The Envelope Section

I spent yesterday with the Manatee’s envelope generators. With the proviso that there’s no manual yet, so I’m making most of this up as I go along; I was put off by them at first. But after some practical use, my feelings are they might be quite clever? I think it comes down to a matter of perspective.

Here’s the deal. There are two EGs, one normalled to the amp and the other to the filter as per usual. And they are ADSRs. Again, nothing to write home about.

So are these two EGs in name only? Is this actually a Juno style setup, just with independent decays? Well, not exactly. As you can see from the oval buttons on the panel, the attack and sustain of each EG can be quickly and conveniently disabled per envelope. When disabled, these values are effectively 0 (i.e. the attack is a pluck and the sustain goes all the way down to silence).

So the only value forced to be shared between both envelopes is the release. And frankly I’m more than fine with that. That’s usually what I want and I spend a silly amount of time keeping these values in sync between the EG-A and EG-F on other synths.

And sustain? Really that makes a lot of sense, too. I usually want “some middling-to-high value” or “absolute silence”. This setup provides both.

Keeping decay fully adjustable across both EGs also makes sense. Decay is the one value where I can’t think of a sensible “default”. Short decays? Long decays? No decays? It all depends on what you’re going for (and on your sustain settings).

But that brings us to the attack. It’s true, there are a lot of times I want a zero attack. And for when I want something more gradual, it usually works fine keeping the amp and filter in sync (just see all the great Juno patches). But do I wish I could have a short-ish attack on the amp and a long-ish attack on the filter? Honestly, yes.

But it’s little limitations like this that give a synth character. And as fans of the Juno and SH-101 and CS01 and… will tell you, it’s the immediacy of their interfaces that make them a joy to play. And their single EG is a big part of that. And in-play, the Manatee does share that quick responsive feel.

So I’ve decided the right way to think of EGs on the Manatee is not as independent amp and filter envelopes, but rather as a Juno-style single EG with all the benefits to immediacy and playability that entails — just with a number of very clever bypasses that let me dial in a set of reasonably unique shapes for amp and filter when required. And in that light, the Manatee’s envelope section feels quite special.