This is still the greatest envelope lesson I've found. Would love a follow up on envelope amount, the exact role of sustain, interplay of filter and volume envelope, and retriggering, all of which are still somewhat confusing or hard to put in practice.
Thanks! To beginners I want to add one important thing to keep in mind: Attack, Decay and Release are *time* parameters. But Sustain is a *level* parameter. So it can be a bit confusing when you first see that ADSR graph, because the parameters can appear to be all mapped on the same domain, but they are not. This is shown on the graphic with arrows but it may not be obvious to think of.
Excellent tutorial. The waveform with adsr markings really helped me finally understand how this works. Before it seemed complicated for some reason. Thanks.
Recipes is a fantastic way to think of envelopes. I think using these templates will really help me jump in to designing my own patches. I was previously doing random exploring and losing my creativity by the time I got around to anything substantial. My synth allows me to import envelopes from other patches so I think I will create patches that are specifically setup for each of these recipes and use them as templates to slap on wherever I see fit. Thank you so much!
I've got a Deepmind as well, so you're my go-to inspiration. Would love some videos on designing different effects types (rises, falls, lasers and the like) exellent!
I'm glad to hear I could help you get a deeper understanding of FM - it's a tremendously enjoyable form of Synthesis? Have you checked out any of my recent Digitone videos? That thing really takes FM to some interesting places!
Excellent tutorial! Been looking all over for something like this. Would love to see a video about how to design around the limitations of a single envelope, as found in many lower-priced synths.
This is awesome. I would love more content like this. Like recipes for other types of modulation - LFO's sequencing of different parameters and so forth. You've got at new subscriber for sure.
My understanding is that they it's a standard adsr envelope, then just assign how much you want it to move the filter with the EG amount (which can be positive or negative), so the things I show in this video will all apply. What's puzzling you in particular?
Coming from an acoustic instrument background, synthesis is a pretty new thing to me, but I love the immense amount of tone shaping possibilities it gives compared to a natural instrument, where you are bound by the timbre of the instrument. Been fooling around a bit with drum machines and synths too on my page, hope you have some time to check it out. Looking forward to your next video!!
I had a CZ3000 that died - cherish your 1000. They're great little synths and the PD stuff plus the "stick two wave forms together" stuff actually makes for a very interesting sounding synth, once you leave the presets behind!
Great video! One thing I would add: it'd be useful for beginners to make them understand that sustain's value is a level, while the other 3 are time units, like your graph shows.
Thank you. I think I cover that when I'm discussing the decay and sustain together, (as in I state that sustain is a level), but maybe I didn't summarise the whole "Time vs. Level" thing as strongly as I could.
I’m a synth newbie and this was very informative. I’m still lost on... Well, all of it... but I’m learning. I’ve got a Novation Mininova and a Volca FM but I really want that Deepmind 6 after hearing your ambient stuff. No idea if I can do that on the Mininova.
You'll get there - just explore by making small changes and seeing what comes out. I'm not sure if you can get to the generative stuff on the mininova, but you should be able to get to ambient places with a little massaging. Check out my "let's build a" videos for the Deepmind - it's not the same synth, but most of the principles will still apply, might be fun to try and translate what you're seeing and hearing to your synth.
This was really interesting, and you explained it very calmly and clearly. Almost synthesis meditation... When you start building a sound, assuming you know more or less what you want at the moment, do you start with shaping the envelope, or the sound itself first? And what is the first thing you assign an envelope to, after volume of course? Thanks for this! Cheers
It really does vary for me. If I'm going into a subtractive synth and have a sound "archetype" in mind (say bass, lead, pad, etc.) then I usually jump on the volume envelope to get the feel right, but after that it's kinda wherever the patch takes me? When I'm not recording a video I'm a little less structured in my sound design to be honest! A lot of times it's the configuration of the oscillators that will dictate other stuff - the frequency content will guide how far or fast I can move the envelopes I think.
Yeah, I think that when there is a general idea or direction to what one wants to achieve, it's easier to start with the volume envelope, so the sound is based on it. Like a pad with a long attack and\or release, a percussive sound with a short attack, just like you showed in this video. But when just building a sound out of a gut feeling, I find that the volume envelope comes somewhere after the shaping of the sound by playing with the different oscillators. All in all, as long as the way is fun and inspiring, it doesn't really matter what comes first... Thanks again and cheers!
Great Video! I would like to go a little more in depth as far as how these sounds are created by exploring the settings for their different parameters. I'm still struggling with the Filter and Pitch parameters.
I don't know which synths you own, but one thing that might help are my "let's build" videos. Even if you don't own the actual synth, many of the ideas are transferable. Give this one a try: ua-cam.com/video/QPEq2gd7CuY/v-deo.html
There are a bunch of jams on my channel - feel free to check them out. I'm pretty proud of this recent one, but I can point you at something a bit more upbeat if you're not feeling the chill stuff: ua-cam.com/video/UA_6VGBXCtY/v-deo.html
If you switch on the curve button on the Deepmind, attack, decay and release can be morphed between exponential and logarithmic, whereas sustain can be made to slope up or down .
In what way comparable, and to which Rolands? It's an ADSR that can go quick and change its slopes from logarithmic to exponential through linear (and has a neat sloping sustain if you want it), so in terms of features, it's going to be pretty feature rich compared to a lot of older Roland synths and can likely impersonate a lot of flavours of ADSR.
@@OscillatorSink thanks for your reply, what i ment was, for example compare it to a sh-101 it has those really fast popping kind of envelopes wich i love for percussion
A transient designer is kinda a kind of clever compressor / expander, so it's processing audio based on the volume envelope it already has and reshaping that.
Yes, thats part of it. Usually you will want to couple that with a fast decay and lower sustain to make it sound like a "real" transient rather than just a rapid onset.
nice lesson. the synth sounds pretty harsh tho. i thought my rev 2 sounds a bit harsh at times, but this thing is another level of harsh. no sauce at all.
Sorry if this isn't clear - "Time" is the label of the x axis on the graph, not a label on that segment of the envelope. The arrows are to inply that sustain is variable along the y axis) the one labeled level, because, as you say, sustain is a level/amplitude.
Hi thank you for this explanation could you go further and possible cover the best tips for how to modulate the envelopes as modulation is always baffled me but you explain things to the point where my 11 year old is understanding this as well as me
Glad to hear I'm appealing to the youth market! Could you give me an example of what "modulating the envelopes", it's not really a phrase I'm familiar with so perhaps there's some confusion there?
Right?! (actually, the two-stage release on that is actually kinda amazing from a sound design perspective, allows you to do all kinds of amazing flutters and floats on the way out of a note).
Sure, those envelopes make sense for that particular synth. Having messed around in modular with multistage envelopes, I think I prefer to have several basic envelopes in most cases with different routings. Like two modulation envelopes with settings like those in your "pad" category covers most of what those more arcane envelopes had to offer.
Oscillator Sink - I learned subtractive synthesis on a CZ, and those envelopes are amazing as long as you have a book or article to explain them. Half the time you don’t use most of the 8 stages at all, but they’re there when you want to do something difficult (flutters n floats, like you said). The CZs can do amazing imitative synthesis, at least within the limits of the core osc sound, because you actually get SIX of those envelopes per patch - each of the 2 oscs has its own pitch, filter (well, DCW), and volume envelope. I did a couple African percussion sounds on the CZ that would have fooled most people....Great video as usual, btw. If you want to help humanity, you might do one some time on how envelope amount and other filter settings interact with the VCF cutoff ... as a newbie that used to really puzzle me ...
@@OscillatorSink question for you... i saw a video where a guy simulated a triangle wave on the deepmind in mono 6 mode (he said... this went over my head... ive had mine for 4 days now). do you know anything about this? and could you do a tutorial video on it? either way... thankyou for making this channel. ive learned alot from you.
This is still the greatest envelope lesson I've found. Would love a follow up on envelope amount, the exact role of sustain, interplay of filter and volume envelope, and retriggering, all of which are still somewhat confusing or hard to put in practice.
A pipe organ patch benefits with slight attack and release as it simulates the air filling and leaving pipes.
Good video!
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 you have no idea how grateful I am for this very informative tutorial. Thank you
Thanks! To beginners I want to add one important thing to keep in mind: Attack, Decay and Release are *time* parameters. But Sustain is a *level* parameter. So it can be a bit confusing when you first see that ADSR graph, because the parameters can appear to be all mapped on the same domain, but they are not. This is shown on the graphic with arrows but it may not be obvious to think of.
But on my synth the A D S and R parameters all have both an L (level) value and a T (time) value, which I find confusing.
What synth is that?
Oscillator Sink Roland XV5080
Oscillator Sink specifically, the TVA has 4 time parameters and 3 level parameters. The TVF has 4 time and 5 level parameters.
And slightly annoyingly they’re only ever labelled as time and level, never A, D, S or R.
This dude has the most soothing voice, he should read audiobooks or something
haha yeah man from adsr to asmr!!
Excellent tutorial. The waveform with adsr markings really helped me finally understand how this works. Before it seemed complicated for some reason. Thanks.
Definitely the best envelope tutorial I've found. Thanks!
Glad to hear that you enjoyed it!
“A much gentler descent towards silence” excellent
For years I have struggled to understand envelopes! Thank you so much for your explanation!
Really pleased to have helped!
Oscillator sink always holds water. These tutorials are gold. I especially love the one where you make a massive monosynth on the digitak
Great video, absolutely help a beginner overcome a misunderstanding in filters. Thanks!
Amazing lesson! Thank You for teaching us how to apply this practically!
I'm happy to help!
Recipes is a fantastic way to think of envelopes. I think using these templates will really help me jump in to designing my own patches. I was previously doing random exploring and losing my creativity by the time I got around to anything substantial. My synth allows me to import envelopes from other patches so I think I will create patches that are specifically setup for each of these recipes and use them as templates to slap on wherever I see fit. Thank you so much!
Excellent video. You should do a playlist of tutorials on global sound design.
I rarely comment on tutorial videos but this one is excellent. I understand envelopes but i still felt I learned something.
That's very kind of you to say. Thanks for watching!
that waveform, whoa so easy to understand the envelope shapes now! big thanks again!
Very happy to have helped!
This video is pure gold. I never heard the term 'organ envelope' before. I am definitely thinking a bit differently now.
Awesome! Glad I could help to expand your horizons!
Best tutorials on YT! Love hearing you explain your thought process on designing patches.
Thank you!
Perfect for beginners
Great Tutorial would appreciate a similar tutorial on filters
One of the best envelopes videos ever, thank you.
Thank you for checking it out - really glad you enjoyed it!
Best video on enveloppes I've seen so far, thank you!
Thank you for watching and commenting!
Just recently found this channel, so many well-structured and well-presented videos! Instant abo material...
Thank you, and welcome to the channel!
VERY nice explanation and practical use. The live examples are a great way to learn. Thanks.
Thank you!
I've got a Deepmind as well, so you're my go-to inspiration. Would love some videos on designing different effects types (rises, falls, lasers and the like) exellent!
Awesome! I watched all your Volca FM videos recently to understand the FM engine! Simply amazing
I'm glad to hear I could help you get a deeper understanding of FM - it's a tremendously enjoyable form of Synthesis? Have you checked out any of my recent Digitone videos? That thing really takes FM to some interesting places!
Excellent tutorial! Been looking all over for something like this. Would love to see a video about how to design around the limitations of a single envelope, as found in many lower-priced synths.
You might find some of those tricks in my "let's build a..." videos for the Monologue - have a look at some of those!
This is awesome. I would love more content like this. Like recipes for other types of modulation - LFO's sequencing of different parameters and so forth. You've got at new subscriber for sure.
Awesome, welcome! I'll what I can come up with.
Excellent tutorial, you are so good at conveying both technical and creative concepts.
Very Impressive....thank you!
Thank you for watching! Really pleased that you enjoyed it!
@@OscillatorSink your welcome, you do amazing tutorials...I’m learning so much
Nice.. wouldn't mind seeing more like this 👍👍👍🤘💯
I'll do my best! What topics would you like to see covered?
Oscillator Sink cv
envelope followers
Filters LP, HP etc.
My understanding is that they it's a standard adsr envelope, then just assign how much you want it to move the filter with the EG amount (which can be positive or negative), so the things I show in this video will all apply. What's puzzling you in particular?
Very, very informative there, Osc! I will be watching this again!
Very glad to help!
Great video, all your deepmind sruff is super helpful.
Excellent overview! Learned a bunch, thanks!
Awesome! Thanks for watching!
Very good explanations. I really enjoyed seeing the CZ series envelopes mentioned.
They're bonkers, but also kinda amazing!
Super helpful :) thank you
The faux reverse trick is neat, thank you!
Glad you liked that one!
Wonderful video
So helpful, I love that you can see the envelope on the keyboard screen.
Glad you enjoyed it! Hope I managed to show you something new 🙂
Thanks!
Really interesting, many thanks for making this. A great refresher on ADSR and a reminder on what we can really do with those 4 abbreviations!
I'm glad you enjoyed it!
That was great. Thank you. Definitely more of these videos. Very informative.
Thank you! I'll see what I can come up with!
I like that you use a DM 12 too. My first synth, bought second hand and totally overwhelming for this amateur. Having' fun with a Monologue now.
The Monologue is the perfect little synth to get going with, I love mine!
This is great! Wish there were more videos like this :) really like the way how you explain everything very clear with musical examples
Thank you! Hopefully I'll do some more in this style soon!
Coming from an acoustic instrument background, synthesis is a pretty new thing to me, but I love the immense amount of tone shaping possibilities it gives compared to a natural instrument, where you are bound by the timbre of the instrument.
Been fooling around a bit with drum machines and synths too on my page, hope you have some time to check it out. Looking forward to your next video!!
You are giving Divkid a run for his money in terms of informative UA-cam synth channels with a soothing British voice for narration
Haha, Don't forget Mylar Melodies (and if that was you being introduced to Mylar - you're welcome!)
Yes!
1:25 is the perfect illustration. Thanks
Thanks for watching, happy I could help.
Very good. Part2 should feature reversed envelope strategies
Great educational video, as always, very professional and helpful!!!
Cheers Inky
Thank you...fantastic video. I learned a lot.
That's awesome to hear, thank you! Now go and make some cool sounds!
Thank you for pointing out the ridiculousness of the 8 step envelopes on the CZ synths.
Two stage release is kinda amazing from a sound design perspective though....
@@OscillatorSink you're making me want to get my CZ-1000 down from the closet.
I had a CZ3000 that died - cherish your 1000. They're great little synths and the PD stuff plus the "stick two wave forms together" stuff actually makes for a very interesting sounding synth, once you leave the presets behind!
Have you checked out the CZ patches on this site, they are really good czounds.com/
Very informative... great explanation and examples.
Cheers! Thanks for checking it out!
this was extremely helpful thanks
Really glad you found it useful!
This video was a real game changer for me.
Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, thank you, thank you.
Thank you for checking it out. I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Great video! One thing I would add: it'd be useful for beginners to make them understand that sustain's value is a level, while the other 3 are time units, like your graph shows.
Thank you. I think I cover that when I'm discussing the decay and sustain together, (as in I state that sustain is a level), but maybe I didn't summarise the whole "Time vs. Level" thing as strongly as I could.
Yeah I was just nitpicking here. Your graph and description explain it clearly. I just thought emphasizing it would help beginners!
This is excellent!!
Thank you!
Great video, thanks
Thank you for watching!
I’m a synth newbie and this was very informative. I’m still lost on... Well, all of it... but I’m learning. I’ve got a Novation Mininova and a Volca FM but I really want that Deepmind 6 after hearing your ambient stuff. No idea if I can do that on the Mininova.
You'll get there - just explore by making small changes and seeing what comes out. I'm not sure if you can get to the generative stuff on the mininova, but you should be able to get to ambient places with a little massaging. Check out my "let's build a" videos for the Deepmind - it's not the same synth, but most of the principles will still apply, might be fun to try and translate what you're seeing and hearing to your synth.
You are a star...I hope someone pays you for these vids. Thank you
Thank you. No pay at the moment - just for the love of synths!
This was really interesting, and you explained it very calmly and clearly. Almost synthesis meditation... When you start building a sound, assuming you know more or less what you want at the moment, do you start with shaping the envelope, or the sound itself first? And what is the first thing you assign an envelope to, after volume of course? Thanks for this! Cheers
It really does vary for me. If I'm going into a subtractive synth and have a sound "archetype" in mind (say bass, lead, pad, etc.) then I usually jump on the volume envelope to get the feel right, but after that it's kinda wherever the patch takes me? When I'm not recording a video I'm a little less structured in my sound design to be honest! A lot of times it's the configuration of the oscillators that will dictate other stuff - the frequency content will guide how far or fast I can move the envelopes I think.
Yeah, I think that when there is a general idea or direction to what one wants to achieve, it's easier to start with the volume envelope, so the sound is based on it. Like a pad with a long attack and\or release, a percussive sound with a short attack, just like you showed in this video. But when just building a sound out of a gut feeling, I find that the volume envelope comes somewhere after the shaping of the sound by playing with the different oscillators. All in all, as long as the way is fun and inspiring, it doesn't really matter what comes first... Thanks again and cheers!
This was really helpful. I am new to synth.
I'm glad to hear it, and welcome!
excellent video
Thank you!
Yes finally!! Been waiting for this!
IT ARRIVES
Great Video! I would like to go a little more in depth as far as how these sounds are created by exploring the settings for their different parameters. I'm still struggling with the Filter and Pitch parameters.
I don't know which synths you own, but one thing that might help are my "let's build" videos. Even if you don't own the actual synth, many of the ideas are transferable. Give this one a try:
ua-cam.com/video/QPEq2gd7CuY/v-deo.html
Nice! Next up LFOs please
I'll do my best!
I'll try this on my Minilogue.
So this is great for volume envelop do you have one for filter envelopes and how the two may effect eachother
No, sorry, although I have a lot of sound design tutorials for various synths where I touch on those concepts.
@@OscillatorSinkfair enough thanks for the reply loved the video!
Real good!!!
Really pleased you enjoyed it!
I'm a total noob and this is extremely helpful. Thanks!
Glad to have helped!
cool last visit i didn't make it to the end but this time i learned about the faux-reverse envelope.
Welcome to the end of the video! Glad you found something new here!
@@OscillatorSink :-) would love to hear actual music and sponsor you
There are a bunch of jams on my channel - feel free to check them out. I'm pretty proud of this recent one, but I can point you at something a bit more upbeat if you're not feeling the chill stuff: ua-cam.com/video/UA_6VGBXCtY/v-deo.html
thx those basic things ... make the sound shine in the end
As a relative noob, this was really helpful - thanks! :D
Thank you for watching! I'm glad I could help!
thank you
At 13:15 the VCA Envelope display shows a rising sustain level. How is this done?
If you switch on the curve button on the Deepmind, attack, decay and release can be morphed between exponential and logarithmic, whereas sustain can be made to slope up or down .
Thanks. Just realized that's what the the Korg Poly-800 did with sustain, way back in the 80s, with ADBSSR.
lovely video thanks, one question how is the envelope on the deepmind? is comparable to the roland ones?
In what way comparable, and to which Rolands?
It's an ADSR that can go quick and change its slopes from logarithmic to exponential through linear (and has a neat sloping sustain if you want it), so in terms of features, it's going to be pretty feature rich compared to a lot of older Roland synths and can likely impersonate a lot of flavours of ADSR.
@@OscillatorSink thanks for your reply, what i ment was, for example compare it to a sh-101 it has those really fast popping kind of envelopes wich i love for percussion
@@toml6535 they go pretty fast, and can get especially percussive with the curves set exponential. They can also go verrry long!
how does a "transient designer" (e.g. by SPL) differ from an envelope shaper?
A transient designer is kinda a kind of clever compressor / expander, so it's processing audio based on the volume envelope it already has and reshaping that.
Oh the inception theme!
Great video. I'm new to synthesis so it's good to hear all these gobbledegook terms broken down into plain English
Glad to help you out on the start of your journey!
I'm just surprised by the lack of "ADADSR", which is chiefly used for brass sounding instruments.
very fast Attack is synonymous to Transient?
Yes, thats part of it. Usually you will want to couple that with a fast decay and lower sustain to make it sound like a "real" transient rather than just a rapid onset.
nice lesson. the synth sounds pretty harsh tho. i thought my rev 2 sounds a bit harsh at times, but this thing is another level of harsh. no sauce at all.
OK sorry
Saw the deepmind so i clicked. Happy I attended. Fanks.
👌 Thanks for coming!
👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Sustain is volume/amplitude - not time. Perhaps I’m misunderstanding your visuals? But you have an arrow pointing to sustain labeled “time”.
Sorry if this isn't clear - "Time" is the label of the x axis on the graph, not a label on that segment of the envelope. The arrows are to inply that sustain is variable along the y axis) the one labeled level, because, as you say, sustain is a level/amplitude.
@@OscillatorSink 👍
It's your fault that I bought a DM12 :D ,
Great vid.
Yesssssss! I hope you're enjoying it!
nice
Cheers!
150. Thanks bro
".....And most importantly our 'wub wubs' ..." :D
Hi thank you for this explanation could you go further and possible cover the best tips for how to modulate the envelopes as modulation is always baffled me but you explain things to the point where my 11 year old is understanding this as well as me
Glad to hear I'm appealing to the youth market! Could you give me an example of what "modulating the envelopes", it's not really a phrase I'm familiar with so perhaps there's some confusion there?
ORGAN: ua-cam.com/video/wJr3DheLXXM/v-deo.html
PLUCK: ua-cam.com/video/wJr3DheLXXM/v-deo.html
PAD: ua-cam.com/video/wJr3DheLXXM/v-deo.html
thanks dad
No problems son.
2:42 I mean...
Right?! (actually, the two-stage release on that is actually kinda amazing from a sound design perspective, allows you to do all kinds of amazing flutters and floats on the way out of a note).
Sure, those envelopes make sense for that particular synth. Having messed around in modular with multistage envelopes, I think I prefer to have several basic envelopes in most cases with different routings. Like two modulation envelopes with settings like those in your "pad" category covers most of what those more arcane envelopes had to offer.
Oscillator Sink - I learned subtractive synthesis on a CZ, and those envelopes are amazing as long as you have a book or article to explain them. Half the time you don’t use most of the 8 stages at all, but they’re there when you want to do something difficult (flutters n floats, like you said). The CZs can do amazing imitative synthesis, at least within the limits of the core osc sound, because you actually get SIX of those envelopes per patch - each of the 2 oscs has its own pitch, filter (well, DCW), and volume envelope. I did a couple African percussion sounds on the CZ that would have fooled most people....Great video as usual, btw. If you want to help humanity, you might do one some time on how envelope amount and other filter settings interact with the VCF cutoff ... as a newbie that used to really puzzle me ...
on the deepmind you can loop the envelopes, giving you 3 extra lfos
Yup! Conversely on the Monologue you can set to LFO to be one-shot giving you an extra envelope!
I AM THE DUB OSCILLATOR
You sure are buddy.
That violin was ear piercing lol
its your fault that i bought a dm12
I take full responsibility for all the fun you're having.
@@OscillatorSink question for you... i saw a video where a guy simulated a triangle wave on the deepmind in mono 6 mode (he said... this went over my head... ive had mine for 4 days now). do you know anything about this? and could you do a tutorial video on it? either way... thankyou for making this channel. ive learned alot from you.
@@jonritchey8653 something using the LFOs? ua-cam.com/video/vm6S82QZzM4/v-deo.html
My god. Just realised there’s an adsr in the amp page on a digitone. Why haven’t I realised this yet... duh!
Haha, yup! An additional benefit of this video I guess!
brilliant video