Envelope Adventures | Attack the Decay, Sustain the Release.

Sometimes I run out of ideas and topics to make videos about. This is mainly because I stopped buying modules for the sake of getting something new. Sure I committed to new modules and pre-ordered, but that means I have to wait for them. I also committed to Serge, but I feel it's a niche and an investment in developing my own patching skills. It's great to feel I still have a long way to go and there are no dead ends in sight. There are only open and wide horizons. MakeNoise has taught me that modules can often escape their own designs. Serge turned this concept into an art and it spawned new interests in patching audio organisms that almost seem alive.
In this video, I am going to do GAS therapy with some of my envelope generators. They're taken for granted in typical hardware keyboards, but in Eurorack, they're all different and unique. Some can make sounds themselves instead of just sculpting them. It's a trick I learned from the 0-Coast and today I am going to do a deep dive. As always, it's not exhaustive, I do not have all the modules in modulargrid and I don' t have all the answers. So please share your own tips and tricks on this channel so we can learn from you too.

[@corticallarvae]

Lovely thought experiment as always

[@redlester]

These videos are not tutorials, they are works of art. Outstanding. A stream of the audio from some of your videos placed one after the other would make a terrific ambient album, but the visuals are also beautiful. Are you Eno in disguise?

[@CinematicLaboratory]

LOL. I hear this a lot lately. While I grew up with Eno's work (Roxy, Bowie, U2) I lost him when he went ambient and I still need to discover that era. I am also a big fan of Robert Fripp so I guess one would integrate with the music you grow up with. It's not a copy, it becomes part of you. So no, I am not Eno but I am sure he ended up in my DNA somewhere, marking the sounds I love most.

[@redlester]

@@CinematicLaboratory ha ha. Actually your videos sound nothing like Eno's ambient works but I could imagine he might have sounded like you had he got heavily into Eurorack. I was introduced to Discreet Music when a friend played it at dawn as the sun rose, sitting in the car park at Stonehenge when we'd ended up there after a crazy night, early 80's.

[@arpmoog]

Enoism is more a state of mind than a particular style, sound or song. I contend that it involves mindful listening and allowing or encouraging novelty to emerge and evolve guided by intention but often in spite of it. These are just some concepts he seems to employ. Robert has unintentionaly found his way down similar paths to the delight of many. Carrion, our way weird son.

[@jherekco]

More videos like this please! it's easy to succumb to the GAS, shiny is always lovely but modules reward deeper dives!

[@ChainsawCoffee]

One of the things that you can do with multi-stage envelope generators is to pull pranks on people. I did that with a Casio CZ5000. I did a nice sound using the first four stages (ADSR), then the next stages were Hide-Peekaboo. Since the CZ5000 is an eight voice synth, the prank hides during normal playing. The musician walked in, and I told him I had a new patch for him to check out. So he played it a bit, and really liked it. 30 seconds later, BLIPBLEEPBLOOPBLIPBLIPBEEEP came out! He thought for a moment that he broke the synth!

[@CinematicLaboratory]

Thanks for sharing that story. I can imagine it was fun! Reminds me of the Synclavier that could also do weird things way deeper in the envelope.

[@corticallarvae]

If you break it you always win - sonic axiom 1

[@tgiencke]

Back when I was designing my instrument I was torn between Stages & Tides. I went with Tides because it is incredibly good at “playing itself & others” without human intervention. My current patch it is clock dividing, PWMing, triggering a voice, and a self-morphing LFO. All at the same time!

[@CinematicLaboratory]

Tides is wonderful - but it's a function generator so you'd expect it to do a million things :).

[@user-ng9uc3vu3k]

Yes, .. at the time of getting my 3rd or 4th module .. it was apparent that I getting further/much further behind, in learning them. Stages being in this group. Lately, .. using clocked ramp/green channels out to attenuvertors of other modules, having some rewards.

[@corticallarvae]

I also recommend the multi envelope by verbos I use them everywhere….. still looking for an analog module with hold….

[@CinematicLaboratory]

Maybe you'll run into an old MakeNoise Function, where 'cycle' is replaced with 'hang', but it's a single AD function. I got it only for the hold :)