What Pitch Bend Setting Do You Use?

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Paul Slocum
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2008/09/02 16:26:21 (permalink)

What Pitch Bend Setting Do You Use?

My friend and I are designing a Sega Genesis MIDI adapter (supporting its FM synth chip and its square wave chip). We are working on the pitch bend support and are wondering what most people set pitch bend to? On most devices you set the amount of musical half-steps that the pitch bend wheel shifts when it's all the way up or all the way down. I normally set mine to two half-steps.

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    Jim Roseberry
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    RE: What Pitch Bend Setting Do You Use? 2008/09/02 17:11:22 (permalink)
    It's common to bend a whole step... so two half-steps would be a common setting.
    It's also pretty common to bend an octave (twelve half steps) to simulate a whammy bar/etc.
    Some folks like to set pitch-bend range to 3 half steps... so their bends don't sound too perfectly in tune (requires a bit more control).

    FWIW, Most modern synths let you specify a separate bend amount for up/down.
    ie: You can bend down an octave (for whammy EFX)... and bend up two semitones (typical bend).
    This is what I like best...
    post edited by Jim Roseberry - 2008/09/02 17:15:01

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    kayehl
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    RE: What Pitch Bend Setting Do You Use? 2008/09/03 03:07:25 (permalink)

    +1

    I am not an expert
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    losguy
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    RE: What Pitch Bend Setting Do You Use? 2008/09/03 19:24:28 (permalink)
    ORIGINAL: Jim Roseberry
    It's common to bend a whole step... so two half-steps would be a common setting.
    It's also pretty common to bend an octave (twelve half steps) to simulate a whammy bar/etc.
    Some folks like to set pitch-bend range to 3 half steps... so their bends don't sound too perfectly in tune (requires a bit more control).

    FWIW, Most modern synths let you specify a separate bend amount for up/down.
    ie: You can bend down an octave (for whammy EFX)... and bend up two semitones (typical bend).
    This is what I like best...

    +1 FOr that reason, I wish synths would support a separate CC for an "auxiliary" pitch bend, with settable ranges for both. That way, a controller like a Novation ReMote SL could assign a whole step to the joystick, and an octave to the X-Y pad for whammy's and hammer-ons.

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    Crg
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    RE: What Pitch Bend Setting Do You Use? 2008/09/07 07:56:01 (permalink)
    If you're going to emulate guitar sounds with your controller you should be able to have a 12 bend range. Most of the soft synths open up with a 2 bend range. I've found using 12 works much better on guitar synth. But I'm sure you should have a full 1 to 24 bend range for other applications.

    Craig DuBuc
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