Skip to main content ↑ ↓
Topic: Pitch Bend Questions (Read 4353 times) previous topic - next topic

Pitch Bend Questions

I am very interested in bending notes; I understand
MIDI multi-point controllers well enough, but my problem
is that I can't figure out how to pitch-bend a certain
note to another given note - in other words, I can bend
the pitch of a note, but not to what I want it to.
How do I know what value to set the sliders to? This is
a real pain.
If, for example, I wanted to use pitch bend to go from a C
to a D, how would I do this?
Thanks. I hope this isn't an annoyingly dumb question.

Re: Pitch Bend Questions

Reply #1 –
The exact implementation of Pitch Bend is "synthesizer dependent", because not all equipment performs the same. Many soundcards implement a two semitone range, both up and down from the current note. If your soundcard is one of these, you can bend from C to D by:

1 - Start a C-Note playing
2 - Sweep the pitch bend to the largest possible value

Try it out and see if it works with your system. It should, as most soundcards seem to do it this way by default.

Re: Pitch Bend Questions

Reply #2 –
Yes. The extent of each side of the middle is around 8000 something... That is 2 halfsteps, a whole step or two semitones (however you want to put it) It is a pain that you cannot bend further than a step.

Re: Pitch Bend Questions

Reply #3 –
You can bend two steps (4 semitones). For instance, if you
want bend from C to E:

1 - Start a D-Note playing with pitch bend to the smallest possible value
2 - Sweep the pitch bend to the largest possible value

Or use a synthesizer that has a configurable pitch bend,
if it exists.