EDIT PAGE - Envelopes

 

 

 

One of the innovative features of Omnisphere's envelopes is that each of them has two interfaces. There have always been two competing design philosophies; ADSR envelopes, which are fast and easy to use, and Complex envelopes, which are more powerful and flexible but typically not as fast or easy to use.

In Omnisphere we combined both ideas into one, offering the best of both worlds. Omnisphere's envelopes are extremely powerful and at the same time very easy to use, regardless of the envelope style.

Envelopes are the contours that shape the sound coming from the Oscillators and the Filters. 

A basic ADSR-style envelope determines how quickly a sound will begin, its initial decay, what level it sustains at, and how long it will fade out after the note has been released.  These different elements of the envelope are called stages.  Most synthesizers have 4-stage envelopes, often called ADSR envelopes, which stands for Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release.

Complex envelopes contain contours with more than four stages. Complex envelopes allow a much greater degree of control in shaping the sound, and offer tremendous flexibility when shaping sounds and can be very useful in creating rhythmic shapes.

Each Part in Omnisphere has eight envelopes, and each can be used either as a basic 4-stage ADSR envelope, or as a Complex envelope. Each Layer has a dedicated AMP (Amplitude) envelope and a dedicated FILTER envelope, while there are four Modulation envelopes that are common to both Layers.

 

 

AMP ENVELOPE

Each Part has two dedicated AMP (Amplitude) Envelopes, one each for Layer A and Layer B. These shape the overall loudness of the Layer.  A dedicated Velocity knob controls the dynamic output of the AMP Envelopes based on MIDI Velocity.

 

FILTER ENVELOPE

Each Part also has two dedicated FILTER Envelopes, one each for Layer A and Layer B. These shape the Filter cutoff for each Layer.  A dedicated Velocity knob controls the dynamic output of the FILTER Envelopes based on MIDI Velocity.

 

MODULATION ENVELOPES

Modulation Envelopes are global, meaning there are a total of four Mod Envelopes available per Part. The Modulation Envelopes are monophonic, in contrast to the FILTER and AMP envelopes, which are polyphonic. The best way to think of Modulation Envelopes is as uni-polar LFOs that can have custom defined shapes.

 

1, 2, 3, 4 (Modulation Envelope buttons)

Under the MODS sub-page these small switches select any of the four modulation envelopes.

Instead of a dedicated VELO (Velocity) control, each of the four Modulation Envelopes has its own DEPTH control knob.