A piano roll where every note can bend. Draw several voices, give each note its own pitch curve, and play the result as slides that cross, drift apart and come back together. PolySlide makes no sound of its own: it sends MIDI to a synth that understands per-note pitch, such as an MPE instrument.
The idea
On an ordinary piano roll, pitch bend belongs to the whole channel, so every held note bends together. PolySlide treats pitch motion as part of each note. Two voices can glide in opposite directions while a third holds still, because each note carries its own curve. That makes it a sketchpad for glissandi, unisons that drift out of tune and contrary motion.
Controls
- The piano roll shows each voice in its own colour. Select a note to stretch it and edit its pitch curve, with the mouse or the keyboard.
- Sketch loads one of three two-bar examples: Orbit, Unison Drift and Contrary Motion. Loading one replaces the current notes, so treat them as starting points to edit.
- Play, Loop and Tempo (20 to 300 BPM, 120 by default) run the sequence. A cursor follows playback.
- Import MIDI and Export MIDI read and write Standard MIDI Files, with each note's bends kept on its own channel. The bend range selector (±2, ±12, ±24 or ±48 semitones, ±48 by default) sets how those bends are read and written; match it to your synth.
Getting started
Connect PolySlide's MIDI output to a synth that accepts per-note pitch, load Orbit and press Play. Then drag the curve of one note and listen to that voice bend on its own. Exporting a MIDI file is a good way to take a sketch into a DAW.
Limits
The receiving synth decides how the slides sound, and a synth without per-note pitch support will not reproduce independent bends. MIDI file import and export need a host that can open and save files, such as the website.
