Audio Damage Tattoo - Manual (Page 17)

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Envelope Generators
Most of Tattoo’s voices have either one or two Envelope Generators (or EGs for short). In a synthesizer, an
envelope generator creates a signal that changes in level over the duration of a single note. At least one EG is
used to shape the overall loudness of the note, but often at one or more other EGs controls some aspect of
the sound’s timbre, for example, by controlling the frequency of a filter.
In Tattoo, the envelope generators are quite simple: they have an attack phase, a fixed peak, and a decay
phase. You can change the duration of the two phases, and their curvature, by clicking and dragging the
envelope with the mouse. Here’s an illustration showing how to use Tattoo’s EGs:
Since Tattoo is a percussion synthesizer its EGs are naturally tailored for generating percussive sounds. They
have a short range of attack times—a few milliseconds at most. The duration and curvature of the attack
phase is just enough to soften the initial transient of the drum sound. On the other hand, the decay segment
of the EGs is quite long in some instruments, such as the cymbal voice.
Kick Drum
Tattoo’s kick drum was primarily inspired by the kick in the TR-909, arguably the most-used kick drum sound
in recent music history. Since the 808’s kick is nearly as ubiquitous, we made Tattoo’s kick flexible enough to
provide accurate emulations of both, as well as any sound in between the two and sounds unlike either.