I apparently need a lesson in how the MIDI Pitch Bend Editor works, specifically in what state it leaves things in. I’ll describe a simple example but can provide a Dorico example if it will help.
Say I’ve got a half note C5 on a flute. The next written pitch in the score after that is G5.
I open the Key Editor and the MIDI Pitch Bend Editor. I select Draw and draw a freehand drop in pitch across most (but not all) the duration of the C5.
When I play back, the flute duly drops in pitch, but thereafter, the G5 and all subsequent pitches are all pitched lower.
So when I add in a pitch bend “by hand” with the MIDI Pitch Bend Editor, what do I have to do to make it return to its proper pitch?
I may be wrong, but I though Pitch Bend was always relative to a note. So, if you if you bend one note down you would need to return the Pitch Bend value to zero for the next note.
@Janus that may be true. I experimented by putting a teeny dot on zero just before the beginning of the next note. It worked.
However, surely there must be a better way? I’m using DRAW to bend the pitch because in the piece I’m working on there is some flexibility given to the players. In the original score I drew (very neatly) freehand “suggestions” for the pitch variation. The DRAW tool happens to draw a line about as subtle as a crayon scribbled by a kindergartner.
In a post to the forum an hour or so ago I also asked about changing the scale, i.e. zooming the MIDI Pitch Bend area so I could get a more precise “shape” on the pitch change. The reason I asked about it is because I was using DRAW rather than a series of dots.
And if what you say is accurate, I have to find holes where I can reset to zero. Fortunately, there are only a half dozen or so in what I’m working on, but I imagine other composers might have their hands full trying to use this feature. (Other composers might also be fortunate enough to have real musicians playing their pieces and not have to fuss with MIDI fakes!)
You can use the line tool to draw clean straight lines and if you select a node (blue square) you can set the value precisely on the LH side or drag it around.
(It’s not something I doo often, but it seems to work OK)
Right, a series of connected dots (ergo lines) is an obvious way to do it, and I suppose if I zoom it up I can get a bunch of dots in there. The thing I’m dealing with is a place where the instruments more-or-less freely dip and raise the pitch, gliding about within a narrow range for about three or four quarters.
I’ve freehanded it because I don’t want it to sound too precise. But maybe the granularity is fine enough that I could use dotted lines.
There’s not a great deal of that kind of thing to deal with in this score thank goodness.
It looks like I’ll have to experiment a little more.
FYI , the pitch bend goes on a scale from -100 to +100. – you’ve probably already got this far. The critical thing, though is, what is the pitch bend range? This is defined in the Expression Map in the top header. Additionally, the value there must correspond to the setting in your library. Some libraries (such as NotePerfomer or VSL libraries) allow a range of 12 semitones or one octave. That means if you programme a +100 point, the resulting tone is an octave higher and -100 an octave lower obviously. However pitch bend in EM’s tends to be set as default to just 2 which means one whole tone, so a pitchbend of a semitone requires +/-50. As @Janus says, a reset is always zero.
The glissandi are programmed to do this automatically for you according to the EM settings so in theory in most instances, unless you want partial intervals, you don’t need to draw the pitch bend manually. But if you do, that’s how it works!
I know about MIDI pitch bend being scaled +/- 100, but Expression Maps in Dorico playback libraries is new stuff to me. (Yes I’m using NotePerformer — and thanks to the person who suggested it.)
So the range of pitch bend is set to what ever it’s set to, and I have no idea how to change that, nor does it strike me as a good idea to mess with it. So in order to get through the playback details of this project without making it my valedictory career, I need to limp along the best I can. Yes, it’s like trying to modify DNA molecules with knitting needles.