WHAT DOES AN ENVELOPE FILTER DO?!?!??!

Filters envelopes.

This is a pretty straightforward explanation:
http://www.ovnilab.com/articles/filter.shtml

 

Must have been really quick indeed. My suggestion is go to youtube, search for "envelope filter bass" and listen. Or if you insist on having the answer in words, I'll try to do it for you in exchange for you describing the colour red and the taste of water for me.

*smartass mode off*

 

Essentially it's a wah that is triggered by how hard you play instead of a rocker pedal.

 

It makes your bass go "quack" in up mode, or "dyoop" in down mode. More or less.

 

hilarious

 

All kidding aside, it creates an envelope of sound - attack, sustain, release and cut-off. The level of effect is usually triggered by how hard you hit the strings, light picking has little effect and hard picking makes lots of effect. Controls on the box will change the parameters of the envelope and how sensitive it is to your playing.
The link above to ovnilab is invaluable. Lots of honest reviews & info and it's run by a fellow TB'r.

 

Imagine a wave that moves across the spectrum of your EQ. The wave can go in either direction or either be on top or on bottom of your current EQ... and where it starts and how fast it moves will determine what kind of effect it will have on your attack. The shape of the wave (sine, square, etc...) can also be adjusted to change the sound of the effect.

 

It does this.



Think of it as a wah wah pedal that's operated by your attack (the envelope) -- the harder the attack, the more it goes 'wah'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto-wah

More here (with audio): http://www.pedalarea.com/envelope_filters.htm

 

I CAN advise that a pedal like the Source Audio Bass Envelope Filter Pro might have TOO MANY controls. I thought this pedal would let me save various configurations (it has 6 banks for saving stuff like EQ settings and effects), but the sad reality is that each knob (primarily sweep range and frequency) is very touchy. If you move them to adjust one effect, you might never find that "sweet-spot" again for another effect. Some of the earlier pedals I played with were very simple or had fixed presets. I don't mind playing with gear, but I'd rather play my bass. Sometimes too many options aren't the way to go... pedals are a great example of why. Just my $0.02

 

Makes a squishy sound.

 

I'm not knowledgeable about effects by any stretch of the imagination, but I think that's about the best explanation that there is!

 

Hey, no need to insult or threaten with physical violence. All I'm saying is, as much as we all love to talk about sound, you can present all these answers to a person who has no clue what this or that effect does, and then you present them an actuall sound sample and I promise it will significantly differ from what they expected. I'm also saying, those sound samples are easily accessible. I dare say, "go listen to the samples" works better as the "lil direction" you're looking for than any attempt to describe a new (to you) sound with words.

 

Like, red-squishy or watery, clear-squishy?

 

People, we've been over this, this kind of thing can only end one way:

What's the best kind of squishy for metal?

 

What they all said...^^^^^^


Here's a tip...

DO NOT lick the glue of the envelope.
Use a damp sponge or whatever you want.

I worked for an envelope printer and got the low down on what happens at the factories that make envelopes.

Some of the people that work there spit, blow their nose mutron and flick whatever into the glue vats.

Just a little FYI.......


Back to the topic..

 

Then you definitely don't want to be eating hot dogs either...