Is it possible with the envelope follower?
I understand what the envelope follower does - allows modulation based on volume of incoming signal - but I get a bit confused about where to place it in the signal chain, or rather whether I’m trying to do something which isn’t possible?
To explain more precisely, I often want to modulate a parameter on a sound generator, based on volume, but placing an envelope follower after the generator obviously doesn’t allow to modulate back in time (right to left in Drambo) to the generator. Placing the envelope follower before the sound generator obviously means it doesn’t have any audio signal to react to.
So, for example, I just wanted to modulate the resonance of the filter in Dagger using its own volume and the envelope follower module . Is that simply not possible?
Comments
You could use feedback modules, there will be a delay (buffer size) but it’s doable
I suggest you put a limier at the end of the chain to begin with as that setup can build some serious feedback
modulation of an auv3 might present some general wonkiness to the sound (which is fine, obviously!) My understanding is that audio rate resolution wouldn’t be possible over midi, and you may also have less resolution to work with in midi as well.
you could rig something up in the Code module, which does support single-sample delay instant feedback.
@bcrichards I thought OP meant something like this
Modulation is audio rate, not midi cc or something. Maybe I misunderstood
as for the code module, you have 1 sample feedback inside the module, meaning the audio generation/processing would also need to be inside the module, using dagger would not be an option. For the feedback signal to escape the code module and go back in the chain, the fb modules would still be needed
@pedro Yes that's how I took it too. It should work like this, although I'd prefer to place the limiter before Feedback Send, to avoid the chaos to come up too quickly 😆
I meant that I dont think AUV3s are receiving or handling audio rate modulation, right? Its true, its not MIDI but inter-app modulation. I'm guessing there's some degradation in the signal.
True, the mod freuquency limit is at around 40Hz and it's always better to build that in Drambo natively.
Thank you all for the great help. The feedback modules, of course!
@pedro, that setup works perfectly for my needs in that particular case, thanks. The delay doesn’t cause any problems, it’s not perceptible (to my ears at least).
@bcrichards @rs2000, I don’t quite understand what you’re meaning regarding audio rate modulation frequency and AU plugins? Are you saying that the modulation from the envelope follower in Drambo will be lower resolution/less smooth if it’s controlling a parameter in an AU than if it were controlling a parameter in a native Drambo sound generator?
@Robin yes my intention is only to point out that modulating auv3 parameters is likely to result in slightly less resolution than Native Drambo modules, esp at audio rates. But now I’m looking at your initial question and if you’re dealing with an envelope follower signal, Audio rate concerns don’t apply. Sorry!
I thought the modulation using AUv3 parameters would be audio rate, at least much better than 40Hz, that is really low…
this is not a scenario I use often as I mostly just use internal modules, so maybe I assumed au parameters worked like that. They certainly have much better resolution than CC but that’s a different matter
about it not mattering for the envelope follower, I guess should be expected, since it’s in essence LPF of the (derivative of?) audio
Cool, thanks for clarifying @bcrichards, it’s all a learning process for me so it’s all very much appreciated. Cheers.
@pedro @rs2000 my points were also based off of assumptions and I should have more clearly stated that. But I would just imagine that there is at least the possibility that some plugins may not respond well to audio rate modulation, esp. if they are not even set up to work with internal modulation in that way.
Thanks Ben, I appreciated your inputs and corrections, as always
It’s not like I will do much further testing on this, but I imagine if there was a scenario where those AU parameter modulations rates could be put to the limit it would be drambo hosting dagger, and maybe throw in combustor 😅
Unless you want the chaos 😂 hehe but I do it always the same way without thinking why
my comment was more intent towards protecting your hearing, but yeah I should pay more attention to gain staging instead of just fixing it at the end out of muscle memory
always learning 🙏