How can I change the attack of any VST in Fl Studio?

[Moniatre]

Hey guys! I stumbled upon this problem recently. In most cases VSTs have knobs to control ADSR but there are some that don't have that feature. In my case I've got three layers of "truepianos" and want to adjust the attack on those layers. But there is no attack control within the VST and there is no envelope tab in FL for that instrument. How do I go about doing this? I'm sure there is some way. Thanks!

[dune_rave]

Interesting problem
and I have FL & True too,
but dunno the answer.

True has no adsr and imho you cant set its attack in FL,,,,,

[stardustmedia]

You can try a gate, or a transient shaper plugin.

A gate will work great, when you trigger it with MIDI or a side chain signal that is very flat (loud, no dynamics, fast attack, decay and release and sustain at max, a simple sine playing the same pattern). Set the attack to your taste, probably somewhere between 10 - 30 ms and the release depends on on the original sound and how fast it plays.

Transient shaper is easier to set up, but not as flexible as a gate. And won't give you "long and slow" attack times as a gate can do.

[Tjivory]

This is very simple guys -- right click channel volume to create automation clip-- instant mseg envelope

[stardustmedia]

This is very simple guys -- right click channel volume to create automation clip-- instant mseg envelope

Don't know FL, but to automate volume for a whole song, for each note that plays, sounds like hell of work. Especially when you just want to add a couple of ms of attack. Using a gate is more intuitive, since you can alter attack, release, etc. on the fly while listening to the result. Although it might be necessary, if you don't have the MIDI notes, just the audio.

[Tjivory]

This is very simple guys -- right click channel volume to create automation clip-- instant mseg envelope

Don't know FL, but to automate volume for a whole song, for each note that plays, sounds like hell of work. Especially when you just want to add a couple of ms of attack. Using a gate is more intuitive, since you can alter attack, release, etc. on the fly while listening to the result. Although it might be necessary, if you don't have the MIDI notes, just the audio.

Fl treats automations like patterns or loops, you can paint for however long the track is playing. Say you have 1 bar of loop, simply loop the region where it is at in the playlist then go to channel volume and right click add automation clip. It will intelligently create the clip for however long the loop is selected in the playlist. If you highlight 4-8 bars, the automation clip will be the same length. If you want this one bar loop to play for eight bars, simply paint 8 bars for the loop and do the same for the automation you created. It's the best way I think instead of dealing with clumsy gate parameters etc. You can create the exact volume curves where you want, despite any peaks, then simply duplicate it whenever you do the same to the loop. If you have a 16-32 bar melody and you are too lazy to draw the curves then you can go another route.

I very often bypass a vsti even if it has envelopes so I can be sure of what goes on visually. Also, you can simply create bar of automation and shorten it to a 16th or quarter note via the slice tool and have it fade in or out, and simply paint this automation clip at trouble spots. Cheers

[stardustmedia]

Yup, that sounds simple.

Logic can do something similar. And I use that very often: Automation in regions, loop them, edit them, copy them, stretch them etc. For short repeating parts that's the easiest way. But when the piano is playing a lot of different parts (let's say a solo, or full blow singer-songwriter-song with different verses, bridge, chorus, solo, etc.), it's way faster to work with a gate. Set up the routing, copy the MIDI regions containing the notes of the piano. Et voilà.

[Moniatre]

Sorry for the nooby question but how exactly do you use a gate as an envelope (adsr) "controller"? I'm not that experienced with gates. All I have used them for so far was to get rid of noise.

[stardustmedia]

I can't tell exactly how to do it in FL. But generally:

-) If the gate can be triggered by MIDI, that's the easiest way
-) Set up the gate so it receives MIDI notes
-) Send the same piano MIDI notes to it, that's it

Or you do it the traditional way via audio
-) Set up a side chain buss
-) Create an instrument track that plays a simple sine, attack decay release = 0, sustain = max
-) Copy the same piano MIDI notes to that instrument track, make sure the velocity for all notes are maxed (127)
-) That instrument track must be sent to the side chain buss
-) Select that buss as the side chain input in the gate (that is placed on the piano track)
-) If necessary activate side chain functionality in the gate
-) Since the sine will come with a steady volume you can easily set up the threshold
Start from max and come down with the threshold until the gate starts working, put it then 2-3dB lower
-) Set attack, release to taste

[Dhyanaman]

Try the Fruity Envelope Controller. There are some videos on YouTube which will show you how it works.