Editing or enveloping the perColate bowedbar~ object

Hello,

I am using the perColate bowedbar~ object for a project.

I am hoping to remove the "striking" component of its sound. The reason for this is that I am hoping to modify the application of the instrument, to make it act more like a resonant bar or panel, rather than a struck object which then resonates. As part of this project I am driving the amplitude compoment of the bowedbar~ object with another, relatively slow moving signal.

I realise that I can put an envelope over the instument to remove the inital attack, but as the signal driving the object is constantly refreshing, every time I send a new signal or sequence of amplitude information the bowedbar~ keeps on making a series of clicks as the input signal ramps up and down ... (stike --- resonate, stike --- resonate, etc... I am after resonate, resonate, resonate)

Now I am wondering four things:

1: Is is possible to put an envelope over the object which would remove the click/strike component of the sound, without taking chunks out of what would otherwise be a smooth, continuously variable signal? I imagine that to do this the envelope would in some way be sidechain driven by the input signal that is controlling the bowedbar oject.

2: Alternatively, is it feasible to hack into the bowedbar object and remove the struck component, or am I right in thinking that as a physical model this striking actually is driving the rest of the sound?

3: How do you look at the workings of an object anyway, as max only opens the help file, not the original object?

4: Are there other good (ie free max/msp objects) physical modelling objects that might function in a similar manner? I want to drive thier amplitue and frequency from another source. Im thinking waveguide meshes?

I hope this is explained clearly enough!

Cheers all

Eliot