synth effect question

R

raab

New member
What do you call it when you're playing a synth, one note at a time, and the notes don't abruptly stop, they become one unbroken note that bends up to and down from each note you hit?

I have no idea what this is called.

Like on the bridge break on "Star Child (Mothership Connection)" by Pariament where the tune mellows out and Bernie Worrell is playing a smooth synth line that does what I'm describing...
 
so it is possibly for this to occur? i thought you could only get like smooth connected notes by using like a pitch bend wheel.

What exactly is portamento and glide, can somone describe it in detail?
 
Portamento seems to be what you're talking about, glide being just another name for it. Basically, if you turn the feature on with any given synth, notes will slide into eachother. For example, if you hit middle C, then a C one octave lower, the synthesizer will smoothly slide from the first note to the second, covering all pitches in between. The speed at which this glide takes place depends on the synth and its settings.

As well, some synthesizers are configured only to use portamento with held notes. For example, if you held middle C while hitting the next C down, portamento would activate; however, if you hit middle C, then depressed the key, and hit the next C down, there would be no glide. Usually this is a configurable setting.

I hope this helps. :)
 
Most synths have this feature. Look for a glide or portamento knob/slider/menu item (with many of the non VA digital synths). Some offer polyphonic portamento, but many support this only in monophonic/unison mode.
 
portamento

the groovebox does not, that I know of, but I believe the electribe does.
For quality of sounds, the electribe is far superior in my opinion.
 
I've heard the Electribe beats the groovebox. I hear that the groovebox doesn't even let you change the pitch of it's individual drum tones.

I'm trying to decide at this point between fruityloops and an Electribe EM-1...
 
Depends on how far you want to go with this thing. FL Studio (FruityLoops) is largely seen as sort of an amateur's tool, if you know what I'm saying. Like a lesser Reason. The Electribe is more of a valid synth; however, you won't be able to create whole songs with it as easily as you would with FL Studio simply because it's a synth more than a full-featured sequencer or workstation.
 
I'm looking for something with a decent drum machine that has a decent synth module. I've been more than happy with the Boss Dr Groove, so I want something that is at least that level for drum programming, plus will have the synth sounds that the Dr Groove is lacking...
 
raab said:
I'm looking for something with a decent drum machine that has a decent synth module. I've been more than happy with the Boss Dr Groove, so I want something that is at least that level for drum programming, plus will have the synth sounds that the Dr Groove is lacking...
Click to expand...

i have an ER-1 and i used to have an older Boss drum machine (DR505 i believe??) - anyway the sounds on the ER-1 are VERY synthy... you will be hard pressed to get sounds that are "realistic" for the most part. so perhaps you could use both and combine the synthy sounds from the ER1 with the realistic sounds from the BOSS.
personally i use software/samples for my main drum programming... with the ER-1 occasionally for some extra "rhythmic enhancement"

and i second what Fierywater stated above... it depends how far you want to go.
hope this helps!
 
I think it's futile to try to make a drum machine sound like a real set. A drum machine is a drum machine is a drum machine. If it can make drum machine sounds like those on Sly & the Family Stone's "There's a Riot Going On" I'll be satisfied.
 
raab said:
I've heard the Electribe beats the groovebox. I hear that the groovebox doesn't even let you change the pitch of it's individual drum tones.

I'm trying to decide at this point between fruityloops and an Electribe EM-1...
Click to expand...

I recently bought a EA-1, and it kicks ass... I was gonna buy a EM-1, but the EM-1 doesn't have audio input... So i'd rather buy a EA-1, and then buy a ER-1 or even better, the ES-1 Sampler! :)

the cool thing is... you can plug a Drum Machine in the EA's audio input... and end up with some whacky drum sounds... (reference: NiN, Tool, etc)

If you're on a tight budget (as I am) and don't wanna wait some time to buy another module/box... go for the EM-1... FLoops is cool... but... it's not Pro...

And you could use some freeware midi sequencer or drum machine such as Hydrogen (http://www.hydrogen-music.org) with your EM-1!
 
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