User Manual

30
ENVELOPES (CONTINUED)
moment to die away completely, or it may stop suddenly. This nal drop in amplitude and brightness
is called its release. The attack and release, along with variations in amplitude and timbre that occur
between the attack and release, make up the sound’s envelope.
The Subsequent 37 shapes electronic sounds using two envelope generators (abbreviated EG). One
envelope affects the Subsequent 37’s lter, which controls timbre, and the other affects its amplier,
which controls amplitude. When you press a key on the keyboard, it sends a signal that tells the
envelope generator to begin the attack. In voltage-controlled synthesizers like the Subsequent 37, this
signal is called a gate. The gate ends when you release the key, telling the envelope generator to begin
the release.
Both of the Subsequent 37’s envelope generators have six stages: delay, attack, hold, decay, sustain,
and release (abbreviated DAHDSR). In the default mode, the four front-panel envelope generator
knobs are assigned to control the attack, decay, sustain, and release (ADSR). Just as attack is the
time it takes a level to peak, the decay is the time it takes to fall to a steady level, called the sustain.
The sustain level is held until the key is released. At that point, the signal returns to zero at a rate
determined by the release setting. Whereas the attack, decay, and release stages are specied as
lengths of time, sustain is a control-signal level.
When you play the Subsequent 37, your keyboard technique determines how the envelope generators
respond, which impacts your musical expression and articulation. If you release the key before the
envelope reaches either its maximum or sustain level, the release stage immediately takes effect. When
you play staccato (very short notes), the envelope may never reach its decay stage, depending on its
attack setting. Playing legato—holding down each key for the note’s full duration without lifting your
ngers between notes—prevents the envelope from retriggering its attack stage on subsequent notes. In
that case, the envelope maintains its sustain level until you trigger the release stage by lifting your nger.
When the KNOB SHIFT button (between the lter and amplitude attack knobs) is pressed and blinking,
the rst two envelope generator knobs become DELAY and HOLD knobs while the third and fourth
knobs adjust the amount that keyboard velocity and keyboard tracking affect the envelope amounts.
FILTER ENVELOPE CONTROLS
ATTACK
Use this knob to specify the time it takes
the lter frequency to ascend from the
CUTOFF knob’s manual setting to its
maximum level, which is determined by
the lter’s EG AMOUNT setting. Its value
ranges from 1 millisecond to 10 seconds.
When you use the lter envelope to
modulate pitch or wave amount, the
ATTACK knob species the time it
takes the control level to ascend to its
maximum value.
DECAY
Use this knob to specify the time it takes
the lter frequency to descend from its
maximum level to its sustain level. Its
value ranges from 1 millisecond to 10
seconds. When you use the lter envelope
to modulate pitch or wave amount, the
DECAY knob species the time it takes
the control level to descend from its
maximum value to its sustain level.