Julie Larson wrote:
> Hi everyone,
> I'm trying to build an environment that will simulate the pedals on a
> harp. I basically want to set up seven MIDI controllers to act like
> the seven pedals on a harp. Harps are diatonic instuments...seven
> notes to the octave. The pedals on a real harp raise and lower the
> pitch of the string by a half step. I would like to set it up so that
> I can strum a glissando from my midi keyboard. I'm pretty sure this is
> possible....at least it is in Gigasampler. I just can't get my head
> around it.
>
> So....for an example I need to create a controller that sends a
> continuous midi message that controls all D notes on the keyboard.
> above a certain value range would raise the pitch a half step....below
> a certain value range would lower the pitch a half step. I'd love some
> help....
G'day Julie,
I really enjoy this kinda thing in Logic (no, haven't seen a doctor
about it!) but I'm far too busy right now to put much time into it. :-(
But here are some thoughts anyway, bearing in mind that there's often a
few different ways to do things in the environment:
You'd need to separate all notes according to their pitch class. There
are few ways of doing this, but I reckon the easiest is to utilize a
mapped instrument's ability to assign each note to a different output.
So, for example, assign all C's to output 1, all D's to output 2, etc.
And (assuming you're gonna use just the white notes) all black notes to
output 8, which goes nowhere, effectively muting them.
I'd transpose all notes down by a semitone, which can also be done in
the same mapped instr, so that yr 7 CC's don't need to do up and down
transpositions, only up, which is much easier. Trasnpose back up a
semitone at the end.
I'd use a transformer map to map the values of each of the 7 CC's to 0,
1 or 2 (or however many steps you'd like - no need to stick to what a
real harp can do). You're thusly in complete control of how big (and
exactly where) the "0" zone is.
The same 7 transformers could also turn each of yr 7 CC's into Meta 127
events, which then remote control the transpose amount of each of the 7
transformers that the 7 outputs of the mapped instrument are cabled to.
One thing u might need to watch out for is that u might end up with
different notes of the scale turning into the same note, so the
receiving MIDI device (EXS24?) would be receiving 2 note-ons of the same
pitch & wouldn't necessarily know which of the 2 identical note-offs to
use for each note-on, possibly resulting in some notes that sound odd
cos they're too short. If that's a problem u might need to use 7 MIDI
channels - very awkward with Logic's VI's, but fine with hardware
modules. Or just use lots of sustain pedal...
I hope this makes sense - it'd take WAY longer to explain it more
carefully...
Cheers, Bill
