Synth tweaking question - Notes get quieter while I am playing

[seangm]

Sorry if this is the wrong sub forum but I didn't know where to post this question, I know there are a lot of people with good synth knowledge here. I have a question that has been driving me crazy for a while now. I'm not really a synth programmer I just like to tweak presets. But there are certain presets where the first note will sound when I play but then the volume trails off to nothing when I play subsequent notes in the run. I understand that I can play really staccato and have no note overlap and that will solve the problem but I hate playing that way, it isn't the way I natrually play. My question is: Is there some setting that I can adjust so that all notes sound even if they are overlapping? Like is there a setting found on most synths that I can adjust/turn off so that the sound doesn't trail off when I play consecutive notes? I figure there must be something that controls that behavior because not all presets behave like that. Thanks for any help.

[yhvh]

if i’m understanding correctly, it sounds like you need to turn legato off. you’re saying that new notes you play are continuing the previous notes envelope that’s already in progress rather than begin a new envelope of their own, but if you let the note run it’s entire envelope and then hit the next one it’s fine? if this is what your issue is then yeah it’s legato

[yhvh]

Sorry if this is the wrong sub forum but I didn't know where to post this question, I know there are a lot of people with good synth knowledge here. I have a question that has been driving me crazy for a while now. I'm not really a synth programmer I just like to tweak presets. But there are certain presets where the first note will sound when I play but then the volume trails off to nothing when I play subsequent notes in the run. I understand that I can play really staccato and have no note overlap and that will solve the problem but I hate playing that way, it isn't the way I natrually play. My question is: Is there some setting that I can adjust so that all notes sound even if they are overlapping? Like is there a setting found on most synths that I can adjust/turn off so that the sound doesn't trail off when I play consecutive notes? I figure there must be something that controls that behavior because not all presets behave like that. Thanks for any help.

just quoting you so you’re alerted to my response in the previous post

[seangm]

if i’m understanding correctly, it sounds like you need to turn legato off. you’re saying that new notes you play are continuing the previous notes envelope that’s already in progress rather than begin a new envelope of their own, but if you let the note run it’s entire envelope and then hit the next one it’s fine? if this is what your issue is then yeah it’s legato

Hey thanks, yeah that sound about right. I'm probably not describing it well because I don't know much about envelopes, etc. I just want each note I play to start with a new attack, the way it happens now is there is no new attack for each additional note and the volume just keeps getting lower and lower until I lift my fingers off the keys and start a new phrase. I'll try searching for the legato and turn it off, that would be great if it is that easy. You'll have saved me a lot of frustration. Thanks again for the help.

Note: Just tried turning off the legato on the UAD MiniMoog and sure enough that fixed it for me. Thank you.

[crimsonwarlock]

Just to be complete, on some instruments the option is called "retrigger" and you need to switch it on (as opposed to switching "legato" off).

[yhvh]

if i’m understanding correctly, it sounds like you need to turn legato off. you’re saying that new notes you play are continuing the previous notes envelope that’s already in progress rather than begin a new envelope of their own, but if you let the note run it’s entire envelope and then hit the next one it’s fine? if this is what your issue is then yeah it’s legato

Hey thanks, yeah that sound about right. I'm probably not describing it well because I don't know much about envelopes, etc. I just want each note I play to start with a new attack, the way it happens now is there is no new attack for each additional note and the volume just keeps getting lower and lower until I lift my fingers off the keys and start a new phrase. I'll try searching for the legato and turn it off, that would be great if it is that easy. You'll have saved me a lot of frustration. Thanks again for the help.

Note: Just tried turning off the legato on the UAD MiniMoog and sure enough that fixed it for me. Thank you.

no problem, i’m glad i was able to help. crimsonwarlock’s post is something to keep in mind as well, it won’t always be labeled legato, in which case you’ll wanna do exactly what they mentioned.

but yeah, just to explain what’s going on there so maybe you can put it to use in the future- it’s just a way the envelopes of the notes get processed. since you mentioned limited knowledge about envelopes, ill start at the basics.. you can think of an envelope as the life cycle of the note when you play it. in an adsr envelope, when you hit the key the note goes through attack which is the time it takes the note climbing in amplitude to reach its highest point, then decay is the time from that point as is descends down to a settling point, which is the sustain- the sustain is the part of the envelope that carries on at its amplitude for the time you hold down the key, however long that may be (if sustain is 0 holding the key down won’t indefinitely hold the note), then when you let go of the key release is the rest of the time it takes the note to ring out. typically a synths behavior will play out with every note following its envelope each key you hit, but sometimes you may want a more connected sound where every key doesn’t stand out so obviously and instead multiple notes play as a smooth flowing sound. that’s legato. when you introduce new notes to a pattern where prior notes haven’t run the course of their entire adsr stages, the new notes will begin wherever the previous note is in their envelope rather than start a new envelope from the beginning. hopefully that makes some sense

[seangm]

if i’m understanding correctly, it sounds like you need to turn legato off. you’re saying that new notes you play are continuing the previous notes envelope that’s already in progress rather than begin a new envelope of their own, but if you let the note run it’s entire envelope and then hit the next one it’s fine? if this is what your issue is then yeah it’s legato

Hey thanks, yeah that sound about right. I'm probably not describing it well because I don't know much about envelopes, etc. I just want each note I play to start with a new attack, the way it happens now is there is no new attack for each additional note and the volume just keeps getting lower and lower until I lift my fingers off the keys and start a new phrase. I'll try searching for the legato and turn it off, that would be great if it is that easy. You'll have saved me a lot of frustration. Thanks again for the help.

Note: Just tried turning off the legato on the UAD MiniMoog and sure enough that fixed it for me. Thank you.

no problem, i’m glad i was able to help. crimsonwarlock’s post is something to keep in mind as well, it won’t always be labeled legato, in which case you’ll wanna do exactly what they mentioned.

but yeah, just to explain what’s going on there so maybe you can put it to use in the future- it’s just a way the envelopes of the notes get processed. since you mentioned limited knowledge about envelopes, ill start at the basics.. you can think of an envelope as the life cycle of the note when you play it. in an adsr envelope, when you hit the key the note goes through attack which is the time it takes the note climbing in amplitude to reach its highest point, then decay is the time from that point as is descends down to a settling point, which is the sustain- the sustain is the part of the envelope that carries on at its amplitude for the time you hold down the key, however long that may be (if sustain is 0 holding the key down won’t indefinitely hold the note), then when you let go of the key release is the rest of the time it takes the note to ring out. typically a synths behavior will play out with every note following its envelope each key you hit, but sometimes you may want a more connected sound where every key doesn’t stand out so obviously and instead multiple notes play as a smooth flowing sound. that’s legato. when you introduce new notes to a pattern where prior notes haven’t run the course of their entire adsr stages, the new notes will begin wherever the previous note is in their envelope rather than start a new envelope from the beginning. hopefully that makes some sense

Good stuff, this is making me realize I really need to start learning synthesis. Thanks again.

[seangm]

Just to be complete, on some instruments the option is called "retrigger" and you need to switch it on (as opposed to switching "legato" off).

Excellent, thanks for the info. I do have several other soft synths so I'm sure I'll run into some that don't call it legato.