Simple Pitch Bend fader?

Question

Hi!  New to MD, but not new to everything else.  :)  Using a 3rd Gen iPad.  

Just got a controller for the studio with no pitchbend/mod wheels.  I've made the Mod wheel fader work, but I'm not quite sure how to configure a fader to act as a traditional pitch bend wheel...Maybe a minor 3rd in range, with an instant snap back to center (0) when the finger is released...

I'm open to any suggestions!!!   Thanks!

 

Dave Gross

HelldogMusic.com

Comments

Hi Dave. See if this post helps:

http://mididesigner.com/qa/72/snap-to-value

And then it's a question of adjusting the MIDI min and max to match the values you want... and the number of ticks.

Let us know how this goes forward and what's not clear (or not working, etc.).

Thanks!

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Thanks for that. Interesting use of the buttons for that situation.  But a two handed/button click thing won't work if I'm playing the keyboard with one hand, and trying to use the slider with the other, and the effect isn't quite right.

What I'm looking for is a way to use a single fader to mimic a traditional pitch bend wheel (like on a Mini Moog)  Fixed center position that the wheels snaps back to when you let go  on either a positive or negative  motion.   (because of the spring in a traditional wheel will do this.).

So far..I've got it close!  Just want to make it a minor third up, and maybe a 5th down. Just can't quite figure that values I'm doing wrong.  

I created just single fader.  Under the Control-Midi page.. Message Type Pitch Bend works...Midi Min-Max is 0-16383, and default value is 8256

on the Advanced page...Snap At Fixed Rate at 10ms seems to snap it back ok!!   Give it a shot and see if you can replicate it!

I'm trying to see if the 'send on release only' button will have the same effect.. but I'm still trying to get the amount of pitch change right ;)

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Hi Dave, sorry for the delay. So... did you find the right values? One thing you can do is to use the log. The value will come out split up in two hex bytes, but you can use our http://mididesigner.com/help/midi-byte-calculator/ to help figure it out. I can explain that more as you need.

Thanks!

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thanks..  I think its actually working correctly now, because I changed some of the Pitch Bend range settings on a few different synths, and it seems to follow ok!!  One suggestion, however.. It would be great to have some smaller values for the Snap at Fixed Rate, instead of just 0 or 10ms.. a 3ms and 6ms might be really good to try out.. the 10ms seems a bit to slow for a pitch ben wheel to snap back upon release, compared to the feel of a real one :)

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Dave, I agree that a smaller snap time would be great. As it stands, the greater the number of ticks, the longer it takes to snap to the default. Unfortunately, pitch bend is one of those areas that generally needs a higher number of ticks to get a smooth bend. However, it's worth trying a reduced number of ticks at 10ms to try to get a snapper response.

I actually found that it was best to use 0ms, but occasionally the slider (or knob) would stick and not snap back which is not good for a pitch wheel.

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Hi @teekay, @dkgross...

1) Please report bugs like the 0ms stick if you haven't already. This is the second time we're hearing about this (in 2 weeks), but we didn't know about this previously
2) We'll fix the bug with 0ms and add 3ms and 6ms for the next release (not 1.6.5, that's currently in Beta), which will be out in late Aug or early Sept.

Thanks!
Dan

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Oh, and thanks for the bug report, obviously... sorry this hasn't been fixed yet!

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Indeed..dropping the max range down to 13106 helped.  the 10ms is definitely too slow to duplicate the real spring action of a pitch bend wheel.. but's certainly acceptable until the next version.. Maybe you can make a new graphic shape that looks like a PitchBend/ Mod Wheel :))))

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Hi Dan, I hadn't actually thought about the sticking being a bug...in fact I had forgotten about it until making the comment! It will be great to have extra control...of course, being really greedy, I would like it to be a fully variable value that could be adjusted by another control. ;-)

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Dave, if you set the minimum and maximum display values to "0" and then select "Use Named Ticks" under the Advanced option, the LED display will disappear and the control will look just like a pitch wheel. Don't be tempted to actually name the ticks or the names will display at the bottom and defeat the look.