Trombone Bends

[Sherry C]

Hi Ralph,

Cool snippet!

It seems that you've found most of what you needed to know, but I'll throw in a few Power User tips

1. It's sometimes helpful to use View/Show Piano Roll if you're drawing pitch bends. The Piano Roll view (not editing) will show you exactly where the note begins and ends, letting you be more accurate in your pitch bend drawing placement.

2. You can also use the "Zoom in" for the view to get the notes bigger, and thus make it easier when using the mouse to draw in pitch bends. This is helpful for getting the shape just like you want it.

3. You can use the Pitch Bend Wheel of a MIDI instrument to record a pitch bend on top of already entered or recorded notes. See Help/Users Guide, and use the Index to look up "pitch bend" for a nicely illustrated explanation of that process.

4. You can "scoot" or "stretch" pitch bends. To scoot it, (1) select it using Region Select and (2) hold the Shift key while pressing either the Left or Right Arrow key. To "stretch" it, don't hold the Shift key, just use the arrow keys. To stretch it vertically (increase or decrease the bend), use the Up/Down arrow keys.

As Ralph mentions, you can also copy just the Pitch Bend (or any other MIDI controller) from one location to another. With this in mind, you can keep a "reference" file of Pitch Bends that you've either created yourself or found in other files. Then when you need a pitch bend in a song, you can have your own library to choose from, or as the basis for a custom one for that song (that tip from Fred Winterling, who had such a file.)

Enjoy!
Sherry "lookingforwardtoRalph'snewsong" Crann