My foray into automating my state changes continues, and I’m trying to figure out how to make something else a bit easier to do.
In the middle of Gloria (Laura Brannigan), between the first chorus and the second verse, there are some synth glides over the main synth hook. I’d like to hit one key, have a binding play the next for the portamento, and then have the first key released while the second is held by the binding for a period of time (TBD) until the glide is completed.
I’m using the Arturia MiniV for this, and I want to use the Legato feature so I can play the “Base” (not bass) note first to set the original pitch, and then have the target note be part of the binding.
I found a few things in the bindings that could have been what I wanted, but I don’t think it works the way I want it to (maybe its more like a mapping). Here’s a screenshot:
I’m not really sure what you would like to achieve, but in general I would perform such a task with a midi file played in the Cantabile media player. You write exactly what you want to be played in a scoring program, I am using Frescobaldi/Lilypond for that, but many alternatives available. That will generate the midi-file that you load into the media player. The media player is started with a binding.
@Joop There are a bunch of issues with using a midi file in my setup the way it is. I’ll do it if I have to, but it makes a number of other things less streamlined than I’d like.
This is really about flexibility and being able to make these things happen in a consistent and repeatable way, with little to no latency.
Interesting pretzel, It can be done IMO but there are a few considerations. First I assume the synth you are targeting is set to mono not poly. So the first binding would look like this : it triggers the original starting note.
the glide time is set by the plugin so all that’s left is the binding that turns off the second note after a delay, it would look like this. It is set to trigger after a 4 sec delay.
So you could use this frame work to set up what you want I think. One thing to note is that all this works on the assumption that the synth is in mono mode and that it has not yet processed a note on or that the last note struck was the starting key for your glide event. Synths in mono mode set to glide remember the last note played so once you do the bindings sequence the synth will think the last note hit will be the target note. Good to know if you play more notes on it after this. It would work best if it was isolated from the rest of your synths in that song note playing wise.
Your assumptions are right on. In mono mode and the last note priority thing is going to need to be handled as well.
One of these days I’m going to do a video on this and post it up "for educational purposes ". There’s a lot of stuff that can be done with Cantabile and it’s pretty inspiring… but it can also be a rabbit hole that’s hard to get out of if you make a mistake and need to unwind it.
I’ve done something similar to what Dave has described in Floyd’s Welcome to the Machine, where I want the Aruria MiniMoog so start on the right note (so no audible glide at the start of the solo) which I play after. As I am playing to a backing track, the bindings are transport related, but could be adapted. I could dig them out if what Dave has described does not get you going.
Alternative approach: design a specific synth sound with a pitch envelope that automatically does that octave sweep via modulation; use the decay time to get the sweep speed right. Them simply hold the key down and let it sweep…
I’m using such a pitch modulated sound for the sweep in the intro to “Comfortably Numb” - works perfectly! And no need to fiddle with bindings, just press and hold
I’ve done similar ‘note effects’ in songs before. A couple of quick thoughts:
I usually take care of the starting-note issues by 1) setting the synth volume to 0 through MIDI at the start of the song or section; 2) playing the starting note, holding it down for 1-2 measures to make sure it settles out; and then 3) turning the volume back on before the actual part. This sequence is really easy to do with a MIDI file, but I don’t see why a combination of bindings with delays couldn’t accomplish the same thing.
If the gliss (or other affect) is repeatable, why not just freeze the synth part, crop the audio files this creates, and play them from a Media Player? If you need a bit of extra randomness to the sound, then play the effect 3-4x, and break the audio file into “Gloria D Gliss #1.wav”, “Gloria G Gliss #1.wav”, “Gloria D Gliss #2.wav” etc.
I do use the build it and sample it method… that works really well when the tempos are consistent, but (unfortunately) we’re not playing with a click, and I need to get close in a live situation and that may change from gig to gig. I can overcome some of it by playing on top of , or behind, the beat a bit. But I’m trying to find a way that works across songs and bands so I’m not one-offing and adjusting and capturing these over and over again.
One thing you can’t do with bindings is have the delay be a musical value, which would be helpful somewhat here (I could set the delay to be a quarter note, and use tap tempo to set the delay. Right now I have to do the BPM conversion and then readjust if the band decides they want to do it faster.
