ROXY's Instant Envelope Follower Demonstrator

[rocknrollkat]

Hi gang,
Many of you I'm sure wonder what goes on inside modules labeled with esoteric names like 'Envelope Follower'.
Then when you open 'em up, you see what I see.
Code.
Oh goody.
2 years into the books to find out what's happening, bad idea.
I don't know modern code either, but don't despair, these modules are emulating real world electronics devices.
So let's take a look from that perspective.
Consider that we have a waveform of varying amplitude, louder, softer, like music.
Those variations are called the "amplitude envelope".
We can extract a D.C. voltage that tracks those amplitude fluctuations over time with something that follows the envelope, yup, an envelope follower !
That extracted D.C. voltage can be used to control oscillators, filters, etc., in step with the changing amplitude of the waveform in question.
Here's how it's done.
Send the waveform into a diode to be rectified into D.C., then filter that sloppy D.C. with a capacitor, and there you have it, a smooth D.C. voltage that follows the amplitude of the original waveform !
Open up the box, see what's inside.
I disabled the V.U. meter's internal ballistics so it follows the Envelope Follower's ballistics.
Have fun, and part two is in the hopper, stay tuned, this gets better !

ROXY