MIDI controller 68 -- legato switch

hello all,

can someone please give me some information on
whether and how Window implements MIDI controller 68
(the legato on/off switch)?

also, information on how hardware synths and
various soundcards implement this is appreciated.

thanks.

-monz

From: "monz" <monz@...>

> can someone please give me some information on
> whether and how Window implements MIDI controller 68
> (the legato on/off switch)?

I'm sure it depends on the soundcard; don't see how Windows wouldn't be able
to use any standard or nonstandard MIDI controller if the card supports it.
If you mean the basic DirectX with Roland GS set that comes with many
computers, it's really limited to pitch bend, sustain, volume, mod wheel,
pan, reverb depth and maybe a couple more. I tried DirectMusic and
Noteworthy Composer right now just to make sure.

Hi Monz,

Yes, it depends on the soundcard or device. As far as
Windows is concerned, it relays Legato messages in the
same way that it relays any other controllers.

The only distinction in windows Midi relaying is between
the normal short messages, and longer sysexes or
a buffer of many time stamped note ons sent in advance
in one go (which you can do in Windows Midi relaying).
The longer messages may be sent asynchronously
and so get out of sync with the short ones and
whether they do or not depends on the particular
driver.

But you can add a soft synth with legato if your soundcard
doesn't have it.

The Yamaha soft synth supports Legato.

Usually you use it with it set to Monomode as well
so you have just the one monophonic line.

Controller 126 switches Monomode on and controller
127 sets the channel back to normal polyphony.
The data for these two controllers is ignored.

Then you should be able to play monophonic trills
- hold down one note and with it held down hold
down a second note repeatedly to trill to it in
a wind player type trill.

One might expect the Legato controller to
smooth out the attack on the note as well -
but it doesn't have to do that. It may but
the defining characteristic seems to be these
Legato trills.

If it doesn't smooth out the attack,
try setting Portamento on with a slide time of 0,
which may or may not work.

That works with the Yamaha soft synth:
Monomode + Legato + Portamento with slide
time of 0. The portamento setting just
removes the attack without adding any
sliding to thepitch.

With the Roland Virtual Sound canvas
then again you have these monomode legato
trills with attack, but portameto doesn't
do anything about the attack unless
you set quite high with pitches sliding
about.

You can make monophonic legato trills in any
tuning if you apply appropriate pitch bends
before each note as you play.

FTS has an option to add those pitch bends
in automatically - it's innovative
monophonic legato retuning feature.
I don't know of any other software that
has this feature.

It is in Parts | More | Portamento
and Legato | Auto retune for
monophonic trills, which you need
to use with Monomode + Legato.

Thanks,

Robert