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Building instruments

Grid filters and modulation

Shape a Grid instrument with filters, envelopes, amplifiers and modulation modules.

Filters shape tone, envelopes shape a note over time, and modulation moves settings as the instrument plays. These are modules inside the Grid. Select a module to open all of its controls in the inspector.

Filters

cutoff or freq_hz chooses the frequency a filter acts around. resonance or q changes the emphasis around that point. Low-pass removes high frequencies, high-pass removes lows, band-pass keeps a band, and notch removes a band. All-pass choices mainly change phase, which becomes audible when mixed with another path.

Module Use and connections Controls
SVF Filter Choose low-pass, high-pass, band-pass or notch filtering. in → out. mode: LP, HP, BP, notch; cutoff: 20–20000 Hz; resonance: 0.1–20 ratio
Ladder Filter A driven ladder filter; cutoffOct accepts cutoff movement. in, cutoffOct → out. cutoff: 20–20000 Hz; resonance: 0–1 ratio; drive: 0–8; mode: LP4, LP2, HP4, BP4
Comb Filter A resonating feedback comb filter. in → out. frequency: 20–20000 Hz; resonance: 0–0.99 ratio; damp: 0–1 ratio
Formant Filter A vowel filter; vowel moves through A, E, I, O and U. in, vowelCv → out. vowel: 0–4; q: 0.5–20 ratio; gain_db: -12–12 dB
Peak EQ Boost or cut around one frequency. in → out. freq_hz: 20–20000 Hz; gain_db: -24–24 dB; q: 0.1–20 ratio
Low Shelf Boost or cut lows; q changes the transition. in → out. freq_hz: 20–2000 Hz; gain_db: -24–24 dB; q: 0.1–20 ratio
High Shelf Boost or cut highs; q changes the transition. in → out. freq_hz: 1000–20000 Hz; gain_db: -24–24 dB; q: 0.1–20 ratio
All-pass EQ Rotate phase without a deliberate level change. in → out. freq_hz: 20–20000 Hz; q: 0.1–20 ratio
SVF All-pass A multimode filter including all-pass. in → out. mode: LP, HP, BP, notch, allpass; cutoff: 20–20000 Hz; resonance: 0.1–20 ratio

Formant Filter takes a continuous vowel value: 0 is A, 1 is E, 2 is I, 3 is O and 4 is U, with blends between them. Connect a control signal to vowelCv for movement. Comb Filter produces pitched resonance from incoming sound; it needs an audio input to excite it.

The separate Peak EQ, Low Shelf and High Shelf modules have their own Q controls. The Grid effect modules also include Peaking EQ, Low Shelf EQ and High Shelf EQ, with a different set of controls. Search by the full displayed name.

Envelopes and amplification

Wire Note Input Gate to an envelope’s Gate input. Wire the envelope’s out to the gain input of Gain / VCA, and route the oscillator’s audio through the VCA. The envelope then turns a continuous tone into separate notes.

Module Use and connections Controls
Gain / VCA Multiply audio by the gain setting and the gain control signal. in, gain → out. gain: 0–2 ratio
ADSR Shape each note’s attack, decay, held sustain and release. Gate → out. attack: 0.1–10000 ms; decay: 0.1–10000 ms; sustain: 0–1 ratio; release: 0.1–10000 ms
AHDSR Add hold, curve tension, looping, legato and velocity response. Gate, retrigger, velocity → out. attack_ms: 0.1–10000 ms; hold_ms: 0–5000 ms; decay_ms: 0.1–10000 ms; sustain: 0–1 ratio; release_ms: 0.1–10000 ms; tension: -10–10; legato: 0–1; loop: 0–1; vel_sens: 0–1 ratio
AD Envelope Attack then decay, with no held sustain. Gate, retrigger → out. attack_ms: 0.1–10000 ms; decay_ms: 0.1–10000 ms; tension: -10–10
AR Envelope Attack to full level, then release when the gate ends. Gate, retrigger → out. attack_ms: 0.1–10000 ms; release_ms: 0.1–10000 ms; tension: -10–10

Attack controls the start; decay falls toward sustain; sustain is the held level; release fades after the gate ends. Millisecond controls measure time, while sustain is a ratio. On AHDSR, hold_ms pauses at the attack peak, tension changes the curve, legato avoids a fresh attack for overlapping notes, and loop repeats the envelope cycle while held. Its velocity input and vel_sens can make harder notes open it further. retrigger starts another envelope without needing to change the main gate.

Modulation sources and tools

A low-frequency oscillator, or LFO, supplies repeating movement. A sample-and-hold captures a value and keeps it until another trigger. Neither produces the main musical tone by itself. Patch these outputs to compatible control inputs; the Grid shows a reason when a port cannot accept the signal.

Module Use and connections Controls
LFO Repeating modulation; a rising sync resets its phase. sync → out. rate_hz: 0.01–20 Hz; shape: sine, triangle, square, saw, ramp; phase_offset: 0–1; depth: 0–1 ratio; bipolar: 0–1
Smooth Random Smoothly moving random values. none → out. rate_hz: 0.001–50 Hz
Random LFO Random values held until the next change. none → out. rate_hz: 0.001–50 Hz
Sample and Hold Capture the input on a rising gate. in, gate → out. No parameter controls.
Slew Limiter Smooth upward and downward movement separately. in → out. rise_ms: 0–1000 ms; fall_ms: 0–1000 ms
Envelope Follower Turn audio loudness into a control signal. in → out. attack_ms: 0–100 ms; release_ms: 0–2000 ms
Attenuator Scale or invert control movement. in → out. depth: -4–4 ratio
Inverter Negate the input. in → out. No parameter controls.
Constant A fixed control value or bias. none → out. value: -1–1 ratio
Quantiser Round movement to a grid of 1/steps. in → out. steps: 1–64
Mod Mixer Add up to four modulation signals; missing inputs contribute zero. in0, in1, in2, in3 → out. No parameter controls.

For LFO, phase_offset chooses the starting position in a cycle, depth sets movement size, and bipolar selects movement around zero rather than entirely above it. Quantiser uses steps subdivisions per unit; 12 subdivisions of an octave signal form semitone steps. The separate Scale Quantiser can keep pitches within a musical scale.

Use Attenuator with a negative depth to reverse movement. Use Mod Mixer to combine it with another source, or Constant to add an offset. Slew Limiter softens abrupt changes, while Envelope Follower lets one sound’s loudness steer another part of the patch.