Soundtoys Tremolator - Manual (Page 31)

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amount, or depth of modulation. This lets you create smoother and slower changes
in the rate and depth rather than the immediate and abrupt changes that would
occur with a very fast Attack setting. As mentioned, this is dependent on the
Threshold setting and how far past the Threshold setting the signal goes.
It is important to keep in mind that the attack and sustain characteristics of the
input signal will directly affect how you will want to set the Attack time. If the signal
is staccato and quickly moves above and below the Threshold it is likely that you will
not hear the changes in the Rate or Depth with slow Attack time settings. The input
signal will not be above the Threshold setting long enough for the slower attack time
to reach its full setting. It is also very important that the sound stay above the
Threshold setting for a period equal to the Attack time for the modulation to
respond.
Using various Attack times that are either very responsive to, or that are slower
than the changes of the input signal level, allows you to create a wide variety of
alterations in the tremolo effect. As we keep saying, there are no right or wrong set-
tings. It all depends on what kind of effect you are trying to achieve. Experiment.
There are a lot of neat possibilities.
Release
The Release knob works in a similar fashion to the Attack knob but determines how
quickly or slowly the Rate or Depth mod will return to their ‘normal’ settings once
the input signal has dropped below the Threshold setting. Release is based on time,
in milliseconds, with a range from 0ms to 5000ms (5 seconds).
Again, the way the level of the input signal changes will likely effect how you will
want to set the Release time. If you want the modulation changes to track a quickly
changing input signal you will likely want to have faster Release (and Attack) times.
If you want the depth and rate mod to change more smoothly you can increase the
Release (and/or Attack) times accordingly so they are slower than the rate of change
in the level of the incoming signal.
Remember that the Threshold setting interacts with and has a direct affect on when
the Rate and Depth modulation will begin to occur, how much of the modulation will
occur (based on how far above the Threshold setting the signal goes). How the
Attack and Release times will be set will most often depend on the type of response
you want and how long the signal stays above the threshold setting.