Hi Nick,
Thanks for liking LinnStrument enough to own one, and welcome to the LinnStrument community.
In answer to your question, I’d first suggest that you read the Recommended Sounds page, section “For expressive bowed strings and winds” to learn the correct settings for using LinnStrument and SWAM instruments together, which are different that what you’ve written.
Regarding your point #1, are you setting MIDI MODE to ONE CHANNEL and are you holding another note while you perform the pitch slide? If so, LinnStrument will quantize the pitch slide to semitones, as described on the "Smart MIDI" page, accessed from the LinnStrument Support page. (Without this, both notes would change pitch if you slid only one note, due to MIDI's one-channel limitations. )
Or are you performing a very slow pitch slide? If so, LinnStrument's Quantize Hold may be having trouble distinguishing between your slow movement and the end of your pitch slide, which is tricky for software to do. If so, try turning off Quantize and Quantize Hold, though you'll have to play more accurately. If the same problem occurs with both of them off, then the problem may be related to how LinnStrument's touch sensor works. There is a 1mm gap between columns, so the pressure and x-axis position of touches directly over this gap require interpolation from the pressure values on outside edges of the adjacent columns. The algorithm works better for the speed of pitch slides that are commonly found in musical performance, but a very slow slide will spotlight the software interpolation across this gap.
Or if is not the cause, please send a brief video demonstrating the problem to the Support email address. This will tell me much more about what you may not aware that you're not saying, and thereby allow me to give you the most helpful answer in the shortest time.
Regarding your point #2, LinnStrument always sends a pressure value of zero immediately before sending a note (to clear any retained value in the synth) and when releasing a note (to insure that the sound level of pressure-controlled sounds is turned off). SWAM instruments are essentially monophonic instruments, and their "MPE" mode isn't really MPE (midi POLYPHONIC expression) but rather mixes all incoming MIDI channels together for the convenience of MPE users. This means that during a legato transition, LinnStrument will send a pressure value of zero at the moment of transition to the second note, which will briefly reduce the SWAM instrument's volume, causing the discontinuity you hear. You can get around this by using an external pressure control instead of LinnStrument's pressure signal as suggested in the video you referenced, but I don't think the advantage is worth the lack of the integrated pressure control or the inconvenience of moving loudness control to a second hand. You might also try some the SWAM Violin's Bow Polyphony modes, which may help in your specific playing style.
Thanks for liking LinnStrument enough to own one, and welcome to the LinnStrument community.
In answer to your question, I’d first suggest that you read the Recommended Sounds page, section “For expressive bowed strings and winds” to learn the correct settings for using LinnStrument and SWAM instruments together, which are different that what you’ve written.
Regarding your point #1, are you setting MIDI MODE to ONE CHANNEL and are you holding another note while you perform the pitch slide? If so, LinnStrument will quantize the pitch slide to semitones, as described on the "Smart MIDI" page, accessed from the LinnStrument Support page. (Without this, both notes would change pitch if you slid only one note, due to MIDI's one-channel limitations. )
Or are you performing a very slow pitch slide? If so, LinnStrument's Quantize Hold may be having trouble distinguishing between your slow movement and the end of your pitch slide, which is tricky for software to do. If so, try turning off Quantize and Quantize Hold, though you'll have to play more accurately. If the same problem occurs with both of them off, then the problem may be related to how LinnStrument's touch sensor works. There is a 1mm gap between columns, so the pressure and x-axis position of touches directly over this gap require interpolation from the pressure values on outside edges of the adjacent columns. The algorithm works better for the speed of pitch slides that are commonly found in musical performance, but a very slow slide will spotlight the software interpolation across this gap.
Or if is not the cause, please send a brief video demonstrating the problem to the Support email address. This will tell me much more about what you may not aware that you're not saying, and thereby allow me to give you the most helpful answer in the shortest time.
Regarding your point #2, LinnStrument always sends a pressure value of zero immediately before sending a note (to clear any retained value in the synth) and when releasing a note (to insure that the sound level of pressure-controlled sounds is turned off). SWAM instruments are essentially monophonic instruments, and their "MPE" mode isn't really MPE (midi POLYPHONIC expression) but rather mixes all incoming MIDI channels together for the convenience of MPE users. This means that during a legato transition, LinnStrument will send a pressure value of zero at the moment of transition to the second note, which will briefly reduce the SWAM instrument's volume, causing the discontinuity you hear. You can get around this by using an external pressure control instead of LinnStrument's pressure signal as suggested in the video you referenced, but I don't think the advantage is worth the lack of the integrated pressure control or the inconvenience of moving loudness control to a second hand. You might also try some the SWAM Violin's Bow Polyphony modes, which may help in your specific playing style.
Statistics: Posted by Roger_Linn — Sun Apr 07, 2024 11:17 pm