User Manual

5.2. Other modules
5.2.1. The keyboard
If we stop here, the sound that you will obtain will be uniform, without life and without an
end!! The oscillator delivers a sound signal (the audio output of a waveform) of a fixed pitch
in a continuous manner. In the diagram above, the only way to stop this quickly unpleasant
sound is to lower the filter cut-off frequency so that it becomes more and more damp until
it finally disappears; or simpler yet, lower the volume of the amplifier!
To start and stop the sound, and this at the tone that we require, we use a keyboard that
is connected both to the VCA through a gate and to the frequency of the oscillators. This
will “play” the sound as soon as a key is pressed, and mute it when released. Of course,
this connection is made through MIDI (it replaces the “gate” type of connections on analog
synthesizers, which trigger the note when a key is pressed and stop it when released).
The key position provides a control voltage that tells the oscillator what pitch level to play
when the gate opens.
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If you don’t have a MIDI keyboard, you can also play on the virtual keyboard of the Mini V to
audition sounds while editing voices on your computer.
5.2.2. The envelope generator
The envelope generator, connected to the amplifier, is used to “sculpt” the volume of the
sound when we press a key on the keyboard and ends after the note is released.
The most common modules developed use 4 settings that we can vary: - The Attack is the
time that the sound will take to reach its maximum volume once we have pressed a key
on the keyboard. - The Decay (fall) is the time that the sound will take to diminish after the
attack portion is complete. - The Sustain (hold) is the maximum volume level that the sound
will reach after the decay is complete. - The Release is the time that the sound will take to
fade once the key has been released.
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The two envelopes of the Mini V (Contour) contain only 3 parameters: Attack, Decay and Sustain. You
can get the Release thanks to the “Decay” button located on top of the modulation wheels. The release
time is thus identical to the decay time of the envelope.
The Mini V ADSR envelope
67 Arturia - User Manual Mini V - THE BASICS OF SUBTRACTIVE SYNTHESIS