G H Richardson
On page 125 of the Music 5000 User Guide a short item on the
subject of the Slide command appears. It has never struck me as adequate and
even the example given is, I understand, not correct. The correct example is:
12=L ON Slide % turn on Slide
% (sets offset to 0)
48, 12 8 -L % down by 3 semitones
% over 8 beats
0:c/// ////
OFF Slide % turn off Slide
% (sets offset to 0)
48, 12 8 -L % down by 3 semitones
% over 8 beats
0:c/// ////
OFF Slide % turn off Slide
In order to explain the Slide function I will use an example
which I have used in a piece of music.
"s1" [1: 1,
ON Slide
-24 =L 24 24 +L
F 23 FOR(/)FOR
24, ////^
OFF Slide
]
ON Slide
-24 =L 24 24 +L
F 23 FOR(/)FOR
24, ////^
OFF Slide
]
Using 's1' as our guinea pig I will take each character or
group and attempt an explanation of its purpose.
[1: 1,
The first '1' is the octave setting. The second '1' still
mystifies me, but the number placed there affects the rate of climb/fall of the
slide. '1' is the fastest, '2' is slower, '3' slower still, and so on.
ON Slide
This turns on Slide and sets the offset to 0.
-24 =L
The 24 has to do with tick count (I think). The minus (or
plus) before it is connected with the slide function (up or down). In this case
the slide is going up and the 24 must be preceded by minus. The 'L' in the last
character of the following group must have the opposite sign (plus) to achieve
the upward slide. In other words '-24 =L' followed by '24 24 +L' is up; '+24
=L' and '24 24 -L' is down.
24 24 +L
The first '24' determines over how many semitones the slide
travels. In this case it is 6 semitones (from C to F) which with a tick count
of 24 seems to make it 4 ticks per semitone. In any case the tick count of 24 mentioned
in the previous paragraph ('-24=L') must be the same as the tick count in the
first '24' here.
The second '24' determines the duration of the slide - in
this case 24 ticks. If the number were, say, 12 the rate of climb would be
quicker and the duration shorter.
The '+L' (together with '-24=L') makes the slide go up.
F 23 FOR(/)FOR
'F' is the pitch of the finishing note - hence the necessity
to use another slide if you want to finish on a different note.
'23 FOR(/)FOR' is the number of 'holds' over which the
sliding note is sustained. It is also connected with the middle '24' in the
previous group in the sense that the '23' holds plus the 'F' make 24.
24, ////^
These characters appear to control the note length (and
accordingly the speed) of the notes which follow the slide note within the same
bar.
Notwithstanding all this, I confess that the calculation of
the number of holds required to get the bar value right defeats me and I
usually have to put in what I think is a suitable number of holds and then
fudge it up or down until it fits. The rest also appears to be necessary even
when you do get the right number of holds.
OFF Slide
This merely turns slide off.
It will be obvious that I am not a technical man, but this
is a practical attempt to explain slide by detailing methods which, through
blood, sweat and tears, I have found will work - given a bit of fudging here
and there. How they work I don't always know, but that they do work I do know.
The best of luck with your experiments.
Published in AMPLINEX 023, November
1991
