Overview
Minimal Audio's modulation system is centered around the modulation control bar, located in the middle of both the Engine and Effects views.
Here, you can quickly view all modulators, assign modulation via drag-and-drop, access the mod matrix, change a modulator’s type, and open modulator views for further editing.
- Click the "MATRIX" button to open the full modulation matrix. Here, you can view and edit all modulation connections at once, and filter them by source or destination. Learn more on the Mod Matrix page.
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Click on a modulator to open its panel and adjust its settings. Additionally, you can copy and paste modulators by holding Option (macOS) or Alt (Windows) while dragging and dropping.
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You can assign modulation by dragging and dropping onto the circular icon. Modulation can also be assigned via the Mod Matrix or by right-clicking on a control and selecting "Add Modulator."
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The nine central modulator types can be swapped by clicking the modulator’s name. Options include Envelope, LFO, Curve, and Follower. Swapping modulator types will preserve all existing modulation assignments, allowing you to easily alter the movement throughout a patch.
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On the right side of the modulation control bar, you'll find the Keyboard and MPE Modulators, which offer immediate access to modulation sources like velocity and pitch bend. To access the MPE mode option, open the key modulator panel. When MPE mode is active, all six keyboard modulators switch to MPE controls, such as Strike and Slide. Learn more about how to enable MPE.
Modulation Assignments
Once a modulation connection is created, most modulation settings can be adjusted directly from the knob or slider. Additional settings can be edited in the Mod Matrix or by right-clicking on the control.
Modulation Amount
Once modulation is assigned, a circular "modulation slider" appears next to the control. This slider allows you to adjust how much modulation is applied to the parameter.
- Drag the modulation slider to adjust the modulation depth.
- Right-click to access options for bipolar modulation, connection bypass, or to update the modulation assignment.
- Option-Shift-click (macOS) or Alt-Shift-click (Windows) on the modulation slider to toggle bipolar mode.
- You can also drag another modulator onto the modulation slider to modulate the connection’s depth.
Depth Modulation
"Depth modulation" refers to modulating the amount of one modulation connection using another modulator. A common example would be using a macro knob to control how much an LFO modulates a parameter.
You can create a depth modulation connection by dragging and dropping any modulator onto an existing modulation slider or by using the Mod Matrix.
- Once assigned, you can control the depth modulation amount by dragging the modulation slider. To adjust the original modulation as if no depth modulation were assigned, hold the Shift key and drag the modulation slider.
- Right-click to access options for bipolar modulation and to update the modulation assignment.
Multiple Modulation Assignments
Once multiple modulators are assigned to a parameter, a "▼" icon will appear next to the control. Clicking this icon opens a popup where you can select which modulation slider to display for editing.
Selecting a modulator will also highlight that modulation throughout the plugin and open the modulator panel when possible. More information on modulator highlighting is provided below.
Modulator Highlighting
The modulation system supports unlimited connections for each modulatable parameter, which means it's not always possible to display every connection next to each knob or slider. To address this, a color-coded highlighting system is used to clarify which modulation sliders are connected to which modulators.
Yellow indicates that the modulator is highlighted, while purple shows that the associated modulator is not currently highlighted. This color coding applies to both the modulation slider and the currently selected modulator in the modulation control bar.
Typically, the currently open modulator panel determines which modulation sliders are visible and highlighted. However, you can also hover over any modulator in the control bar or modulation slider to highlight all related connections.
Modulators
Learn about the individual modulators here: