Here are a bunch of notes I've accumulated about midi slide. The last note is my summary of things. Hope it helps. - Tom
Newsgroups: alt.music.midi
From: Jeffery S. Jones <
jef...@execpc.com> - Find messages by this author
Date: 2000/04/13
Subject: Re: Pitch bending in Cakewalk 9...
On Thu, 13 Apr 2000 12:03:47 GMT,
r...@idirect.com wrote:
>Am I correct is assuming that you attempted to bend notes using the wheel
>draw box found in the piano roll screen's velocity-wheel-ChanAft-etc menu?
You can do it by drawing in a pitch bend on the piano roll screen, or if you
are really good, using your keyboard (or Virtual Piano) pitch wheel as you
play. Drawing on the piano roll screen isn't too hard -- you open up a piano
roll view, find the area with your notes, set the controller to Pitch Bend
Wheel, and start drawing, starting from the center (no bend) and ending on the
ending note time, with whatever amount of bend you want to apply.
G to C is 5 semitones, and the default pitch bend range for most synths is 2
semitones. You'll need to use the RPN "Pitch Bend Sensitivity" to change that
range to at least 5 semitones, if you want to use a single pitch bend for this
change. If you set it to 5 semitones, then doing a pitch bend up from center
to max will always result in the right note at the end.
ANOTHER METHOD IS TO USE PORTAMENTO, and play with the portamento time until
you get a smooth pitch change which sounds good to you. This uses fewer MIDI
events than a pitch bend, but you have less control over the timing of the
pitch change. Portamento isn't supported on all synths. In conjuction with
mono mode (if your synth can do that), this can do a great job for creating
long pitch slides from note to note, without much effort beyond fine-tuning the
exact portamento speed. Portamento Control (CC#84), if available, gives you a
way to play a note which starts with a slide from the note specified with
Portamento Control, rather than the last note played.
An unfortunate problem with portamento is that the rate for portamento time
isn't standardized, so results may vary on synths other than those similar to
yours. Pitch bend sensitivity is standardized, but the exact pitch resulting
from a bend is not, but fortunately most synths follow the Roland/Yamaha
pattern (same for portamento), so it usually works out OK.
Note that if your synth doesn't have portamento (many GM-only synths don't )
and doesn't support pitch bend sensitivity, this will get harder, since you'll
need to add notes in between the start and end points of your intended slide.
>Quick tip to consider; there's a CAL called Slur which is quite easy to use
>and entirely effective. Basically, in the piano role view you insert the
>first and last notes of your slide sequence -- I've also included a few
>notes in between, but I don't think this is necessary. Then you call up the
>CAL, and away you go.
>I seem to recall that Slur was written by a CW user, and if so it will be
>easy to find. At the following URL is should be there either on its own or
>as part of one of the CAL collection files.
>
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Cabaret/5721/cal/ CAL requires Cakewalk Pro/Pro Audio. It does give a lot of useful ways to
automate MIDI file editing, and makes some otherwise complex tasks simple.
>IN ARTICLE , WROTE:
>>Well, I've read the help files a thousand times, and I still can't get a
>>bass note to start at G and slide up to C in a quarter of a measure. Can
>>anyone give a brief rundown on how I can program a pitch bend in this damn
>>thing?
>> Bill.
===================================================
Newsgroups: comp.music.midi, alt.music.midi
From: David K. Cornutt <
corn...@hiwaay.net> - Find messages by this author
Date: 1996/07/08
Subject: Re: How does portamento work?
>Glide from one note to another with a given instrument without
>restarting the note, just changing the pitch. I know that pitchbend
>can do this, but not easily with the given sequencer -- you have to
>work with numbers, not notes.
To do what you want, the way you want to do it, it has to happen in the synth,
not the sequencer. What you need is legato. Look in your sound module's
manual and see if it does it. You may have to turn legato on with some kind of
control message, or it may activate automatically when portamento is on.
(Typically, the way this works is: If portamento is on [and the instrument is
in a mono mode], if you trigger a new note before the previous note is
released, instead of cutting off the previous note and starting another note,
it just takes the old note's voice to the pitch of the new note.)
========================================
Using Pitch Bend vs. Portamento - 4/21/2006 10:43:44 AM
sinc
Take a look at:
http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.asp?m=592695&mpage=1? http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.asp?m=484387&mpage=1? If you use a pitch bend, then you have the issue that you can (for example)
play an A, then bend it up to say a D, but then you're stuck at the D. In order
to get another note, you need to release the A (which sounds like a D because
of a pitch bend), then release the pitch bend lever, then play your next note.
This does not work well for a situation where you want, say, a smooth glissando
from A up to D, and then from the D up to the G, without a break between notes.
By contrast, Portamento puts the glissando between every two notes you play. So
you could play an A, then switch to a D, and you will hear a smooth glide to
the D. Then you could play a G, and hear a smooth slide to the G. It's much
easier to slide to selected pitches using Portamento, but the effect is applied
to EVERY series of notes you play.
Pitch-bend and Portamento are distinctly different features, and used for
different effects. There's a slight overlap, but usually one is much more
appropriate than the other, depending on what effect you are trying to achieve.
======================================
Portamento and MIDI
(P = Portamento, N = Note On)
Method 1
========
Set CC5 to a non-0 P Time.
Set CC65 (to 64 or above) to turn P On.
Some synths must also be placed in Mono mode (vs. Poly. Only one note at a
time can play on a given channel).
Method 2
========
Works on only one note. CC84 (P Control) takes a note number (pitch 0-127) as
a value. On the next N, the pitch will glide from the specified pitch (which
may already be On) to the pitch of the N message.
More on Method 2 ...
====================
CC84 (P Control) sends a MIDI note number to set the starting note of a P,
which will then be glided in a time set by CC5 to the net N message.
When a N message is received after CC84, the voice's pitch glides from the key
number specified in this message to the new N's pitch (at the rate set by CC5),
ignoring the current status of CC65 (P on/off). This message only affects the
next N received on the relevant MIDI channel.
Ignored if poly mode. In Mono mode a new overlapping note event results in an
immediate pitch jump to the note number specified in the P control message and
then a glide at the current P rate to the note number specified in the new N.