Drift envelopes: a bright attack without a short note

Two envelopes, two different listening questions

Env controls amplitude: how quickly the note gets loud, what level it holds and how it ends. Env 2 reaches the filter through Env>Filt. Its contour can finish moving while the first envelope still sustains the note. A filter envelope is not itself a sound; its amount must be nonzero to affect the cutoff.

Play this original generated MIDI melody. Osc 1 is Square, Mix is 0%, Filter is LP12 and the base Cutoff is 500 Hz. Env>Filt at +3 oct opens the filter around the attack, then Env 2 D at 150 ms pulls it back toward the darker base. Meanwhile, Env S holds the amplitude at 75%.

1. Change Env>Filt from +3 to 0 oct. Listen for the loss of the bright opening, not a change in the MIDI note length. Restore +3 oct before the next comparison.
2. In Env 2, extend D from 150 to 600 ms. Brightness should linger for more of each note. Return D to 150 ms if the phrase becomes too forward or the articulation less distinct.
3. Leave Env 2 alone and reduce S in Env from 75% to 20%. Now the held level becomes quieter. Restore 75%. This distinguishes a filter settling down from an amplifier fading away.

D is a time setting; S is a level. The filter can reach its sustain while a MIDI note continues, but a note-off still begins the release stage. An extremely short amplifier release can conceal a longer filter release because there is little audible signal left to filter. Tune the amplitude contour first when those endings are hard to distinguish.

Shape the oscillator before adding another one

With Live Waves left Off, Square uses an analytic pulse waveform. Move Shape from 0% toward 65%. This changes pulse width and therefore the balance of harmonics; it does not simply move the filter. For a clearer comparison, temporarily set Env>Filt to zero and Cutoff to 6000 Hz. Return Shape to 0%, Cutoff to 500 Hz and Env>Filt to +3 oct afterward.

Shape is waveform-dependent. It changes Square differently from Saw or Shark and is not a universal brightness knob for every choice. Osc 2 provides a second waveform, octave and detune offset, including a Noise option. Mix at zero excludes it completely. That is why changing Detune while leaving Mix at zero cannot enrich this starting sound.

Make the keyboard range behave before making it move

Key Trk starts at zero, keeping the cutoff reference fixed across the melody. Try 50% and compare lower and higher notes. Key tracking raises the cutoff for higher pitches relative to its reference, helping preserve harmonic presence across the keyboard. It is not velocity sensitivity. Return to zero to compare fairly, then keep only enough tracking for the range the part actually uses.

LP24 offers a steeper low-pass alternative to LP12; HP12 removes lows instead. Compare them with modest Res. Drive saturates the signal before filtering, so it changes the material the filter receives. It is not a substitute for Volume when a patch is simply too quiet.

Voice count and motion are separate decisions

The example uses Poly. Mono makes a single-note voice path, and Glide can connect pitches when an active note is retriggered. A phrase with gaps is not guaranteed to demonstrate that transition; do not expect every isolated note to slide. Unison instead uses a detuned, panned pair, with Uni Det controlling the spread. Compare against Poly at a similar level before keeping the extra thickness.

The LFO can reach pitch and cutoff through LFO>Pitch and LFO>Filt. It retriggers with voices rather than behaving as an arbitrary free-running modulation system. These are dedicated destinations, not a general modulation matrix. Leave both amounts at zero until the envelope lesson works; otherwise repeating motion can obscure which change follows the note and which follows the LFO cycle.