Sometimes you want to make sure the harmonics always progress through their entire envelope. Enabling Trigger Mode does just that.
With Trigger Mode on, every harmonic progresses the full offset, attack and decay parts of their envelope. When reaching the sustain, it instantaneously moves to hold and then release.
Envelopes vary quite a bit across synths. Their behavior can be surprisingly subtle and complex. It’s a big ‘ole rabbit hole.
In Sine Machine, it’s a 3D rabbit hole! When playing a note with a lot of offset/attack, it’s possible that some of the individual harmonic envelopes won’t even have reached sustain by the time you release a note (and the MIDI Note Off is sent).
Sound Designer Tip: With Trigger Mode off (default), add 5 to 10 seconds of Low To High attack or offset. Notes will now progressively get brighter the longer the note is held. This gives you a lot of playful control linked to how long notes are being held. It is one of my favorite features of Sine Machine.
If you have long envelope times (longer than 10s, for example), Trigger Mode will quickly build up a wall of sound and consume all 20 voices! Great for ambient music, but it might be overwhelming when you are first getting the hang of it or have very harsh sounds set. Triple click the visualizer footer to panic and shut up all notes.
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