Pitch wheel

As you move the pitch wheel up or down (on MIDI keyboards so equipped), the pitch of the entire keyboard shifts up or down by an amount you program on the MIDI keyboard itself. Finale records and plays back pitch bends (the smoothly graduated, continuous shift of pitch that occurs when you use the pitch wheel). You can also edit pitch bends that you’ve recorded, and you can even insert expressions whose playback definitions involve the use of the pitch wheel.

When you record a performance (with Record Continuous Data turned on) in HyperScribe (or in Transcription Mode), Finale automatically records all your pitch wheel data. You may or may not want this information retained so that you can later hear it applied to the playback of your transcription. For a full description of captured MIDI information, see Chapter 6: Playback in theInstallation & Tutorials.

To edit pitch wheel data

1. From the Window Menu, choose Advanced Tools. Click the MIDI Tool  .
2. From the MIDI Tool Menu, choose Continuous Data. The View Continuous Data dialog box appears, from which you can choose the MIDI data you want to edit.
3. Click Pitch Wheel, and click OK.  
4. Select the measures you want to affect. Click to select one measure, shift-click to select additional measures, drag-enclose to select several on-screen measures, click to the left of the staff to select the entire staff, or choose Select All from the Edit Menu to select the entire document.

If the region you want to edit is on only one staff and fits on the screen, double-click the highlighted region to enter the MIDI Tool split-window. Drag through the display area above the notes whose pitch wheel data you want to edit.

5. *Edit the selected region by choosing the appropriate command from the MIDI Tool Menu. In the following discussion, it’s useful to remember that when the pitch wheel is at rest, its value is 0; when it’s as far down as it can go, its value is -8192; and when it’s at the top of its range of movement, its value is 8191.

Choose Set To to specify a uniform value for the pitch wheel level. Choose Scale to create a gradual change in pitch wheel values over the selected region. Choose Add to add a positive or negative amount to the pitch wheel level throughout the selected region. Choose Percent Alter to change the pitch wheel values in the selected region by a percentage of their original amounts. Choose Limit to specify a maximum or minimum pitch wheel value for the notes in the selected region. (See also Set to dialog box; Scale dialog box; Add dialog box; Percent Alteration dialog box; or Limit dialog box.)    

For the most part, you’ll use the Scale, Limit, or Set To commands. For example, to create a smooth pitch bend that rises for two beats and then falls for two beats, you’d proceed as follows: Drag through the graph display region of the MIDI Tool split-window, so that two beats are highlighted. Choose Scale from the MIDI Tool Menu; in the text boxes, enter 0 (the pitch wheel’s “at rest” value) and 8191 (the pitch wheel’s highest position). In the third text box (Increments), enter 640 (for example); the smaller this number, the smoother the pitch bend will be, but the more data Finale will need to generate and store, and hence the larger your document will be. Click OK. Next, drag through the second two beats and choose Scale again from the MIDI Tool Menu. This time enter 8191 in the first text box and 0 in the second (to bring the pitch wheel back to its normal-pitch position); enter a value in the Increments box and click OK. You’ll see the effects of the pitch bend you just programmed in the graph area of the MIDI Tool split-window—and you’ll hear it when you choose Play from the MIDI Tool Menu.

If you create a pitch bend that isn’t quite calculated correctly, you may discover that, during playback, the pitch of your MIDI keyboard never fully returns to normal. That’s because the pitch wheel, via MIDI, gets “stuck” partway out of its at-rest position. If this happens, drag through part of the graph area of the MIDI Tool split-window (at the place where you want the pitch wheel to be returned to its at-rest position), choose Set To from the MIDI Tool Menu, enter 0, and click OK.

You can also remove pitch bend data from regions of your score by following the instructions above but, instead of following the last instruction, pressing backspace or use the Selection Tool to clear Continuous Data.

To copy or erase pitch wheel data

See  MIDI —To copy or erase captured (or edited) MIDI data.

To create a pitch bend (as an expression)

The following instructions show you how to create an expression that produces a smooth pitch bend over the course of one whole note—from the pitch wheel’s at-rest position to its top position and back down again. It’s impossible to predict the precise musical effect this will have on your MIDI keyboard, because the pitch wheels on different MIDI keyboards have different intervallic ranges; on some, you can specify this range (usually up to an octave or so up or down).

If you want to learn the process of creating a pitch wheel expression, by all means follow this example. You may prefer, however, simply to load the pitch wheel library that’s in your Libraries folder, because this library already contains the expression you’re about to create with the exception that it only lasts a quarter note instead of a whole note. Choose Load Library from the File Menu. Locate the Pitch Bend Library (in the Libraries folder), and double-click it. Then place it into your score as described below.

1. Click the Expression Tool  . Click on, above, or below the note to which you want to attach the marking. The Expression Selection dialog box appears. If the pitch bend expression marking already appears in the list (because you’ve loaded the Pitch Bend Library, for example), double-click it and click OK; you return to the document.
2. Click Create. The Expression Designer dialog box appears. Type “Pitch bend” (or whatever text you want to appear in the score, if any, at the location of the pitch bend). To change the font, highlight the text, and then from the Text Menu, choose Font.
3. Click the Playback tab. The playback options appear.
4. From the Type drop-down list, choose Pitchwheel. Click Execute Shape, then the Executable Shape Select button. Proceeding through the dialog boxes, click Create, Shape ID. You’re now in the Shape Designer.
5. From the Shape Designer Menu, choose Rulers and Grid and select Eighth Notes. Type 4 in the Grid Marks Every ___ 8th notes text box. Click OK. From the ShapeDesigner Menu, choose Show, and then grid (if you wish).
6. Choose 25% from the View drop-down list. When you use the Shape Designer to create a pitch bend, the range of pitch wheel values is from -8192 (pitch wheel at the bottom of its range) to 8191 (pitch wheel at the top of its range). The pitch wheel’s value when it’s “at rest” is 0.

Because these values are so large, you’ve just reduced the Shape Designer display so that you’ll be able to see the entire shape in the window at once. (You should also click the Hand Grabber tool and drag so that the small white circle (origin) is closer to the lower-left of the drawing area.) You’re about to design an Executable Shape—a shape whose contour governs the effects of the pitch bend. For more on Executable Shapes, see To define an expression for playback.

7. Click the Multiline Tool . To use the Multiline tool, you drag to create the first line segment, click at each subsequent corner, and then double-click to complete the shape. To make your shape match the dimensions of the one pictured here, observe the H: and V: numbers as you move the cursor, and place your mouse clicks according to the table below. (Of course, you can always drag individual points into position, using the Selection Tool, after you’ve drawn the shape.)
8. Draw the shape as shown:

You should have a tall, upside-down V. This Shape Expression first bends the pitch wheel up, and then back down to its original position.

9. Click OK to exit the Shape Designer.
10.  In the Level Scale boxes, enter 128:1. Remember that a pitch wheel’s actual “maximum” value is 8191. By multiplying the height of the shape you drew by 128, you’re telling Finale to make the pitch bend 128 times more pronounced; if you didn’t, you probably wouldn’t even be able to perceive the pitch bend.

The shape you drew was 32 eighth notes (4 measures) long. The reason for this is to create a smoother sounding pitch bend.

11. Change the Time Scale. Enter a 1:4 Time Scale ratio to make the pitch bend last only 1/4 as long (a whole note); enter 2:1 to make it last twice as long, and so on. The shape in the pitch bend library has a Time Scale ratio of 1:16 to last only a quarter note.
12. Click OK and Assign to return to the score. Listen to the pitch bend in playback and see how it works. If you want it to be less pronounced, decrease the Level Scale (or change the maximum pitch bend interval on your MIDI keyboard). If it lasts too long, decrease the Time Scale.

If you entered text for the pitch bend expression, drag this handle to move the expression; click it and press delete to remove it.