Coding a better envelope for trance plucks, have I succeeded?

[Architeuthis]

download the pluck envelope demonstration VST here: SoEmPluckEnvelope v1.3 (dll) [Windows Only]
audio demo 1: resonant filter (mp3)
audio demo 2: minecraft style synthwave (mp3)


The setup is a resetting sawtooth into a 2 pole lowpass filter with a small amount of resonance (Dune3's filter seems to have resonance even at 0 res). Does my envelope sound better for plucky sounds than your own synth's envelopes?

a competitor's envelope: Dune 3 envelope test (mp3)

my envelope: soundemote - pluck envelope prototype (mp3)

Notice the difference on the tail of the decay. The competitor's envelope ends too quickly when sustain time is on the higher side. I've struggled with envelopes a lot and always end up wrestling with not having enough sustain or not having enough pluckyness.

Edit: Just tried to match the sustain with the competitor's envelope and it's as I thought, you lose pluckyness when you get the sustain right: Dune 3 envelope test2 (mp3)

midi used: envelope test (midi)

[Architeuthis]

I've always felt that envelopes have never been plucky enough. I've wrestled with the filter cutoff and the filter envelope decay and having to change a handful of parameters at the same time to get longer and shorter plucks which never sound quite to my liking. The envelope is either correctly sustained and not plucky enough or plucky and not sustained enough. That is why I dived into coding my own envelope that is a sidestep from ADSR. It has no sustain stage, and it has highly adjustable attack and decay length where the decay can go on for a long time but still sound plucky.

The envelope was ultimately inspired by analog vactrol controllers and guitars (how guitar strings decay after being plucked).

The envelope also has a variable exponential attack to increase the "thud" aspect of the attack, like a finger sliding across a string.

showing off how long it can take to decay: demo 1

a musical context demo: demo 2

[Architeuthis]

demonstrating extreme settings. listen to how percussive the sound is as it pings the reverb.

pluck envelope long decay (wet)

pluck envelope long decay (dry)

The envelope rings out like a bell. It truly is 100% flexible in that you can have as much pluckyness as you want and as much decay and you can adjust how it transitions from attack to decay.

[VitaminD]

It almost sounds like muted/ghost notes on a bass guitar

[pdxindy]

I like your results...

[Architeuthis]

...so has anyone else experienced frustration with envelopes?

[Rod Staples]

...so has anyone else experienced frustration with envelopes?

Yes, definitely. I'm interested in what you are doing.

[ramseysounds]

But surely this is what a synths envelope and filter controls are for?

[Rod Staples]

But surely this is what a synths envelope and filter controls are for?

Yes, but the point is:- Are you able to shape the sound the way you want to with the inbuilt envelopes. Sometimes they're not snappy enough.

For example, I remember when I had a JP8080, the envelopes were really hard and with the attack at zero you get a lot of clicks. The manual said to raise the attack slightly to get rid of them. When I've listened to JP80X0 demos on youtube, I can often hear the difference in the envelopes, something I haven't been able to get in softsynths. I assume the coders round off the envelopes to prevent us dealing with clicks all the time.

[pdxindy]

...so has anyone else experienced frustration with envelopes?

For sure... especially for plucks, envelopes make such a big difference. I've learned over time how to get plucks I am happy with in various synths. It's taken some work.

[Architeuthis]

But surely this is what a synths envelope and filter controls are for?

You know I got into coding synths because I felt the subtractive synth paradigm was a good idea executed poorly. I actually dislike every subtractive synth ever made. There's so many things wrong with every single one. Now, analog modular synths are the closest thing to doing it right since they sound good with their infinite samplerate, chaos and feedback capability, and actual physical circuits HOWEVER it's god damn expensive and god damn inconvenient.

EVERYTHING IS WRONG with subtractive synths.

1. The filter should be the main focus and be almost the only thing that shapes the sound. You should have 10 different variants of a filter that sound completely different from insane screaming chaotic to clean and calm rather than 10 modules that shape the sound individually tediously and shittily.

You should realize the secret that has been kept from humanity. Filters can do almost anything and do it better than a suite of oscillator choices and processors.

2. ADSRs are a horrible approximation of every acoustic instrument's envelope in existence. Instead of ADSR we should have dedicated pluck envelopes, dedicated reed envelopes, dedicated brass envelopes, etc. Why do we need to approximate real life? It objectively sounds better when you do.

3. Supersaws suck! They are flangy and phasy. A supersaw ensemble should sound like a string section when the frequencies are properly distributed. As a matter of fact I will be working on a supersaw implementation where every sawtooth and voice is treated like an individual human violin player.

...I think that's all my complaints. I've coded a solution for every complaint I've had. And this pluck envelope is actually the final nail in the coffin of my complaints. My dream synth is currently in prototypal pieces that need a long time to be gathered into a synth...

Edit: I think I was 17 when I got my first analog modular synth. I've since sold and given away all of that stuff. I'm now 34 the last 18 years I've had to think about and work on solving all complaints.

[ramseysounds]

Everyone has and is entitled to an opinion

[Architeuthis]

Hah. Luckily it's not just an opinion.

[Karbon L. Forms]

good grief

[vurt]

not all heroes wear capes!