Portamento/Legato via pitch wheel

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matvtssf
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2015/05/12 14:22:21 (permalink)

Portamento/Legato via pitch wheel

Hi everyone,
 
I was wondering if anyone knew of an easier technique or method for creating very quick note slides to new notes in General MIDI. In old Super NES video games (and sometimes Playstation), there was a technique that composer Nobuo Uematsu used to use where he would slide one note to another without retriggering a note.
 
My primary music making method in the past was using a program called Impulse Tracker. There it's easy to do:
 
C-5 .00
D-5 GFF  - this would slide C to D instantly.
 
 
 
As far as I know, the only way to do that in General MIDI/Cakewalk is to input the note, extend it for a length, and then convert the notes you're trying to slide to as instant pitch wheel values. I created a spreadsheet that helped me do that quickly. Impulse Tracker has the ability to output to .MID as well, and it utilizes this method. But, it's kind of rough and it's not my primary MIDI sequencer, Cakewalk is.
 
My question is, short of having a VST plugin that supports it (I'm tryin to use old external MIDI synth modules), is it possible to do this in cakewalk? Or, perhaps is there a CAL script that could convert the notes to pitch wheel so it doesn't have to be all done by hand? (If not, I wonder if someone would be willing to write one for me for a commission)
 
(I had example MP3 and MID links but my reputation isn't high enough to post links on this forum yet)
 
Any help or information would be appreciated. :) Thanks!
post edited by matvtssf - 2015/05/12 14:29:30
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    Kamikaze
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    Re: Portamento/Legato via pitch wheel 2015/05/12 23:09:38 (permalink)
    Some synths offer a portamento option, that is either on or off. When it is on, it usually only occurs when the end of the not overlaps with the next note. Typically their is a portamento rate, that dictates the speed the not changes pitch to the new one. You then hear the two notes as one with a change in pitch between the. The attack part of an envelope and if a saple the transient of the sample is triggered on the first portion of the note, but not re-trigger when the overlapping second note starts (the second not with play from it's mid-point), adding to the effect that it is one note.
     
    What VSTi were you wanting to use?

     
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    matvtssf
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    Re: Portamento/Legato via pitch wheel 2015/05/13 01:12:43 (permalink)
    I have SynthFont VST for soundfonts, and I also have a SoundCanvas 88 and a Proteus 2 that I just picked up off eBay. I also have a K1000 coming in.
     
    The goal is to create old style Final Fantasy songs and then utilize the effect in MIDI, though that's sounding like it might be tougher to do!
     
    I can do it in MIDI, I just have to convert it from a different program and inject it in to Cakewalk. That's the easier way. The longer way would be to utilize the spreadsheet I created and input the notes one at a time via pitch wheel's event list (which isn't that big a deal.. but having a CAL script convert the notes to pitch wheel keeping pitch sensitivity in to effect would be amazingly helpful)
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    Kamikaze
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    Re: Portamento/Legato via pitch wheel 2015/05/13 01:39:38 (permalink)
    Ok so with the Emu Proteus, Midi controller 65 turns portamento on and off (page 22) and Midi Controller 5 allows you to change the speed of the pitch change (page 22)
    http://soundprogramming.net/manuals/E-Mu_Proteus_Manual.pdf
     
    I expect from experience with other synths, you just need to make the end of the first not overlap with the second for portamento to occur, and when the first note finishes before the second, Portamento does not occur.
     
    This seems the easiest way.
     
    Have a look at the manuals for the others synths. This is pretty standard, so likely to be implemented in the same way, if it's implemented.

     
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    Kamikaze
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    Re: Portamento/Legato via pitch wheel 2015/05/13 01:45:10 (permalink)
    page 132 of the Sound Canvas Manual says the same controller numbers so it's implemented on that too.
    http://www.google.com/url...2503,d.dGY&cad=rja

     
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    czyky
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    Re: Portamento/Legato via pitch wheel 2015/05/13 01:57:05 (permalink)
    Couple of comments.
    You could go the CAL route. I'm not precisely sure what you want but, here (below), purely for example, is the code to populate a selection of a track with porto wheel going up, going down, going up, going....
     
    You can also use the pencil tool to draw an ascending/descending row of porto events. That's pretty fast too. Once you have the shape you want, copy and paste for the other notes? Turn off snap to have the events smooshed very close together. (With snap on, events are drawn one every snap increment.)
     
    Anyway here's the example cal. If you try it, make sure you define a short selection first, otherwise it will run the whole project length, adding many, many portamento events.
     
    (do  
      (dword tb TIMEBASE)  
      (dword n From)  
      (dword m n)  
      (dword c 1)  
      (dword v 1)
      (while (<= n Thru)    
        (do    
          (+= c v)   
            (if (== c 127)    
               (do     
                  (= v -1)    
               )   
             )   
             (if (== c 0)    
                (do     
                   (= v 1)    
                 )   
              )    
              (do     
                 (insert n 0 CONTROL 65 c)     
                 (= m n)    
              )    
              (+= n 10)  
          )  
        )
      )

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