What modulation features does Vital offer?

Vital's modulation system lets you drag any modulation source onto almost any control, preview the result before committing, and then shape that connection with stereo splitting and curve remapping. It covers custom LFO shapes, snappy envelopes, randomized sources like perlin noise, and performance inputs such as velocity, aftertouch, and MPE. If you want to design sounds by routing movement into parameters rather than editing static values, this is the part of the synth you'll spend most of your time in.

Drag-and-drop modulation with preview

Vital uses a fast, drag-and-drop workflow for modulation. You pick a source, drag it onto a target control, and the synth shows you a preview of the modulation before you commit it. That preview matters because it lets you experiment quickly without permanently ruining the sound you've been building — you can audition the movement first and decide whether to keep it.

The practical loop looks like this:

1. Choose or create a modulation source (an LFO, an envelope, or a random source).
2. Drag it onto the control you want to move — a filter cutoff, an oscillator parameter, a wavetable position, and so on.
3. Read the preview to see how the modulation will affect that control.
4. Commit the connection, then refine the amount and shape.

Because the preview happens before commitment, you can test several routings in a row without losing your starting point.

Modulation sources

Vital's sources fall into a few groups, and the page evidence names them directly.

Custom LFO shapes

LFOs in Vital aren't limited to stock waveforms. You can draw custom LFO shapes, which means the modulation itself can follow an arbitrary contour rather than a sine, triangle, or square. This is useful when you want rhythmic or evolving movement that doesn't match a standard shape.

Snappy envelopes

Envelopes are described as snappy, so they work well for fast, percussive modulation — quick filter blips, transient shaping, or short pitch drops — as well as for slower swells depending on how you set them.

Randomized sources (perlin noise)

Vital includes randomized modulation sources such as perlin noise. Perlin noise produces smooth, continuous variation rather than pure randomness, which makes it suited to organic, drifting movement instead of jittery jumps.

Performance and expression inputs

Vital supports modulation from velocity, aftertouch, and MPE control. These let the way you play feed directly into the sound:

• Velocity — how hard you hit a note changes the modulation amount.
• Aftertouch — pressure applied after the initial strike adds movement.
• MPE — per-note expression across multiple dimensions, so each note can carry its own modulation.

The page frames this as giving your sound "some human touch," which is the right way to think about it: these sources make the modulation respond to performance rather than run on a fixed timeline.

Stereo modulation and curve remapping

Two features extend what a single modulation connection can do.

Stereo modulation splits the left and right channels of every modulation, so a single routing can behave differently on each side. The page describes this as a way to get extra wide stereo effects — for example, an LFO that moves a parameter up on the left while moving it down on the right.

Remapping lets you customize the shape of every modulation connection. Instead of a straight linear response from source to target, you redraw the curve so the modulation responds non-linearly. A common use is making a source stay subtle across most of its range and then jump sharply near the top, or the reverse.

Together these mean a modulation connection isn't just "source moves target by X." You control the channel behavior and the response curve as well.

How the pieces fit together

What this means in practice

If you're deciding whether Vital's modulation system fits how you work, the key question is whether you want to design movement by routing and shaping connections rather than by hand-editing automation. Vital's approach is built around that: drag a source, preview it, commit, then split it across channels and redraw its curve. The combination of custom LFOs, envelopes, perlin noise, and performance inputs gives you both timed and played modulation, and the stereo and remap tools let one connection do more than a simple linear sweep.

For a concrete starting task: load a wavetable oscillator, drag an LFO onto the wavetable position, preview it, then remap the curve so the movement accelerates near the end of the LFO cycle, and finally enable stereo modulation to offset the left and right channels. That single chain exercises most of what the modulation system offers.