- **Attack Rate (AR)**: determines the rising time for the sound. the bigger the value, the faster the attack (0 to 31).
- **Decay Rate (DR)**: determines the diminishing time for the sound. the higher the value, the shorter the decay. it's the initial amplitude decay rate (0 to 31).
- **Sustain Level (SL)**: determines the point at which the sound ceases to decay and changes to a sound having a constant level. the sustain level is expressed as a fraction of the maximum level (0 to 15).
- **Decay Rate 2 (D2R) / Sustain Rate (SR)**: determines the diminishing time for the sound. the higher the value, the shorter the decay. this is the long "tail" of the sound that continues as long as the key is depressed (0 to 31).
- **Release Rate (RR)**: determines the rate at which the sound disappears after note off. the higher the value, the shorter the release (0 to 15).
- **Total Level (TL)**: represents the envelope’s highest amplitude, with 0 being the largest and 127 (decimal) the smallest. a change of one unit is about 0.75 dB.
- **Hardware Envelope Generator (SSG-EG)**: executes the built-in envelope, inherited from AY-3-8910 PSG. speed of execution is controlled via Decay Rate.
- **Envelope Scale (RS/KS)**: also known as "Key Scale" or "Rate Scale". determines the degree to which the envelope execution speed increases according to the pitch (0 to 3).
- **Frequency Multiplier (MULT)**: sets the coarse pitch offset in relation to the note (0 to 15). 0 is -1 octave, 1 is 0 octaves, 2 is 1 octave, 3 is 1 octave 7 semitones, and so on.
[FM instrument tutorial](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wS8edjurjDw): A great starting point to learn how create and work with FM sounds. this was made for DefleMask, but all the same principles apply.