[LAU] Two questions about mono/polyphonic behaviours

[Q]

James Morris wrote:
> 1) Monophonic
> 
> in the event a note is playing and a new note is played, would you expect
> 
> a) the envelope release stage of the old note to continue while the
> new note plays?

Never, because from the monosynths (hardware and software) I've got and 
my understanding of synths, I wouldn't consider that monophonic 
behaviour. To my mind that would be exhibiting two-note polyphony (not 
duophony) as it would be allowing two notes to sound at once, the 
release of one overlapping the attack of another.

Depending on the architecture/settings of the synth (and assuming legato 
playing, as stated in the question) I would expect either the envelope 
to retrigger when the new note is played, or the SUSTAIN stage of the 
old note to continue whilst the new note sounds and the release stage to 
only activate when I release the last note (i.e. the envelope doesn't 
retrigger until the key is fully released).

Having said that, reading the manual, I have a synth which exhibits a 
third behaviour, dubbed legato off, where the envelope is retriggered 
from the current envelope level (whichever ADSR stage it is at), rather 
than retriggered from 0 V every time. This is the Moog Little Phatty. To 
be honest, I only ever use the LP in legato mode.

I have two synths that are switchable between legato and retrigger: one 
will only ever get used in retrigger because it would be quite a pain in 
the arse to change the settings and the other I think so far has only 
ever been used in legato mode -- it just suits the way I play, if I want 
retriggering, I play staccato and tweak the release to suit the speed of 
playing.

Having said that, I have one synth that only retriggers (ARP Axxe) and I 
just live with it, but where I have the option I tend to prefer legato 
behaviour.

> b) the old note to cut and the new note play?

Yes, when considering the pitch (see my first comment above regarding 
monophonic behaviour) with one caveat. That is, assuming that the second 
note is capable of triggering under the note priority the synth is set 
to. (The Axxe actually has the behaviour that if you play notes above 
the one you're holding, it will retrigger the note you're holding, being 
low note priority.)

In terms of the filter envelope and amp envelope (and any other 
envelopes there may be) properties of the note, as stated above, it 
depends on whether the synth is set to retrigger the envelopes every 
time a note is pressed.

> 
> 2) Polyphonic - This is in terms of a sampler whose playback mode is
> 'Singleshot' where the sample is played back in full regardless of
> note-off events. Would you expect the retriggering of the same note
> within time < sample-duration to cause:
> 
> a) a second instance of the sample to play back simultaneously (albeit
> beginning and ending later in time) without affecting the first?
> b) playback of the first instance to stop before being retriggered as
> the second (if we're going to talk about first and second)?
> 

Sorry, I've no experience with single-shot samples, so can't comment.

> ---
> 
> I would expect to be able to have a choice between a and b in both
> questions 1 and 2 above. But do general users? Should I expect them to
> go through the same confusion I have to learn the subtle differences
> (subtle to untrained ears at least).

For 1b, your expectation is a nicety, sure. For 1a, I wouldn't expect 
that choice.

As always, other people's fuel consumption may vary.

Hope this helps.

Q