source file: mills2.txt Date: Fri, 11 Oct 1996 16:57:58 -0700 Subject: Re: Pitch Bend for tuning From: World Harmony Project The recent quote from Brian about Pitch Bend being too much trouble to use, that it clogs the MIDI stream and that it makes sliding tones in the attacks requires a response. I have been using pitch bend very effectively for microtuning purposes, since 1988. It is not much trouble at all, if you do it the way I do: 1. If you hand edit the pitch bend messages for each note it IS too much trouble. But that is not the best way to do it. 2. Pitch Bend is a very small message if only one is sent per note. This will not clog the MIDI stream. However, long streams of Bend messages, such as are generated by manually moving the Bender wheel can cause delays. But this is not the way to do it, either. 3. Sliding tones in the attack of notes indicate that pitch Bend is being sent AFTER the note message. This is DEFINITELY NOT the best way to use pitch bend for microtuning purposes. So, HOW CAN PITCH BEND BE USED EFFECTIVELY FOR MICROTUNING? ANSWER: Use a program to enter the appropriate Pitch Bend message BEFORE the note. This is simple, easy and convenient to do in real time with full polyphony, using MICROTONAL MIDI TERMINAL, available for $60 at the below address. On the other hand, it is possible to use occasional pitch Bend messages, entered manually in a sequencer's event list to TRANSPOSE a tuning on a synth that only holds one user tuning at a time, without too much trouble. Denny Genovese Director Southeast Just Intonation Center World Harmony Project Inc. PO Box 15464 Gainesville, FL 32604 Email: sejic@afn.org Web Page: http://www.afn.org/~sejic Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Sat, 12 Oct 1996 02:03 +0200 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA14963; Sat, 12 Oct 1996 02:05:13 +0200 Received: from eartha.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA14950 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id RAA10257; Fri, 11 Oct 1996 17:05:09 -0700 Date: Fri, 11 Oct 1996 17:05:09 -0700 Message-Id: Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu