Format: Eurorack
Width: 8HP
Depth: 42mm
Current: 43mA @ + 12V, 25mA @ -12V
Aloysius is an envelope generator, also known as a Trapezoid generator, consisting of AHDW (Attack/Hold/Decay/Weight).All envelope times can be controlled by CV, and by setting it to auto-trigger, it can also function as a complex voltage-controlled LFO.
The shape of the attack and decay sections can be independently and continuously adjusted from exponential to linear to logarithmic.
The module consists of discrete logic with all-analog components, without the use of microcontrollers, digital-to-analog conversion, or quantization of voltage levels or response times.
Aloysius' input and output jacks are illuminated, glowing red for positive voltage and blue for negative voltage (audio appears purple due to rapid positive/negative switching).
Each jack individually from top to bottom:
is.Each Envelope Time CV input has a voltage range of 10V which corresponds to the full range of the control knob.The knob and CV values are simply summed, and negative CV is also accepted (negative CV has the same effect as turning the knob counter-clockwise).
There are four large knobs on the front panel, one for Attack, Hold, Decay, and Wait.Two small knobs at the bottom of the module set the shape of the attack and decay portions of the envelope.There are three switches, the upper switch sets the operating mode, and the lower two set the time width, attack/decay time and hold/wait time respectively.
The actual operation depends on the mode switch, but the basic operation is common to all modes.
In this mode, a pulse to the Gate input triggers the envelope (the image below shows the input trigger/gate signal in green and the output envelope in yellow).
When triggered, the envelope will rise at the rate set by the Attack knob (and CV) until it reaches its maximum value (8V).The raised envelope stays at the maximum value (time) set by the Hold knob (and CV).Then it will descend at the rate set by the Decay knob (and CV) until it reaches 0V and the envelope will stop.
The envelope will always rise to its maximum level.This is the case even if the input trigger length is less than the time required to reach the maximum value.
The envelope can be retriggered in the Decay stage, in which case it will start ramping up from the level at which it was triggered to the maximum level again (no retrigger reset to 0V).
Received triggers during the attack or hold stages are ignored.
The only difference between this mode and 'Hold' mode is that the transition from hold to decay occurs when the input trigger signal goes from high to low.In this mode the Hold time control has no effect and the length of the input trigger (gate) matters.
In this mode, the envelope becomes a free-running LFO.When the level reaches 0V at the end of the decay stage, the envelope will wait the amount of time set by the Wait knob (and CV) before automatically retriggering the attack.Note that the Gate input can still be used in this mode to re-trigger the envelope mid-cycle.
The Time range switch has three choices: Mid(ium), Slow, Fast. If you select Fast, you can adjust each stage of the envelope in roughly 3 millisecond to 1 second. Medium is about 1x slower and Slow is 6x slower.The upper Range switch sets the amount of Attack and Decay time adjustment, and the lower Range switch sets the amount of Hold and Wait time adjustment.
' A The small knob above labeled ' sets the shape of the attack stage.At the center position of the knob, the attack becomes linear (simple ramp shape).Turning it counter-clockwise makes the attack exponential, so it starts slowly and then gets faster.If manipulated clockwise, the attack is logarithmic, creating a shape that starts rising quickly and then slows down.
' D The lower knob labeled ' sets the shape of the decay stage in a similar fashion as above.
Note that traditional analog ADSR envelope generators have logarithmic attack and exponential decay release.
