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Topic: Playback cancels out notes? (Read 2451 times) previous topic - next topic

Playback cancels out notes?

If I have two staves set up for different instruments, and run a melody on one and a counter melody on the other, if there happens to be a place where both lines are playing the same note, only one speaks. Is this because they cancel each other out, and if so, is there a workaround such as setting the staves to different channels or something?

Re: Playback cancels out notes?

Reply #1
Yes, the staves should be set to different channels, but it is the default behaviour when you create two staves. If they are, and if the problem persists, maybe it is a problem with your sound card or device ?

Re: Playback cancels out notes?

Reply #2
This is a common difficulty with midi. Two identical tones with either cancel partly, or add to each other in-phase, depending on the pitch, because of the very slight delay between two subsequent notes in the midi stream.

Suggestions:

1: Put the two voices on separate channels as you suggest. This won't get rid of the problem, but will make 2: - 4: possible.

2: Pan the two voices off center; put one slightly to the right (pan about 80) and the other to the left (pan about 48).

3: Put a slight pitch bend at the start of each staff; one about +200 and the other about -200. This will help prevent notes from being perfectly in phase.

4: If your sound card supports reverb, put different amounts of reverb on each staff (e.g. 40 and 60).

HTH

Fred

Re: Playback cancels out notes?

Reply #3
Thanks guys - you've given me enough info to satisfy my question(s).