Need more bleeps, bloops, bips and bops but you ran out of envelopes? Then it’s time for the Perc-O-Lator! These four decay-only envelopes are meant to convert your biggest synth sounds into the most percussive stabs, with an ultra-short fixed attack time and a knob to set the decay. That’s not all: using the AE IMDI standard you can also trigger the four envelopes easily from a MIDI channel. A perfect, space-efficient set of envelopes for all percussive leaning setups out there.

In short:

• Four decay envelopes
• Accepts both triggers or gates
• Accepts IMDI input to trigger each envelope
• Gates can be used to trigger as release envelope
• Breaks out IMDI triggers of four separate notes
• Flashy pots for visual feedback
• Manual trigger buttons
• 1U

How to use

The Perc-O-Lator has four separate, identical circuits. Each of them is an envelope for which you can set the ‘decay’ stage with a knob. The attack phase is very sharp and cannot be adjusted. It is ideal for popping, percussive sounds. There are four ways to trigger the envelopes:

• Manual trigger: just push the button and test the envelope!

• Trig in: the four trigger inputs will convert any signal that goes up sharp enough into a super short trigger pulse, causing a decay-only envelope. The envelope will trigger again when there is a rising signal coming in again.

• Gate in: the four gate inputs will make the envelope act as ‘release-only’. The envelope will stay high as long as the gate input stays high. When the gate input goes low, the ‘release’ phase which is set with the knob will start. Easiest way to test this behaviour is with a slow square LFO.

• MIDI: there is an IMDI input and the bottom left of the front panel. Input a MIDI channel from the IMDI heart, wonkystuff mb/1 or any other IMDI output. The four Perc-O-Lator envelopes will listen to the notes ‘C’, ‘D’, ‘E’ and ‘F’ of any octave (as indicated on the front panel). You can choose which channel it listens to by patching a specific channel from your IMDI module. The IMDI signals will be converted to triggers, so the output envelope is ‘decay’ only.