slide a note up

osion

New member
Hi, I use sonar 2.2 and a MIDI keyboard.
What I want to know is if there is a way to slide up a MIDI note as you would on a guitar. As in, on a guitar if you want to slide from C to D, say, you just move your finger up two frets. Does anyone know if there a way to mimic that guitar slide in Sonar 2.2. Basically I am asking if there is a way to gradually increase pitch. Thanks.
 
There's the tone-wheel. You can automate it in the Piano Roll if your MIDI keyboard doesen't have one.
 
thanks for the reply moskus. i do have a pitchbend wheel (that's what a tone wheel is right?) but what im hoping is that there is a way for specify the note I want the original note bent/slid to.
What I mean is that lets say I play a D note on my keyboard for 5 seconds. I want that D to be gradually slid/bent to a G at the end of the clip. So it starts as a D and works its way up to a G over the course of the clip. Is there a way to do that?
 
Osion,

What you are referring to is called a Glissando and is very difficult to achieve in MIDI. In fact it doesn't sound realistic at all. :(

The only way to get something to sound half decent is to have a series of notes and change the velocities of the notes following the first D.

Go into PRV and drag the bottom of the pane upward to reveal the velocity Pane. Use the pencil tool to draw a line until you get something that doesn't sound too artificial.

The reason it sounds to wrong is that each note you draw in PRV (or play via MIDI keyboard) has the attack of a struck note. On the guitar, a glissando is a single pluck of the string being slid up the fretboard.

It would be like plucking the string each time you move to the next fret instead of allowing the string vibrations to decay.

--
BluesMeister
 
Your best bet if you want/need to do this with MIDI guitar is to use a library that includes different types of instrument samples as opposed to just the individual note.

That way when you need a glisssssando you only need to load up the patches that contain notes with slides and use the appropriate tone. It is weird to do this from a composition perspective because your one guitar track is scattered across four or five different MIDI tracks, ie. One for individual notes, one for chords played open, one for barre chords, one for slides and another for pull-offs and hammer ons.

It's around that time I normally get really confused and pull out an acoustic and a microphone.....

I think, from memory, that the Sonic Implants demo stuff that comes with Sonar 2 has some examples of this. If not, have a dig around on their website.

:) Q.
 
osion said:
thanks for the very informative reply
You're welcome Osion. You can use the Pitch Wheel function in Cakey to achieve a maximum full tone bend up or down. A bend down can be though of as a pre-bend of the string and releasing to natural pitch. Though you could equate it to a plucked string and a push down on a whammy-bar... :)

There's no way you can get a realistic slide guitar sound from MIDI unless you restrict it to a tone (or less) slide.

--
BluesMeister
 
Check out Reason by Propellerheads. It Rewires into Sonar and has some very cool synths. Using sound libraries like I described above can get some amazing realistic guitar sounds, even heavy or sliding, finger-picked passages.

Your individual MIDI track triggers the synth which plays a sample of the appropriate type of sound.

Check out the Propellerheads "In the Cold Light of Reason" demo for an amazing heavy guitar song created entirely using MIDI to trigger samples.

This could be another way of accomplishing what you are looking for in the relatively short term.

Q.
 
That's the thing really. Almost anything can be achieved via MIDI if you have the right tools. Look at Hans Zimmer. He writes unbelieveable orchestral parts for movies using nothing but computers (32 networked GIGA-dedicated comptuers, that is). Nothing for everybody but it's possible... ;)
 
And listen to James Newton Howard's TV & film music, also composed using GigaStudio.

But those samples will cost you at least two of your favourite limbs. :(

Yes, the samples are very versatile and taken from real instruments - but look at the capital outlay required to achieve realism! It would be cheaper to buy a guitar and do it yourself...

I've got an Epiphone BB King Lucille for sale if you're interested.

--
BluesMeister
 
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