Envelopes are tools which define shape for an individual aspect of sound
over a short duration of time. Many times you will hear of an
ADSR
envelope. This is an envelope with 4 unique points. ADSR stands for Attack,
Decay, Sustain, Release. The
Attack
is the duration of the sound
from silence to its loudest point. The
Decay
is the duration from
the top of the attack to the point in which the sound sustains. The
Sustain
is a unique point in that its main purpose is to keep the sound at a constant
level until it is released. Finally, the
Release
is equal to the
duration from the sustain back to silence.
Envelopes may pertain to many aspects of sound including Amplitude, Pan,
Filter, LFO-freq, and Pitch.
The Sustain is a particularly important point in any sample with loops,
since this is the point in which the majority of the loop will be executed.
Envelopes are available in many instances throughout Buzz, the most obvious
being the
Visual
Envelope Editor
located in the Wavetable Editor.
Adding
Envelopes
to samples is an easy and visual way to greatly
alter and enhance their sounds. Envelopes also appear (mainly in non-graphical
form but rather as parameters) throughout various synthesizers within
Buzz.
Important Note:
Not all machines which support samples support
envelopes. A good example of one that does is the
Mathilde Tracker
.