Topic: Legato function?

No, it isn’t GPO’s requirement. It is rather the way to get the right sound for some group of instruments which use Portamento function, Strings for example. Lets consider a single violin. When we press the first note, GPO will play it normally i.e. from the beginning of a sample. Now, if I want to legato the next note properly I should write Portamento controller which ‘tells’ to GPO: ‘Start the next sample after Attack stage’. In that case the violin will change the note only and the sound will stay the same (sustained) because it won’t start from the beginning of the sample again. By this way, I can legato whole melody line straight up to a rest.

So, why it is important to ‘connect’ the end of a previous note to the beginning of the next one? Because GPO is a polyphonic sampler. It is not a mono synth. We make it work as a mono synth to emulate the way some instruments are played, only. BTW notes don’t have to be ‘connected’ precisely. There can be some gap in between, or they can even overlap each other. It will depend on a sound we are trying to get. But that gap/overlap should stay the same (because Attack time stays the same). Of course, one can ignore all this legato ‘thing’ and that is how we get a classic keyboard-ish orchestral sound 🙁

Now, currently I’m not a Podium’s user (I’m demoing it, so far) so you can ignore the rest. Yet, I’d like to share the proper implementation of Legato function as I see it. I think it will lighten midi production for many users.

1.Open your playing in midi editor
2.Select the notes you want to legato. For Podium it shouldn’t be important if some of them have gaps or they already overlap! (For example Cubase ignores overlapped notes)
3.Call up Legato function and set Legato in ticks. This number can be positive or negative.
4.Press OK. Done. (Note. The length of the last note must stay the same, this is your responsibility)

Now, we have perfect take for anything we want – mono synth, polyphonic sampler, whatever.

But the range of applications can be much wider than getting legato notes, only. And that is when we need negative amount. You can use it for anything where a gap between notes is needed. Pads chords, sustained drum sound… you name it. Play notes, quantize starts and ends, then get the gap if you want. Now, it is much more than simply Legato function. You can even call it differently.

Best wishes,
Vitaly.

P.S. I just thought, there is one thing in Podium which can ruin Legato and this is a current implementation of Random function. This function must be ‘stamped’ into midi data BEFORE applying Legato. But this is another topic.