Piqued

Piqued is a port of the envelope generator function from the open-source Mutable Instruments Peaks module, providing four independently-triggerable envelopes on outputs A to D, with independently mappable voltage-control via CV1 to CV4 inputs over envelope duration parameters for each segment of each envelope.

Triggers on each of the four envelopes can be mapped from any of the four trigger inputs (TR1 to TR4). Segment shape (curves) can be set for each segment of each of the four envelopes. A variety of envelope types are available, also independently settable for each envelope, including repeating (looping) envelope types. The shape of each envelope can be visualised while setting parameters.

An euclidean trigger filter is included turning the Piqued app into a quad-channel Euclidean polyrhythm generator, outputting envelopes instead of just gate/trigger signals. From v1.1 and later firmwares, voltage control is also possible over the Euclidean trigger filter parameters and the trigger delay time.

See the O&C videos page for some demonstrations of Piqued.

Controls

Piqued presents quite a rich UI (user interface), which is harder to describe in words than it is to use. The following explanations should make sense as soon as you see the UI in action. Once experienced, the interface becomes quite intuitive, we think.

	Left Encoder	Right Encoder
TURN	In menu settings mode, elect the type of envelope. In envelope visualisation mode, select channel A to D to edit (all channels always active)	Navigation mode: move up and down through the menu items (when in menu setting mode), or move back and forth between envelope segments (envelope visualisation/segment duration setting mode). Edit mode: increase or decrease the value being edited (segment durations when in envelope visualisation mode).
PRESS	Toggle between menu settings and envelope visualisation and segment duration settings.	Toggle between menu navigation (selection)/envelope segment selection mode and value editing mode
LONG	copy selected scale/mask to all channels/slots	App selection menu

	Up Button	Down Button
PRESS	Increase duration for currently selected envelope segment for currently displayed envelope generator (A to D) by 32 (when in envelope visualisation mode only)	Decrease duration for currently selected envelope segment for currently displayed envelope generator (A to D) by 32 (when in envelope visualisation mode only)
LONG PRESS

Available settings (per-channel)

Setting	Meaning
(envelope type)	the type of envelope (segment nomenclature is standard: A=attack, D=decay, S=sustain (level) and R=release). Available envelope types are described in the table below.
Trigger input	specifies which trigger/gate input, TR1 to TR4, is used to trigger or gate the envelope on the channel currently displayed.
Tr delay mode	sets the mode for the trigger delay. If enabled, the trigger delay will postpone the “firing” of the envelope (that is, the commencement of the attack segment of the envelope) for the time set by “Tr delay msecs” and “Tr delay secs” (see below). Available trigger delay modes are “Off”, “Queue” and “Ring”. “Queue” means that subsequent triggers received while a delay period is active are added to a queue for later action, up to a maximum queue depth set by the “Tr delay count” setting (maximum 32). Further triggers during the delay period are ignored until the number of queued triggers falls below the value set by “Tr delay count”. “Ring” is similar except that triggers received after the queue is full will replace the final trigger in the queue.
Tr delay count	sets the number of trigger delays that will be stored or buffered for later processing.
Tr delay msecs	trigger delay in milliseconds (range 0 to 999 milliseconds). If you set a trigger delay of greater than zero, then the envelope for that channel will not “fire” (commence its attack segment) until the specified delay has elapsed. The delay in milliseconds and the delay in seconds are added together, allowing very fine control over the delay. The “countdown” time for the delayed trigger is shown as a fall bar on the righthand side of the trigger indicator for that channel (at the top of the display).
Tr delay secs	trigger delay in seconds (range 0 to 64 seconds) - see Tr delay msecs above.
Eucl length	sets the length of the Euclidean pattern (range 2 to 32 in “beats”, where each beat is a received trigger/gate pulse) used to filter triggers for that channel. For a detailed explanation of Euclidean patterns and their use in rhythm generation, see this paper by Godfried Toussaint, or for a brief explanation, see [this presentation}(http://www.maths.usyd.edu.au/u/joachimw/talk2.pdf). “Eucl length” defaults to “Off”, which means there is no filtering of Triggers.
Eucl fill	sets the number of beats in the pattern that let triggers through to “fire” the envelope. If the fill number is equal to or greater than the Euclidean pattern length number, then every incoming trigger will pass the Euclidean filter and fire the envelope for that channel. If the fill number is zero, then none shall pass.
Eucl offset	sets the offset (or more accurately, the rotation) of the Euclidean pattern. The combination of pattern length (“Eucl length”) and number of active beats (“Eucl fill”) within that pattern length uniquely determines the Euclidean pattern, using the Bjorklund algorithm. For example, if “Eucl length” is set to 8 and “Eucl fill” is set to 5, and “Eucla offset” is set to the default of 0, then the pattern will be 10110110, where 1 is an active beat (triggers are allowed to pass) and 0 is inactive (triggers are blocked). By setting “Eucl offset” to 1, the pattern becomes 01101101, if set to 2 the pattern becomes 11011010 and so on.
CV1 ->	sets the mapping from the CV1 input. The value on CV1 can be ignored (“None”) or sent to control the duration of one of: Att(ack), Dec(ay), Sus(tain) (level, not duration) and Rel(ease), or (in v1.1 or later) it can be set to control the Euclidean trigger filter parameters: “Eleng” (Euclidean pattern length), “Efill” (Euclidean pattern fill, “Eoffs” (Euclidean pattern offset/rotation), or the trigger delay time (“Delay”). Note that when set to “Eleng” or “Efill”, negative voltages can be used to block all triggers. The input CV values are added to whatever is set for the duration/level or Euclidean parameters or trigger delay time via the menu settings.
CV2 ->	same as “CV1 ->”, but for the CV2 input
CV3 ->	same as “CV1 ->”, but for the CV3 input
CV4 ->	same as “CV1 ->”, but for the CV4 input
Hard reset	If set to on, the envelope will instantly restart at zero on the next received trigger/gate, rather than starting from the amplitude that it is at at the time that the trigger/gate signal is received.
Gate high	when set to “Yes”, forces the trigger/gate to high. This is useful when using the looping envelope types, which then just loop continuously, regardless of what is happen on their trigger/gate input, and thus they act as LFOs.
Attack shape	sets the shape of the attack segment for the currently displayed envelope. Available shapes are listed in the table below.
Decay shape	sets the shape of the decay segment for the currently displayed envelope. Available shapes are listed in the table below.
Release shape	sets the shape of the release segment for the currently displayed envelope. Available shapes are listed in the table below.

Envelope type	Description
AD	Attack-Decay: the attack segment commences on receipt of a trigger or on the rising edge of a gate signal, and the decay segment follows immediately after the attack segment has reached its peak, regardless of whether the gate or trigger signal is still high.
ADSR	Attack-Decay-Sustain-Release: just like every other ADSR envelope
ADR	Attack-Decay-Release: the attack segment commences on receipt of a trigger or on the rising edge of a gate signal, and the decay segment follows immediately after the attack segment has reached its peak. The sustain level is an inflection point for the decay - when the decay reaches the sustain level, the release segment immediately commences, regardless of whether the gate or trigger signal is still high. See the Tips section below on how to use the ADR mode as an AHR/AHD (attack-hold-release or attack-hold-decay) envelope generator with trigger signals.
(AHR)	the ADR mode can be used as an AHR (attack-hold-release, sometimes also called AHD (attack-hold-decay)) envelope generator. AHR envelope are useful when you want to generate an envelope with a flat sustain period, which usually requires a gate input with some duration. If you only have trigger signals, that is, short pulses, then you can create an AHR envelope by choosing ADR mode, and setting the sustain inflection point to 255 (maximum). By doing that, the decay segment falls from maximum value to… maximum value - in other words, it’s flat! The decay segment time/duration then sets the hold duration after a trigger is received. Also try setting the sustain level in ADR mode to something a little bit less than 255 (say 230), and set the decay shape to Wiggle. Now you have an AHR envelope with a wiggly and slightly downsloping plateau segment. Several variations on this theme are possible.
ASR	Attack-Sustain-Release: the attack segment commences on receipt of a trigger or on the rising edge of a gate signal, and the envelope stays at maximum level for as long as the gate input for it remains high (sustain), and then commences the release segment as soon as the gate signal goes low.
ADSAR	is like an ADSR envelope, except that the attack segment re-triggers as soon as the sustain segment is finished, before proceeding to the release segment.
ADAR	is like the ADR envelope, except that the attack segment re-triggers as soon as the decay segment has finished, before going into the release segment.
AD loop	is like the AD envelope, except that it automatically re-triggers for as long as the trigger/gate input for it is high (see also the Gate high setting)
ADR loop	is like the ADR envelope, except that it automatically re-triggers for as long as the trigger/gate input for it is high (see also the Gate high setting)
ADAR loop	is like the ADAR envelope, except that it automatically re-triggers for as long as the trigger/gate input for it is high (see also the Gate high setting)

Segment shape	Description
Lin	Linear (a straight line, equation x = t where t is time)
Exp	Exponential (equation x = 1 - e-4t)
Quart	Quartic (equation x = t3.32)
Sine	half a sine wave (equation x = sin(8 * pi * t) )
Ledge	almost a square wave, but with rounded corners, when used for attack, gives an immediate (punchy) rise, then a plateau. When used for decay or release, it has a plateau before falling.
Cliff	similar to Ledge, but when used for attack, has a delay before rising, when used for decay or release, it falls immediately.
Gate (v1.1)	is used when gate outputs are desired. The value rises immediately to maximum in the attack segment, and the value falls immediately to minimum in the decay and release segments. In other words, a pulse is output.
BgDip	Big dipper - has one large bump on the way up or down.
MeDip	Medium dipper - has a medium sized dip on the way up or down.
LtDip	Little dipper - has a little dip (more a ledge) on the way up or down.
Wiggl	Wiggles - lots of wiggles on the way up or down.

Inputs and outputs

Trigger input and CV1 to CV4 are mappable per-channel via the menu, as described above. Outputs for envelopes A to D appear on outputs A to D respectively.

Screensaver display

The screen is divided into quadrants, each showing a rolling display of the output values on each of channels A to D. Superimposed on this rolling value line is a representation of the envelope for that channel, as it progresses through its segments.

This documentation has been reformatted and republished from the original Ornament and Crime manual, with permission from the copyright holders