I’m still trying to grasp the use of the ADSR for Filter and Amp. Because I’m dealing with short percussive sounds it seems that the envelopes don’t really do much. Is there an aspect of the envelopes I should understand that’s not immediately apparent? For the most part it seems that whatever is on the main synth page is what shapes the sound.
I’ve also looked at how I may shape the sounds so that they do not mask each other in a mix. The filter seems like the go to for this but I find that the filter is not really meant to do what a proper EQ does to reduce overlapping frequencies. So preferably it seems the instruments should all be separately EQ’d. Add to that an external compressor to further shape the sound. The only issue I have with this is that in a live situation I would need external FX and at least 8 dedicated mixer channels to process the sounds. I’m wondering if there is more I can do just in sound design to get all the drum instruments to sit well with each other.
One of my favorite tricks that I miss dearly with my AR is messing around with p-locking different attacks. Fading in snares is a pretty cool sounding trick
Yeah, this is good for pseudo-granular effects. Take a sample, enable loop and set start and end points close together, then assign performance or aftertouch as a modulator to the start and end times. This lets you ‘window’ through a sample with pad pressure
Also, I find that a tiny bit of overdrive on almost any sound is nice. Even at 1 or 2, it just adds a little something.
For drum sounds I almost always use the peak or notch filters to EQ sounds to help them sit better in a mix. For synthesized tones I leave the filter up to whatever the voice needs and try to work everything else around it.
Also for drums sounds, using the LFO as a quick 1-shot envelope on either the overdrive or tune of a sound can give things more punch.
I often use the envelope to make sounds snappier, especially on things like the clap (which I personally find is one if the hardest instruments to tune just right to my tastes). Giving the synth parameters longs decays and then using the AMP env to tighten it up can get you good results. Generally I’ll change the HOLD param from auto to 1, then use the DEC to tighten up the tail.
Getting something like a Novation Control XL or other knob/faderbox and assigning the faders to the performance parameters really opens up playing the Rytm more like a synth.
I usually don’t hear much from the filter ADSR until I start boosting the resonance and setting the envelope to a desired amount. Can get some massive kicks and sub bass when you find the perfect frequency cutoff. As others have said, the peak filter is really handy for isolating frequencies and getting a good mix right in the box
I think I haven’t been getting too far under the hood of the AR. Mostly I do minimal things like tuning each drum sound so they’re all in a key (like C minor harmonic), filtering and getting the ADSR just so. Since I normally don’t use the sequencer all that much I think maybe some of it is lost to me.
I hadnt thought of that one thanks for the massive tip off - tried it out this morning, and it can get granular and grainy, which is what I have been seeking!! Ar seems to be able to do everything!
So what’s the best setting, sample start, and end point, for a performance to scan through the sample?
Are there any other values to lock for more a grains ambient approach?
preformance pads with LFO end/start combos, FM-start-lfo?
Yeah at this moment I’m trying to decide if I should just run AR live as I would in the studio, with external processing. Gonna try the notch filter in the Freq section. I think I want to get the drum sounds as close to what I want and then I don’t have to do too much external processing.
While I like adding some resonance on LP or HP filter on a BD or BT, I found that on snares and hats those filters would make the sound about “wet” and not as snappy…
Whereas with a peak and LFO on frequency you could get interesting harmonics.
Regarding the envelope, I often set HOLD to 1 and look for the right decay… AUTO is not always giving what I’m looking for.
Did not read the whole thread now. But here’s the easy Solution: The AMP Envelope has a Hold Setting. This is set to “Auto” by default. Change it to 1 and you can make use of your Envelope for crisp and short Decays again
If you use the main and the seperate outputs you can also play around with the routing to get the Sound right. For really mellow pad sounds or far away ambience just crank up the verb and/or delay and disable that voices output in the routing settings. Because the effects section goes through Main you will now hear only the “wet” signal ( kinda like soloing a return and sending it to the master)
I’ve got a Rytm at home waiting for me and after basics tests, like OP, seemed to think that the ADSR envelope didn’t affect the AMP of the drum synthesis part.
Are you saying that if I “set it to 1” somewhere that the ADSR envelope now affects the amplitude of the synthesis engine? Or does it and will it only ever affect the sample engine?
Auto sets the hold to as long as your pressing the pad, haven’t checked but I imagine note len may affect the hold phase of sequenced notes if set to auto…
