Everything You Need to Know About Envelopes in FM8

Learn everything you need to know about the envelopes in FM8. Finally get a handle on one of the more advanced features in FM8.

The envelopes in FM8 are without a doubt some of the more flexible I have ever seen in a soft synth. In part one of this month’s series, Johnny goes over the basics.

The first thing he covers is the ADSR. That stands for Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release. You can’t learn how to create truly unique sounds using the envelopes in FM8 unless you have a firm grasp on what those terms mean.

Attack is how quickly it takes your sound to go from 0 to it’s loudest point. So a pluck sound has a short attack and a pad, a lot of times has a longer attack.

Decay is how long it takes for the sound to go form the highest point of attack (also the loudest) to the point of sustain. A decay time can be short, like with a pluck, or long.

Sustain is the volume of the sound after the highest point of attack and lowest decay points have been met. So going back to that pluck example, a pluck has a very short sustain.

Release is pretty self explanatory. It’s how long the sound plays for and how loudly after you release a key.

In the rest of the tutorial Johnny goes over the basics tabs, slider and buttons that you will encounter in the envelopes window. Don’t be afraid to really dig in and get to know those envelopes in FM8!