Sliding Parameters
Whilst exploring the synth and FX args, you might have noticed that
there are a number of parameters ending with _slide
. You might have
even tried calling them and seeing no effect. This is because they’re
not normal parameters, they’re special parameters that only work when
you control synths as introduced in the previous section.
Consider the following example:
s = play 60, release: 5
sleep 0.5
control s, note: 65
sleep 0.5
control s, note: 67
sleep 3
control s, note: 72
Here, you can hear the synth pitch changing immediately on each
control. However, we might want the pitch to slide between changes. As
we’re controlling the note:
parameter, to add slide, we need to set
the note_slide
parameter:
s = play 60, release: 5, note_slide: 1
sleep 0.5
control s, note: 65
sleep 0.5
control s, note: 67
sleep 3
control s, note: 72
Now we hear the notes being bent between controls. It sounds nice
doesn’t it. You can speed up the sliding by using a shorter time such as
note_slide: 0.2
or slow it down by using a longer slide time.
Every parameter that can be controlled has a corresponding _slide
parameter for you to play with.
Sliding is sticky
Once you’ve set a _slide
parameter on a running synth, it will be
remembered and used every time you slide the corresponding parameter. To
stop sliding you must set the _slide
value to 0 before the next
control.
Sliding FX Parameters
It is also possible to slide FX parameters:
with_fx :wobble, phase: 1, phase_slide: 5 do |e|
use_synth :dsaw
play 50, release: 5
control e, phase: 0.025
end
Now have fun sliding things around for smooth transitions and flowing control…