adsr and lfo abolish

[jh]

For a certain behaviour of instruments adsr and lfo is surely not
enough (but still a good starting point). I like the way the envelope
concept is extended in the VL7, for instance, though I must admit
that I have not completly understood it. Part of it is mixing envelope,
velocity and aftertouch with certain transition times to get a new,
mor natural controller. But don't ask me how - I've only been
scratching the surface here.

Something far less complicated I have once tried was the following:
I had built that standalone VCF for processing my Kawai K1. I couldn't 
afford a real analogue polysynth back then, so a built a box with
a Doepfer MCV1 Midi, an ADSR and LFO, and an SSM2040 VCF.
I ran into problems with keyboard tracking, because the filter would
work on all K1 voices, and the Doepfer Midi would generate a CV for the
highest note. Easy to create a punchy "JUMP" sound, but what about slow
strings ? I could set the ADSR to slow attack and slow release, but
the keyboard tracking would ruin the smooth filter contour with its
abrupt CV steps. My solution was to build a slew limiter for the keyboard
tracking CV, with the slew limiter's Attack time linked to the ADSR's
Attack  time (same front panel knob), and the Slew limiter's Release 
time linked to the ADSR's release time.
This was a compromise as well, but it was nice for certain sounds.

>Modulation modules like adsr and lfo etc. tend to make our music
>boring, because of the simplicty and robotic behaviour of these
>modules, compared to a 12 violin string section eg.
>They can do slow/fast attack all kinds pf vibrato etc. etc.

You're probably right if you compare a synth with a real string orchestra.
How could you not.

>Do I need adsr and lfo modules ?
>
>Do I want to follow the "keyboard approach"?

Definitely *yes* from my party. Haven't found anything better yet,
so I try to make the best of it. I admit it *can* be boring, but in
no way it has to be boring.

>Hit the key, trigger, envelope starts.

No. Not necessarily. Have you ever tried to explore the possibilities
of a MS-20's HADSR envelope ? Hoth Hold and Attack times being
independent of each other, and with a multiple trigger that will prolong
the Hold time, but restart the Attack phase (hint: short Release time ...)
you can do *way* more than boring envelopes with repetitive shape.
You don't have a fixed envelope shape anymore - you model it with your
playing style. (And all this even without velocity and aftertouch !)

>Music other then that of keyboard instrumenst works differnt.
>It is more a "flow" then a trigger.

See above about the flow. But something else comes to mind
(No flow, just velocity here) : Every time I play my Wurlitzer 
EPiano (and how much more would that be true with a 
Bösendorfer) I'm reminded how far a synth's synthesis engine
is still apart from such a mechanical system - and all that
with a "simple keyboard controller" - no Bender, no Modulation
Wheel. (Ok, got me - a nice Tremolo ...)

>Is Midi ready to handle this
>amount of data? At the requiered speed? 7-bit only?

In spite of my regular bashing of Midi, it's still an economic way to transmit
the key on / off information. I wouldn't rely on it for polyphonic aftertouch, 
though.

JH.