Seamless glissando between notes possible?? (Reason DAW)

[PaulJF]

Well I bought this thing during covid and finally got it out of the box yesterday
here is my first very rough attempt using it in Reason DAW basically plug and play without changing any settings

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DUQs4y ... share_link

yes Its drifting out of tune I figured out how to fix that by turning down the hole sensitivity

but now I have another question ......

I've been messing around trying to get full seamless glissando between notes on general synths and have got very close
but no cigar.

I'm using Reason built in synths but I suppose my question could also apply to any soft or hard synths.

QUESTION:
Are there any settings that would allow full seamless glissando between notes on general synths as found in most daws

if I set the synths up as follows
Mono
Legato Mode
Pitch Bend 2
Amp and filter envelopes dont really matter as as Legato they dont get triggered but I set them to
A min D max S Max R Min
anyway to mimic pipes or whistle on off.

With the above I get very close
but there is always some very slight small transition between notes

I cant quite figure out what the transition is but I think it is related to pitch.
As I swerve the note down or up to the next note which is fine, when the next note finally gets triggered (I assume once the hole is fully closed open) then there is a swift pitch sweep as if quickly correcting for pitch bend which I assume is the only thing changing because of the legato on)

Ive tried the legato mode on of in the warble config
Ive also tried send pitch bend before on off in the warble config
but these dont appear to make any difference.

Its possibly a reason thing i will try some other synths tomorrow

But yea, any ideas? (Apologies if something covered before)

[admin]

It's definitely a tricky subject because at some point a new MIDI note has to be triggered and the synths all tend to handle this is slightly different ways. It also depends on the particular sound as to whether the note transition is audible.

It sounds like you've tried most of the things I normally suggest, but in case you're not aware, the "legato slide/vibrato" can slide across multiple semitones without triggering a new note. It sounds like you currently have it set to 2 semitones, so it will slide seamlessly for 2 semitones but then trigger a new note. So, for example, you can slide from an F# up to a G seamlessly but as soon as you hit a G# it will trigger a new note. To slide 4 semitones, for example, change the bend range in the Configuration Tool to 4 and then also change the pitchbend range in your synth to 4. I forgot whether there's a max number if semitones you can enter. If you're working with audio samples, the downside of this is that you won't necessarily be hearing the correct sample for each note (because you've played the sample for one note and then "slid" away from that note). With synthesis is might not matter as much because the synth algorithm might be the same for multiple (or all) notes.

[PaulJF]

Ahh right sir. Thankyou for your response.

Now it did ... and it didn't ... work,
but it did put me on the path to finding a solution.

So.... yes those setting allowed me to swerve more that one note, in fact I was able to set it up with 24 on each and was able to swerve the whole octave which felt very very good indeed!!

Sadly individual notes now are totally not defined.
But I do now understand the issue.

it seems that there is a built in "easing" on the pitch bend control.
I am assuming this is on the reason side of things ???
its like a tiny portamento, I assume to mimic the non instant springiness in a real pitch bend wheel.

So even if If the warble sends and instant 0 to 100
reason is plotting some very small time delay and curve between the 0 and 100
Ive had a look and I cant seem to override this but, even if I reroute pitch bend control straight to the oscillators pitch.

But im thinking there may be a solution here...

Assuming there is no easing on the warbl side of things, then

is it possible to assign a different performance CC to pitch bend on the warbl side of things??
then I could send that CC directly to the oscillators pitch control

or is it possible that notes could just send a CC instead of midi note on/off

if possible the only problem might be mapping between the two
but if this could be set up properly this would allow a very realistic pipes feeling (if not exactly sound) to be created

Edit - sorry i am being dumb i just realised CCs are only 0-127 not enough resolution. Apologies
hmmm

seems the issue is reason then...

[PaulJF]

I've asked the Reason devs if the pitch bend "easing" can be controlled or overridden somehow.
Im thinking if it could get close to 0 but not 0ms so there is some very small attack then that would sound awesome.

However I suspect their answer will not induce happiness....

[admin]

Yes, unfortunately I'm not familiar enough with Reason to know if there's any workaround for this, but I've seen similar things with other DAWs/synths where's there's a little "blip" in pitchbend just before or after the note transition. I think you are correct that a CC message wouldn't have enough resolution for this.

[PaulJF]

Well So ..

I got a response from the Reason devs.

They say the "slewing", as they call it, between pitch bend values is deliberately programmed in to "avoid stepping artifacts" between extreme values and cannot be overridden or turned off.

I have replied asking if the time domain variable on this slewing filtering could be exposed to users to control. Maybe in future update. . Fingers crossed.

But in the meantime...

Anyone know a DAW that dosent have this filtering/slewing/easing on Pitch Bend data???

[gonzoB]

To slide between notes I use portamento. The functions that the portamento can take depend on the synth. I use a Dynasample Xpresso. To make a smooth slide over, say, an octave I turn on the portamento (I have a programmable button, but you can use a foot pedal, etc) then do a scale from the start note to the final one, and, with a bit of practice, it slides smoothly.

Gonzo

[PaulJF]

Yea portamento will work but its not ideal if you want full control
the light sensor data is there , we just need something that can read it properly.
that midi box looks interesting, can you plug the warble straight into that or do you have to go through a PC? if you set synths to legato mode how do they sound?

[PaulJF]

Well now !!
Just tried it with Ableton live free demo
have no idea how to use Ableton I just about figured out the basics to test a simple saw wave synth and a pad sound
(and im having some trouble with the controller not related to Ableton), but.....

glissando appears to work lovely .....

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gKH3p3 ... sp=sharing

away for the weekend will post more findings next week

[admin]

Nice, I'm glad it works better! I've definitely found a lot of inconsistencies in the ways in which DAWS/synth/apps interpret pitchbend.