is only present dur-
ing the attack phase of the note. When turned to the right, the noise is present only during the
release phase. In the center, an equal amount of noise will be added during both the attack and
release.