MATHS builds a full ADSR by chaining Channel 1 and Channel 4 with EOR as the link

MATHS natively produces only AD or ASR shapes, but a full ADSR emerges from chaining its two function generators. Patch: gate to CH.1 Signal Input; CH.1 End Of Rise (EOR) to CH.4 Trigger Input; take the output from the OR bus (with unused CH.2/CH.3 attenuverters at 12:00). Stage mapping: CH.1 and CH.4 Rise together set Attack (make them similar for a typical ADSR); CH.4 Fall sets Decay; CH.1’s attenuverter level sets Sustain; CH.1 Fall sets Release. The key constraint is that CH.1’s attenuverter must be set lower than CH.4’s (which sits near full clockwise) — otherwise the decay transient CH.4 stamps at note-on would not sit above the sustain level and the decay stage would be skipped. ‘Sustain’ is not a dedicated circuit stage: it is the held level of CH.1’s ASR function, onto which CH.4 adds a decay transient when the gate arrives. Deliberately making CH.1 Rise longer than CH.4 Rise instead yields a two-stage attack. This is one of MATHS’ signature compound patches.

Examples

Gate → CH.1 Signal IN; CH.1 attenuverter ~9 o’clock (sustain level, below CH.4); CH.1 EOR → CH.4 TRIG IN; CH.4 attenuverter full CW; OR OUT with CH.2/CH.3 at noon. Gate high: CH.1 rises (Attack), EOR fires, CH.4 peaks then falls (Decay), held level is Sustain; gate low: CH.1 falls (Release).

Assessment

Map each ADSR stage to the specific MATHS channel/control that sets it. State which channel and control set Sustain and the constraint its value must satisfy relative to CH.4, and explain why violating that constraint skips the decay stage. What happens if CH.1 Rise is made longer than CH.4 Rise?