Follower and Steps

Envelope Follower

Fig. 4

The Envelope Follower reading a kick drum.

Turns a track’s level into movement. Point it at a kick to duck a pad, or at a vocal to open a filter as the singer pushes. The source can be the same track or another one.

For ducking, invert the range

Put Lo above Hi in the target’s settings, so a loud source means a low parameter value. That gives you sidechain behaviour on any parameter, not just volume.

Control	Range	What it does
Source	any track	Whose level to follow. Starts as the modulator’s own track.
Attack	ms	How quickly it rises to a hit.
Release	ms	How quickly it falls away afterwards.
Depth	0 to 100%	How much output it produces.
Gain	0.1 to 16x	Fine level boost for the source.
Boost	0 to +48 dB	Coarse level boost, for quiet sources.

Steps

Fig. 5

Steps, an eight-step pattern synced to quarter notes.

A step sequencer for parameters: up to sixteen steps, each one a held value, advancing on a beat division you choose.

Drag a bar to set its value, or press the dice to roll the lot. The highlighted bar is the step playing now. Randomising is the quickest way to land on a pattern you would never have drawn on purpose.