I tried following Cakewalks online directions for portamento, but either I'm doing something wrong or it's not working as the minimal online instructions say....all I'm wanting to do, is make about an 8 bar synth solo (that I'm still tweaking in z3ta+2 to get sounding right) to set what I think is called portamento, to where it sort of slides into each note...I don't have a MIDI controller, but figured it would be a straightforward thing to draw or set something somewhere the settings and play around with them until I heard what I wanted but I don't know how or where to do this in the piano roll view...is it even possible? x3ta+2 is mind numbingly confusing

I've never used a plugin to do this, so I'm ignorant when it comes to any of that.  But the brute-force way to do this would be to create an RPN envelope (fine-tune pitch bend) on the track, and use that to bend the end of each note up or down to the next, then snap the envelope back to the middle at the beginning of each note.  The results would probably be a little weird and require some tweaking, and the notes would need to be within (I think) a major second of each other for this to work. 
 
Not ideal but it's all I've got. :)

 
I may be wrong, but I think what you want has to exist in the patch.
 
There are mono sounds that will only trigger one note at a time which are programmed to slide up into the next note, like the old Moogs.
 
The only other way I think is, again, if portamento is programmed into, say, a string patch, then you could trigger it via controller numbers.

In the standard MIDI spec, Controller 5 adjusts the portamento time and controller 65 controls whether it's on or off.  Some synths use controller 84 to control the start note of a given slide (an example being Yamaha XG synths).

With Z3ta+2 , portamento parameters are set within the patch itself.  Of course, you could use MIDI Learn map CC5 to the portamento time or you could even automate the portamento time value.

To get a note to slide to the next note without re-triggering the sound's envelope(s), set the polyphony of that patch to 1 and set the portamento mode to fing and make sure the notes overlap.

You can  set the portamento mode to norm or fing.  Norm applies portamento for every note, regardless of when it's triggered.

If you set polyphony to 1, and set the portamento mode to "Fing", the portamento is applied only if the "note on" event of one note occurs BEFORE the "note off" even of the previous note.  Essentially, portamento is applied if the note starts before the previous note has ended.

I guess the best way to do this it to pull up Z3ta+2, load (or make) a basic sawtooth patch and test it out.
 
I hope this makes some sense.

promidi
In the standard MIDI spec, Controller 5 adjusts the portamento time and controller 65 controls whether it's on or off.  Some synths use controller 84 to control the start note of a given slide (an example being Yamaha XG synths).

With Z3ta+2 , portamento parameters are set within the patch itself.  Of course, you could use MIDI Learn map CC5 to the portamento time or you could even automate the portamento time value.

To get a note to slide to the next note without re-triggering the sound's envelope(s), set the polyphony of that patch to 1 and set the portamento mode to fing and make sure the notes overlap.

You can  set the portamento mode to norm or fing.  Norm applies portamento for every note, regardless of when it's triggered.

If you set polyphony to 1, and set the portamento mode to "Fing", the portamento is applied only if the "note on" event of one note occurs BEFORE the "note off" even of the previous note.  Essentially, portamento is applied if the note starts before the previous note has ended.

I guess the best way to do this it to pull up Z3ta+2, load (or make) a basic sawtooth patch and test it out.
 
I hope this makes some sense.

but where Z3ta+2 is the portamento stuff set??

guitz
 
but where Z3ta+2 is the portamento stuff set??

If you look near the top left of the Z3ta+2 screen, where you set the waveform, there is a "perform" button.  If you click this, there you can set various pitch shifting parameters.  The one you're interested in is "PORTAMENTO MODE".  There are 4 options there.  You can also set the PORTAMENTO TIME here (if portamento is set to fix)

More information about these modes can be found in the user guide on page 24

Off: No portamento.

Norm, Fix: Normal mode, with a fixed time (set by the P. Time parameter) for the new note to reach its
pitch. In legato mode (See “Master section” on page 14), portamento is in effect even when the first
note has been released.

Norm, Var: Normal mode, with portamento time depending also on the interval between the notes.

Fing, Fix: Fingered mode with fixed time. In legato mode, the first note must be held in order for the
portamento glide to take place.

Fing, Var: Fingered mode, with portamento time depending also on the interval between the notes.

promidi

guitz
 
but where Z3ta+2 is the portamento stuff set??

If you look near the top left of the Z3ta+2 screen, where you set the waveform, there is a "perform" button.  If you click this, there you can set various pitch shifting parameters.  The one you're interested in is "PORTAMENTO MODE".  There are 4 options there.  You can also set the PORTAMENTO TIME here (if portamento is set to fix)

More information about these modes can be found in the user guide on page 24

Off: No portamento.

Norm, Fix: Normal mode, with a fixed time (set by the P. Time parameter) for the new note to reach its
pitch. In legato mode (See “Master section” on page 14), portamento is in effect even when the first
note has been released.

Norm, Var: Normal mode, with portamento time depending also on the interval between the notes.

Fing, Fix: Fingered mode with fixed time. In legato mode, the first note must be held in order for the
portamento glide to take place.

Fing, Var: Fingered mode, with portamento time depending also on the interval between the notes.

 
I'm not seeing a 'perform' button in the top left?
 
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Ah, you've been typing Z3ta+2 but that's Z3ta+1. They're different synths entirely.

That's the old version of Zeta. It should have Porta as well but you might want to use the newer version.
 
Also I asked this same question about a year ago and got a lot of good answers. I'll see if I can find the thread.
 
BRB...

guitz
 
I'm not seeing a 'perform' button in the top left?

Ah, your original post stated z3ta+2 , the above image is from z3ta+1