Note Duration Question

[Sherry C]

Hi Ralph,

Originally Posted by rrayner

Thank you for the detailed information. You've got me wondering now if perhaps there might be an explanation and a workaround for my long-time complaint about not being able to smooth out the transition between notes. I've had phrases that frustrated me, because I wanted them to be more legato. Each note in an intended legato section sounds so percussive to me, such as a sax section playing whole/half note spread voicings under a soloist. As long as a particular part changes pitch, perhaps I can use the a- and a+ commands to smooth the transition from note to note. As it stands now, each new note seems to be attacked too hard for legato phrasing.

To work on the underlying performance, you'll probably want to use the Piano Roll/Edit only the performance of the notes. That way, you can mess around with the performed duration but leave the way the notes are notated intact.

Another aspect that will affect how smooth and legato a note sounds is the MIDI playback device that you use, along with the Note Velocity of the particular note. For some playback devices, the Note Velocity of a particular note will dramatically affect the actual attack sound of the note. For whistles (or panpipes and other "simple" winds), we call it "chiff" that you hear on the attack of a "high note velocity" type of blowing hard on a note - you get a little "windy" sound along with the note. Various instruments have their own characteristics of a "high note velocity" attack.

For instance, for a sax or other wind instrument in some libraries, a Note Velocity of 127 (the highest value) will give a definite,and crisp attack when the note begins. It can also give a higher loudness to the note. So, if you have a passage that you want legato and still have a higher volume, you may need to (1) increase the duration of the note (while in "Edit performance only" mode), (2) decrease the Note Velocity and (3) possibly increase the volume over that note/those notes to maintain the proper sonic balance.

There is also the aspect of a particular sound source (MIDI playlback device.) Some of them simply don't have the dynamic range to allow such fine-tuned finessing of the sound (the default GS Wavetable comes immediately to mind ). Some of them also have other MIDI controllers than the ones I mentioned above that can affect the sound of note attacks. For example, Garritan Libraries and EastWest Libraries have "key switch" instruments, where the attacks on the notes are different depending on the "key switch" that is on for a particular stretch of notes, similar to the more common MIDI Sound Change.

In the example I sent, I was playing around with trying to get a more realistic swing feeling -- somewhere in between dotted eighths/sixteenths and swing triplets, by manipulating the attack and duration values. I haven't been successful yet, but I'll keep trying.

That's the spirit
In some pieces that I've done (mostly just for my own practice), I usually get the desired effect with the (1) increased duration of a first note (leaving the original attack in place but moving its endpoint) and (2) a delayed attack of a following note (which will also decrease its duration but leave its endpoint intact). If you figure out what values for the duration of the one, and the attack delay of the other suit you, you can then select any other notes you want to edit and use the quick "d=XYZ" (XYZ being a numerical value) and "a=XYZ" to make further changes to similar pairs.

These are really some "power user" tools you're getting into here!

ttfn,
Sherry