The ADSR voice
Program your own voice the way the original did: an eight-digit code typed on the calculator keys.
The sixth position on TONE is a voice you set yourself. There are no sliders: like the pocket synths it comes from, the voice is one eight-digit number, typed on the calculator and stored with M+. Each digit sets one thing, from 0 to 9.
Slide
POWERtoCALandTONEtoADSR.Press
MCto clear the memory.Type the eight digits on the white keys.
Press
M+.Slide
POWERback toONand play.
TONE on ADSR, the LCD shows the code and its envelope.The code stays when you quit and come back. If you never store one, the voice starts as 61079130, the English horn.
A leading zero can be skipped, because the calculator drops it anyway: 453200 is the same code as 00453200.
Left to right. The times are PocketTone's own; the original's manual only says that a bigger number means more.
| Digit | Sets | 0 … 9 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sound wave | 0 Piano · 1 Fantasy · 2 Violin · 3 Flute · 4 Guitar 1 · 5 Guitar 2 · 6 English horn · 7, 8, 9 Electro-Sound 1, 2, 3 |
| 2 | Attack | 0 instant … 9 about 1.4 seconds to reach full level |
| 3 | Decay | 0 none … 9 about 2.4 seconds down to the sustain level |
| 4 | Sustain level | 0 silent … 9 full |
| 5 | Sustain time | How long a held note takes to fade out: 0 about 0.05 s … 8 about 3.6 s. 9 holds for as long as the key is down. |
| 6 | Release | 0 almost none … 9 about 2.4 seconds, a long echo after you let go |
| 7 | Vibrato | 0 off … 9 deep, up to a bit more than half a semitone |
| 8 | Tremolo | 0 off … 9 deep |
- 0 to 4 are the waves of the five preset voices.
- 5, Guitar 2, is three uneven pulses an octave down. 6, English horn, is a narrow pulse an octave down. Neither has a preset of its own; you only reach them with a code.
- 7, 8 and 9, the Electro-Sounds, are the Piano, Fantasy and Violin waves with a fast pitch wobble on top.
Vibrato and tremolo have no speed digit: their speed follows the tempo, so TEMPO▲ and TEMPO▼ make them faster or slower.
The line under the code is a sketch of the envelope, not to scale: up for the attack, down to the sustain level, along for the sustain (flat when digit 5 is 9, sloping down otherwise) and down to nothing for the release. Vibrato and tremolo are not drawn.
23099130- Violin
33099130- Flute
00453200- Piano
61079130- English horn
70099924- Electro-Sound
The ADSR voice is part of PocketTone Pro.
Related
- The calculatorFlip POWER to CAL and PocketTone does sums. Every digit you type is a note, and = plays them back.
- Five voicesPiano, Fantasy, Violin, Flute and Guitar: five lo-fi characters, each built from a 1-bit pulse. And one voice you program.
- PocketTone ProOne purchase, no subscription. Every voice, every rhythm, recording, the melody memory and the effects.
Still stuck? Write to zhi@nonoaudio.com. Support page