Ricercare a Due Voci no. 12, Francesco Guami, 1588

[dj]

Hi, guys:

Well, I'm using the word "sound" in a more generic sense than being a specific voice on a synth or sampler.

Much of the perceived quality of a musical note lies in the attack phase of the envelope. Remove the attack from a piano note and it is difficult to differentiate from violin.

By slowing the attack time down, using Midi CC 73, Walt removed the initial "punch" from the clarinet and organ voices he selected, allowing them to be smoother and more vocal-esque.

The synth I was playing back on was a Yamaha XG machine, which responds to more Midi CC's than the basic Microsoft Wavetable device. Although I don't use it, I would suspect that software like Garritan would respond to most CCs.

The only thing I miss on the XG machine is portamento, which Walt also used on the Ricercare piece. I should should play it into my Korg or Oberheim and see what happens.

David