Pitch Bend

[rrayner]

Is there a way to prevent a Pitch Bend from automatically returning to the original pitch? I would like to include a jazz/swing band effect called a drop, i.e., the player starts playing the original note, but portamento-like, drops the pitch of the note, either with diminuendo (disappearing altogether), or simply targeting the next contiguous pitch as a landing place.

I have tried GraphOver Notes > Draw Curve, but at the end of the curve, it automatically returns to the original pitch. I also get the same problem drawing a line, because when I erase the PB beyond the target note, the PB returns to the original pitch.

I would prefer not to code 64th note triplets to get this effect, as it really messes up the score, but this is the only way I have discovered to try to simulate this effect.

If I could create this drop effect, I could also reverse the direction for a doit (pronounced doYt), where the horn player simulates an upward portamento that includes a fast diminuendo.

I hope this makes sense. It truly is a jazz band effect.

Ralph

[dj]

Hi, Ralph:

Pitch bend should stay where it's put as long as the GraphOverNotes PB line is present.

(Pause to look at your post again.)

Okay, I get it now. You're trying to write one note as the start and one as the target with a PB that ties them together.

Best way to do that is with a hidden staff that includes a single note that covers both the length of the start note and the length of target note. Then add the pitch bend to that staff and let it run for the entire sounded length of the hidden note.

Meanwhile, in your visible staff, enter your two start and target notes, but with a velocity of zero so that they don't sound. Then add your port or gliss line between them, for notation purposes.

The actual sound, though, is handled by your hidden staff.

Careful, though. I've had velocity zero notes disappear when exported as midi files and brought into other programs.

David

[Sherry C]

Hi guys,

Originally Posted by dj

Careful, though. I've had velocity zero notes disappear when exported as midi files and brought into other programs.

To avoid that problem, just assign the note(s) a velocity of "1" - for practical purposes it's as good as zero (you can't hear it if you have anything else playing) and since it has some non-zero value, the note gets carried over to any .mid files.

ttfn,
Sherry

[rrayner]

Thanks David (and Sherry). I will look into this approach. Ralph

[rrayner]

It has been a while since I opened this thread -- been too busy to spend the time to investigate it deeply, and to take the suggestions provided by David and Sherry.

I have added the Pleasingly Plump arrangement at (http://www.notation.com/vb-forum/showthread.php?t=32520) to the Share Your Music User’s Forum. Within it, I use GraphOverNotes Pitch Bend to approximate the jazz/swing band special effects called scoops (see measures 1, 19 & 51) and drops (see measures 13, 17, 45).

The instruments named "Work" are the ones that actually play these special effects. If you look in the Working Score, you will see that the non-Work instruments have a volume level of 1 in these measures, making them virtually inaudible.

The most technically difficult part of implementing the sound of the scoops was using the Pitch Bend feature. By design, the Pitch Bend has to start at the proper pitch of the note being bent. So, in order to get Composer to start below the pitch of the note I was working with, I had start the volume level of that note at 1, so the original pitch could not be heard. Then I delayed the start of the increase in volume until tick 64, so the original pitch could not be heard. This gives a very slight impression that the saxes are just a tiny bit late with their entrances, but that is what happens in real life anyway (of course, in fairness, some enter too early). Then I started raising the volume at tick 64 to the normal volume at the second beat using the Set Volume in Region feature with the starting Channel Volume of 1, rising to the Ending Volume of 64. For the Pitch Bend part of the special effect, I started the Draw Line feature at the beat (tick 0) and draw it up to the middle line of the staff. Even though the actual pitch starts at the middle line of the staff, it drops immediately and cannot be heard due to what I did with the volume.

I did a similar thing with the drops, except for both pitch and volume starting at their correct levels and dropping into nowhere. I had to lengthen the notes being dropped in the Work staff to a full two beats to give the drops time to fade into nothingness, as the original eighth note was much too short in duration.

I hope this will help anyone trying to get started using Pitch Bend.

Ralph Rayner