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English Language : Music Technology : Blog Wednesday 10 December 2008 : Use of an adequate CAL program for "super-notes" and recording of the oboe |
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About music software A - not particularly pressing - problem which arose from the use of the Special Edition library of Vienna Symphonic Library was about some very high notes that did not exist. The problem is also mentioned in a previous article of this Blog (7 December 2008). Of course the use of Vienna Ensemble has no relation with the solution of the problem. Simply, I concluded at the last, old, good solution: the writing of a simple program in CAL language (Cakewalk Application Language) which will solve once again a difficult problem.  To see exactly how this CAL program works, let me take the case of the oboe: in its legato form, it is missing the last 4 notes of the range (F sharp, G, G sharp, A). The use of the pitch bend on the last existing note (F) would allow us to reach a maximum of G (a whole tone higher). The last two notes cannot be reached in any way using this library because the pitch bend limit is the tone interval. Besides, these two notes are difficult to be played on the real instrument (the oboe tube is rather difficult to coordinate at those notes and a special way of blowing and fingering is required judging from my experience in clarinet), and therefore rarely used (and possibly only in chamber and solo music). Moreover, the lower of the two is "covered" by another variation of the oboe (not the legato one but another variation) and so the only "lost" note is the very last one of the instrument. Therefore, the solution I implemented consists of two steps: first, we adjust a continuous controller (I used the value of 100 which generally does not correspond to any "physical" controller in any synthesizer) to affect the pitch bend in such a way that when the value gets to 64 we do not have any change of tone, with a value greater than 64 we have a positive pitch bend modulation and with a value of less than 64 we have a negative pitch bend modulation. During the recording we press the two notes that do not exist without being able to hear any sound. In the second step, we process the clip we have just recorded with the use of a CAL program : the program will search for the two notes that are not being heard and if finds them it will put before each note the necessary change of the continuous controller so that both the pitch bend and the note will take the appropriate values and we hear the intended tone. The difficulty here is that the program must take into account the cases in which we have already affected the pitch bend in previous notes, or when we have to restore it to the value 64 in order to play "normal notes" (this is also done at the end of the clip if necessary, in order to be ready for the next recording). Note that if we play a very high note, then the program downloads it an octave below. The whole system works perfectly and the only thing that we must take care of is the correct recording of the two "dead notes" that cannot be heard (the metronome helps in this) as well as the processing of the clip when the recording is over (can also be done at the end of all recordings at a stroke). In the above - however, relatively complex - way, we have implemented a mechanism to enable someone to use two more notes through the pitch bend without using the pitch bend wheel of a synthesizer (this is not working properly because it produces an inappropriate for an oboe portamento) but playing these notes during the recording of the clip and running a CAL program after recording. To distinguish these 2 notes from the other "normal" ones I called them "super notes"! The program only works for the specific instrument (oboe), but is easily convertible for use with another patch of the same or another instrument. The only thing will change are the notes within the program (they could already be in the program in the form of parameters, but it would be quite complicated and, anyway, its use is rare and limited to a few cases). Thus, another problem was solved in a relatively efficient way: the thought always wins the material! (**) (**) The chance to make a slight change in the executable program so as to allow pitch bend over the interval of tone was rejected: after a brief research the program seemed too complex for me to have a chance of success. |
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