Patch Tips #10 - Pre-Decay

Mixing envelopes to emulate a reverb pre-delay.

Here's a very simple patch I use to change the impact of a sound. Mix a short negative voltage envelope with your main envelope to duck a portion of the attack phase. If you get the timing right, it can sound like longer pre-delay settings on a reverb:

predecay.mp3

In this patch, I used a Doepfer A-143-1 for its built-in polarizing mixer, triggering both envelopes with the same gate, but any combination of envelopes and mixer would do. You could of course also do the reverse and, using a positive envelope, add a second attack or 'bite' (e.g. trumpets) or flutter (claps) to a sound. See the A-143-1 manual for more ideas.