Drifting

Post by **JAMESSSS** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 12:46 pm

This is probably a stupid question.

How do I get notes to "glide" from one to another? Is the correct term pitch bend?

Is this purely a function of the synth I'm using?

I'm using Absynth with Ableton.

There is the pitch bend wheel in Absynth but it's not really that controllable as far as I can tell.

I want to say start at this note, maintain for x bars, pitch bend to x note etc...

Direkt · Post by **Direkt** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 1:20 pm

Are you using a USB MIDI controller keyboard?

If so, use the pitch modulation wheel to do the trick.

If not, you should be able to automate Absynth's pitch modulation wheel... Try a right mouse click on it (the virtual wheel) and see if you can draw in some automation.

I'm not at my music PC at present and haven't used Ableton for a while, so I'm just having a bit of a guess here - but it should be possible.

Post by **JAMESSSS** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 1:23 pm

Yeah but how do I know how much to move the wheel to get to another note?

I want to say "go from this note to this note over this time"

Shadowgames · Post by **Shadowgames** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 1:23 pm

its usually called portamento (or glide).

not sure about absynth, i'm sure it will have ti though.

it will be adjustable in length (in ms or tempo locked).

Direkt · Post by **Direkt** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 1:25 pm

Yeah don't have Absynth here... but I know that heaps of synths have a number field above the wheel that will change how far you can "glide" in the positive or negative.

Unfortunately, it's not expressed in terms of notes - but numbered steps... you might have to play around with setting that number (if it's there) or the amount of pitch bend being applied to achieve your desired result.

deviant · Post by **deviant** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 3:37 pm

portamento yeah....

if it's polyphonic it probably wont do it by default... most monophonic synths have it by default (due to the fact they can only play one note at once), so if you are playing one note, play the next note without stopping the first note and the pitch will "slide" up to the next one.... You can usually adjust the speed with one knob on the synth.

Direkt · Post by **Direkt** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 4:03 pm

Pretty sure Absynth is poly.

Post by **JAMESSSS** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 4:10 pm

Yeah it is.

unsoundbwoy · Post by **unsoundbwoy** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 4:34 pm

yeh pretty you can set it to mono, there's a section called voices i think and you can set it for monophonic or up to 8 voices and whether it glides or bends and how quick.
but my absynth 4 always hangs so i haven't used it for a bit