Any way to obtain portamento playback?

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Djard
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Post by Djard » Sun Jul 07, 2019 5:16 pm

If I use the Custom Line Tool to create an indication for portamento, no playback of the effect is available. If I use the Glissando tool and add "Port" above the wavy line (using Custom Line Tool), playback is still gliss. Anybody found a way to obtain the true sound of portamento?

Perhaps I am mistaken, but I understand port. to be smooth and only possible with instruments like the trombone and bowed instruments. A very fast gliss. on guitar sounds port. But no matter how fast a gliss. is played on a piano, it never sounds port. Anybody found a port. playback for trombone or cello?


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zuill
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Post by zuill » Sun Jul 07, 2019 7:25 pm

What are the settings in the HP Preferences?

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Djard
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Post by Djard » Mon Jul 08, 2019 8:11 pm

I selected Jazz for HP, set at automatic for Type and Curve. The other options made no difference in playback. I tested the settings in my default document that has an unadulterated library file, but the slide still does not sound smooth at all: it sounds like the performer's tongue is fluttering, which effect might be desirable in another piece. Have you been able to get Finale to distinguish between gliss. and port.?

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motet
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Post by motet » Mon Jul 08, 2019 8:18 pm

Manual says:
Glissandi and Bends with Garritan instruments: Garritan Instruments for Finale can take full advantage of Human Playback's bends and glissandi. Note that Human Playback does not use portamento.

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Djard
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Post by Djard » Mon Jul 08, 2019 10:43 pm

That settles the matter. Thank you.

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zuill
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Post by zuill » Mon Jul 08, 2019 10:45 pm

Glissando and portamento are basically the same. Ask 100 people and you'll get 100 answers as to the difference, none of them matching.

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Djard
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Post by Djard » Tue Jul 09, 2019 4:14 am

I suppose you are correct. But I think chaos is lent a hand if the shades of difference between synonyms are disregarded.

Cawdry's contribution of putting together a dictionary in 1604 went a long way in helping us communicate. Today, I think neologisms and private interpretations just build walls between folks. Just my two cents' worth.

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zuill
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Post by zuill » Tue Jul 09, 2019 4:18 am

On a guitar, because of the frets, isn't a glissando a chromatic scale? Then what is a portamento, and how is it done?

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Jay Emmes
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Post by Jay Emmes » Tue Jul 09, 2019 2:43 pm

The full version of TG-Tools creates playback of a non-fingered glissando. It's horrible on the ears, but it's closer to what you want than an fingered (diatonic/chromatic) glissando.
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Djard
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Post by Djard » Wed Jul 10, 2019 3:31 am

"Horrible on the ears"? Yikes!

I might be mistaken; but if I hear notes in a slide, I call it gliss. If the intervals are not discernable, I call it port. On guitar, a fast gliss. may be named port. A slow bend definitely sounds like port.

A slide on a trombone or cello is port. To play a gliss. on a cello, you would need to play a scale of some kind very rapidly. But I admit that I am splitting hairs here. Probably the chief difference between the two techniques is that port. is smoother or more gradual than gliss. But I do believe a difference exists between the two.

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Post by motet » Wed Jul 10, 2019 3:36 am


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David Ward
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Post by David Ward » Wed Jul 10, 2019 6:42 am

I'm not sure what might be said on the Quora web-site as it's inaccessible to me (unless I answer a questionnaire which I presume would then inflict me with advertising). However, my understanding is that a portamento is primarily a vocal technique where there is the hint of a smooth slide over part (usually the last part) of a (normally rising) interval. A vocal glissando would be much more blatant.

What I have played over the decades on the trombone has invariably been called a glissando. I've never heard anybody refer to a trombone portamento.
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Post by knjloughman » Tue Jul 07, 2020 6:02 pm

I'm looking for an answer to the question - "any way to obtain a portamento playback? Meaning the sound of a trombone sliding from one pitch to another, such as a 4th or a 5th, in one breath...like a penny whistle...no individual pitches.. Or the sound of a cellist finger sliding up of down the string. I don't need a definition, rather a solution . Can you help. Thanks

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zuill
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Post by zuill » Tue Jul 07, 2020 6:57 pm

Finale already does that for me, so maybe we need to examine your file to see what might be wrong about how things are set up.

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Djard
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Post by Djard » Wed Jul 08, 2020 3:16 am

Does Finale distinguish between portamento and glissando in playback? I see only the gliss. tool that sounds like port. when applied to guitar.

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motet
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Post by motet » Wed Jul 08, 2020 3:18 am

How do you do portamento with frets?

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miker
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Post by miker » Wed Jul 08, 2020 4:33 am

There are such things as fretless guitars, especially basses.
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Djard
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Post by Djard » Thu Jul 09, 2020 4:15 am

On a fretted instrument, and on piano, port. is not possible. But if the slide is very fast on guitar, I would indicate port as the transition is quite smooth. A bend on a steel string guitar, up to one tone and a half (with 9 gauge strings), might qualify as a port; but we have a specific symbol for bending a note.

Unfortunately the guitar bend feature in Finale is horribly inaccurate. I have use my DAW to correct the pitch.

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