You know how, if you (think) you know everything about analog
synthesis, that when you buy a certain module and having
oodles of experience with it before, you don't even bother to
download or read the manual And if it comes with one, it's one
of those "how quaint, a manual for this thing I have 5 million
flying hours with' kind of deal

Well, I'm not even sure if this is in the Doepfer A-119 (envelope
detector) manual, but I found something really really cool to do
with it.

OK, the patch:

You'll need: a Doe A-119, a joystick, a way of adding two control
voltages together, possibly a way of offsetting those so that they
do NOT go negative.

Set up some sort of repeating event patch - short, percussive in
nature. A square wave driving a quick envelope gen tha's
opening a VCA of some sound. It ashould be a quick pattern
however.

Configure the joystick so that one axis controls the pitch of the
sound source. Set up the other axis to control the frequency of
the square wave driving the envelope gen. So, if you move the
joystick one way, the pitch rises. Across the other axis, the
speed of the percussive envelope increases.

OK, now...also run both the X and Y outputs of the joystick
through a voltage adder so that you will get some sort of
combined single voltage out of the joystick in which both X and Y
location have a say in the matter. You may need to adjust the
amplitude of that mixture in that they are, well...added now and
things might run a bit hot. Call this voltage Z

Route Z into a Doepfer A-119. Adjust the Gain to taste (in my
case this meant full up) and the threshold to about 3. Call this
new signal Z2

Now, route the the square wave driving the envelope through a
VCA, with Z2 as the control voltage and you will discover the
most amazing thing.

What I was expecting was a dynamic output, a second shaping
envelope if you will of the string and such that both x and y
movement effected that amplitude. What I got however was an
highly interactive control source that will turn on and off based on
movement alone, on either axis.. If the joystick is moving, the
activity begins. When it stops, the string stop --> NO MATTER
WHERE YOU REST THE JOYSTCK.

Very cool.

I still haven't looked at the A-119 manual.

- Peter