Basic syntax of pitch_bend type

Contents

• Inserting real time pitch bends, glissandos, and vibrato changes into a piece

Inserting real time pitch bends, glissandos, and vibrato changes into a piece

You can use the pitch_bend type to insert into the pitch_bends list of a chord type, which can change the pitch of the notes of a segment in real time, and can change the pitch very subtly. When constructing the pitch_bend type, three different units can be selected using the mode parameter:

• semitone (any integer, decimal or fraction between -2 and 2, not including -2 and 2 itself)
• cent (1 semitone = 100 cents, any integer, decimal or fraction between -200 and 200, not including -200 and 200 itself, cent is the default unit)
• MIDI pitch bend value (any integer between -8192 and 8192, not including -8192 and 8192 itself)

The composition of pitch_bend type

pitch_bend(value, start_time=0, mode='cents', channel=None, track=None)

• value: the amount of pitch change of the note
• start_time: the position of the pitch change of the note in bars
• mode: mode == 'cents' selects cents as unit, default value, mode selects cents as unit if not set; mode == 'semitones' selects semitones as the unit; mode == 'values' selects MIDI pitch bend values as the unit
• channel: MIDI channel number
• track: MIDI track number

pitch_bend type is inserted into the chord type

Insert the pitch_bend type into the pitch_bends list of the chord type.

a = chord(['C5', 'D5', 'E5', 'F5', 'G5', 'A5', 'B5', 'C6']) % (1/8,1/8)
a.pitch_bends.append(pitch_bend(value=30, start_time=3/8))
play(a, 80)
# The chord type a will be played at normal pitch from the beginning to E5, and the notes after that will be played 30 cents higher (that's 0.3 semitones)