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This module is used to shape the loudness or dynamics of a note when connected to a VCA (Voltage Controlled Amplifier), as well as how its frequency content or timbre changes over time when connected to a VCF (Voltage Controlled Filter).

To do this, and envelope generator creates a voltage that typically rises from zero volts to some maximum level, and back down again. You control how long this takes, usually in various stages: an attack stage as it goes from zero to max, a decay stage as if falls back down from maximum to either zero (in the case of an AD, or Attack/Decay envelope) or an intermediate level known as the sustain, and then (usually after a key has been released and the corresponding gate signal has gone back to zero) from the sustain level back to zero over a duration known as its release.

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