Getting more extreme envelope curves?

  • I've been creating drum patches and having fun.


    I've been wondering if people have any good methods for achieving more accentuated envelope decays, to get some really punchy and snappy sounds. I know of the LFO Contour setting.

  • You can change the curve slopes by recursive modulation: Use the Mod Matrix to modulate the Envelope Attack/Decay/Release by itself.

    Bass Player and Synthesist.
    Virus TI2 Darkstar | Virus TI2 Desktop | Sub 37 | Voyager RME | Machinedrum | Analog Four | Digitone | MPC Live | NI Maschine+
    Mac OS 13.5.1 (Ventura) | Cubase Pro 11.0 | Ableton Live 9.6 | Logic 10.4 | MainStage 3.4 | NI Komplete Ultimate 13 | RME Fireface UFX+

  • Yeah

    You can change the curve slopes by recursive modulation: Use the Mod Matrix to modulate the Envelope Attack/Decay/Release by itself.

    Yeah, just wanted to point to that. Endless field of experimentation. Extremely useful for trimming the attack and decay time of bass sounds to make them fit into a given groove.

    As the virus envelopes are dead linear it helps a lot to curven it by recursive modulation.

    Just go to the mod matrix. Use the attack as it´s own modulator (recursive ;-)).

    Positiv mod leads to convex envelope shapes as negativ mod leads to concave shape.

    Getting a bassound into Moog territory means to at least to make the attack more convex.


    Howard Scarr (which I have this trick from) elaborates on this in his tutorial which you can download on the Access web site.

  • But that is the truth. Linear.

    They are fast as hell. And why shouldn´t linear envs don´t make for a good drum sound.

    Linear is not good or bad just linear. Although, the human ear likes curved (logarithmic) envs better.

    You should really try my advice and also read the book by Howard Scarr. The guy programmed sounds for Hans Zimmer and really knows what he is talking about.

    I a thing or two about synths (30+ years in electronic music) but I learned a lot of things in general by reading this book and about the Virus in special.


    There is also a sound-set that matches the entries in the book. You can make guided changes and hear what it sounds like.

    Very enlightening. ;)

  • Sorry to contradict, but I think whether the envelopes are linear or not is verifiable. If you put an LFO in envelope mode with saw shape affecting pitch, it is not possible to get kicks with any percussiveness at all without setting the rate very high ... but if you change the curve to be 100% concave, you have a much wider range of rates that sound percussive.


    The envelopes are higher resolution therefore they sound better than LFO in env mode but they must have a curve - which I would assume is exponential - otherwise it would be impossible to make good percussive sounds with them.


    Said from years of sound design experience.

  • Zitat von Virus Tutorial, Programming Analog Synthesizers by Howard Scarr, Access Music - p. 115

    Attack in the Virus is linear, all other segments (Decay, SustainTime, Release) are slightly concave.

    Just record a simple sound (sine with Amp Env) with in your DAW and check the wave form.

    Bass Player and Synthesist.
    Virus TI2 Darkstar | Virus TI2 Desktop | Sub 37 | Voyager RME | Machinedrum | Analog Four | Digitone | MPC Live | NI Maschine+
    Mac OS 13.5.1 (Ventura) | Cubase Pro 11.0 | Ableton Live 9.6 | Logic 10.4 | MainStage 3.4 | NI Komplete Ultimate 13 | RME Fireface UFX+

  • here are some example for kick drums


    [Free] Virus Ti2 - Bass Drum Soundbank

    Whao, exellent !!! The kicks Hardstyle <3 Thanks. Good job, just Env+Pitchs verry original your idea... i work in evolution of your patch with new automations... ;)

    I used for second life, the plug-in NUMBLE about one sample of TI. Do you know it?

    Here: https://nimble.itch.io/kick

  • I am doing so with a fast changed volume control value from the sequencer / DAW driven into the device through MIDI.

    For my own synth I am capable to do this with a very high speed.

    The alternative was a more versatile envelop behaviour. I do not know what the TI offers here, but I am using an 8 point envelope overcoming the limits of a classical ADSR curve.