String sounds with damper pedal question

TheWindWaker01 · Post by **TheWindWaker01** » Fri Feb 05, 2010 9:41 pm

Any strings sound sustains itself as long as my foot is on the damper pedal. I want to have the note slowly fade out when I hold the pedal, not sustain infinitely. Is there anyway to do this? Thanks.

CfNorENa · Post by **CfNorENa** » Fri Feb 05, 2010 11:56 pm

I'm not at my M50 right now, but this will require adjusting the settings on the Filter and Amplifier envelopes (can't remember what "page" they're on right now). Basically, you'll need to dial the sustain level and the release rate DOWN. Alternatively, you could dial these UP, and then you could get a long sustain and slow fade without having to use the damper pedal at all.

mocando · Post by **mocando** » Sat Feb 06, 2010 5:40 am

I modded my strings program for Genesis "Carpet Crawlers" song and set a long release. That fades nicely the strings. I hold it with my damper pedal, and upon release it takes a few seconds to fade. Sounds great.

CfNorENa · Post by **CfNorENa** » Sat Feb 06, 2010 6:01 pm

Well, this isn't as easy as I thought it would be! I spent about 10 minutes on it, and couldn't figure it out. Now I'm not so sure the answer lies in the release times of the various envelopes. Is there a specific area for editing what the damper does? Is this an AMS? I tried to compare the M50 Grand Piano (where the sustain pedal does not hold the sound indefinitely) with A007 Strings (where it does). Couldn't locate the difference within the parameters. But it has to be somewhere in there. I'll check again -- but we may need one of the big boys to step in...

kanthos · Post by **kanthos** » Sun Feb 07, 2010 3:23 am

You're all thinking about this the wrong way. The damper pedal sustains infinitely, period. Something can't be sustained and faded out at the same time; that makes no sense.

If you don't want something to be sustained by the pedal, go to the MIDI settings in your combi or sequence and disable the damper pedal for the timbres or tracks that you don't want to be affected by it.

To get the long fade out, all you need to do is set a long release time. I'd have to check, but I think the sound will sustain as long as you hold down the keys (or hold down the pedal, if the pedal's acting on a timbre), so if you want the fade out to start right away, you'll have to play and release the keys immediately.

The sustain level won't affect the fade out at all; the sustain level is the volume for the sound while you hold down the key or pedal.

CfNorENa · Post by **CfNorENa** » Sun Feb 07, 2010 3:40 am

kanthos wrote:You're all thinking about this the wrong way. The damper pedal sustains infinitely, period. Something can't be sustained and faded out at the same time; that makes no sense.

I see what you're saying (and I know the difference between sustain level and release time), but there is something here I honestly don't get. On any piano patch, I can play notes, hold down the damper pedal, and the volume will slowly drop to zero (with the damper pedal still being held down); on most string patches, by contrast, when holding the damper pedal down, the notes play infinitely and at the same volume (which, I take it, is that the OP wants to address). So how to make the string patch behave like the piano patch (or vice versa, for that matter)?

mocando · Post by **mocando** » Mon Feb 08, 2010 1:58 am

Not only pianos, but guitar, bass, mallets, bells, drums, etc. There are many patches that also fade during sustain. It has to be the sustain part of the envelope. I'll check that with my M50 once I get it back (is on storage due to the robbery), but I'll have it home very soon

X-Trade · Post by **X-Trade** » Mon Feb 08, 2010 2:31 am

In a traditional ADSR envelope you'd want to set sustain level to zero, and decay time to the length of the fade you want.

in the Triton and looking at the manual, the M50 too, you'd want to lower the sustain level probably to zero unless you want a bit of the sound to linger, and set the Slope time to get the fade out time you want.

It is mainly the amp EG which will most obviously affect the sound, but if you want a smoothe lowering of tone too you'll want to adjust the filter EG, assuming it has any effect on the sound.