A question about multiple envelopes/lfos applied to 1 item

Questions and Support
#1

I am new to vital, and hope this isn’t a redundant question.

I have been experimenting with applying multiple envelopes (or lfo’s) to an oscillator’s waveframe element. As far as I can tell, only the envelope that is selected is actually affecting it, regardless of the number applied. Is this the expected behaviour? Does it make sense to apply multiple envelopes - and if they affect (in this case) the position sequentially is order important or even controllable?

Thanks in advance,
Frank

#2

Hi @frank.alviani

AFIK, multiple modulations on a wavetable position work ok.

Here’s a quick patch to illustrate (using 2 LFOS as an example):

TTWT Stutter.vital (251.1 KB)

  • LFO2 is ramp, which moves through the wavetable
  • LFO1 is triangle, running faster than LFO1

I’ve assigned Macro 1 (Stutter) to the LFO1 amount, so if you hold a note with the Macro 1 at 0, it plays clearly, if you increase macro 1 you add a stutter effect (LFO1 comes into play).

I’m pretty sure that the order in which I assigned the LFOs doesn’t matter.

I hope that’s helpful.

EDIT: another example, but with 2 envelopes (again controlled via macros) TTWT Envelope Battle.vital (251.3 KB)

#3

Thanks for the explanation. Your first example with the LFOs demonstrates their compound action. I played with the envelope battle preset as well, but it seems to show that only envelope 2 really affects the wavetable position; playing with macro2 does change the modulation amount for 3, but that has no effect on the position in the wavetable. I don’t think this is completely surprising, and not something that’s likely to be a problem for me.

Multiple envelopes - not really ; multiple LFOs - useful.

Frank

#4

The envelope patch was to illustrate that (when both macros are at max) the two differently shaped envelopes are cancelling each other out (deliberately, here)
At the extremes (0 & 1, 1 & 0) you get only one envelope modulating the wavetable.
Different mixes will yield different results :slight_smile:

All the best.

#5

There are many ways to work with Vital or any synth and I don’t claim this is the best, but I’d suggest starting with Env 1 as your “Master Envelope” for the Patch. The LFO’s are better suited to create, for example, Volume Rides or pulses on the OSC Level. With an LFO you can turn the Level of an OSC to Zero more easily than with the Envelopes. For example, a Slow Rate LFO can give you a smooth cross fade between two Oscillators. Or an LFO can be used to put a touch of Noise at the start or end of a note, etc.

Lastly, mess around with the “mod remap” function on the Advanced Tab. It allows yet one more layer of control. It will take time, but Vital is fast to program and very intuitive to use.