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OpenMPT => Help and Questions => Topic started by: Wilford111 on November 01, 2014, 05:07:53

Title: How to slide pitch of a note up or down? (Portamento effect)
Post by: Wilford111 on November 01, 2014, 05:07:53
Hello everyone!
I'm sorry if this has already been asked, but I've been looking all around the internet on how to gradually slide a note up or down in a song, and I couldn't find anything. It seems like the option is in there, but I can't seem to utilize it.
Thanks very much :)
Title: Re: How to slide pitch of a note up or down? (Portamento effect)
Post by: FreezeFlame(Alchemy) on November 01, 2014, 15:21:55
No problem :).

I recommend looking up the effect references article in the wiki, if you don't know something about an specific effect.
Here's the link: http://wiki.openmpt.org/Manual:_Effect_Reference

But to answer you're question:
You can slide an note up with 1 (MOD/XM) or F (S3M/IT/ITP/MPTM) in the effect column and/or slide it down with 2 (MOD/XM) or E (S3M/IT/ITP/MPTM).
It looks like this in the MPTM format:
ModPlug Tracker MPT
|C-501......
|........E02
|........E02
|........E02
|........E02
|...........
|...........
|...........
|C-501......
|........F02
|........F02
|........F02
|........F02
|...........
|...........
|...........
Title: Re: How to slide pitch of a note up or down? (Portamento effect)
Post by: Saga Musix on November 01, 2014, 18:15:24
Note that you can also double-click any cell in the pattern editor to get a list of all allowed commands, including their name.
Title: Re: How to slide pitch of a note up or down? (Portamento effect)
Post by: Wilford111 on November 03, 2014, 02:55:41
Quote from: FreezeFlame(Alchemy) on November 01, 2014, 15:21:55
No problem :).

I recommend looking up the effect references article in the wiki, if you don't know something about an specific effect.
Here's the link: http://wiki.openmpt.org/Manual:_Effect_Reference

But to answer you're question:
You can slide an note up with 1 (MOD/XM) or F (S3M/IT/ITP/MPTM) in the effect column and/or slide it down with 2 (MOD/XM) or E (S3M/IT/ITP/MPTM).
It looks like this in the MPTM format:
ModPlug Tracker MPT
|C-501......
|........E02
|........E02
|........E02
|........E02
|...........
|...........
|...........
|C-501......
|........F02
|........F02
|........F02
|........F02
|...........
|...........
|...........


Thank you so much! I read the Wikipedia article, but I couldn't really understand what it was saying. Your visual example was very helpful.
Thanks again :)
Title: Re: How to slide pitch of a note up or down? (Portamento effect)
Post by: FreezeFlame(Alchemy) on November 03, 2014, 05:59:58
You're welcome.
Title: Re: How to slide pitch of a note up or down? (Portamento effect)
Post by: Saga Musix on November 03, 2014, 06:33:57
Quote from: Wilford111 on November 03, 2014, 02:55:41
Thank you so much! I read the Wikipedia article, but I couldn't really understand what it was saying. Your visual example was very helpful.
First off, our wiki is not the wikipedia (https://www.wikipedia.org/). It just happens to run the same wiki software. If you don't understand that article, it would be helpful to know what you didn't understand about it, since that article is also part of the OpenMPT manual, where you could just have read up the same stuff as well. I know there's always room for improving it, but for that I first need to know what people don't understand.
Title: Re: How to slide pitch of a note up or down? (Portamento effect)
Post by: Wilford111 on November 03, 2014, 18:19:45
Quote from: Saga Musix on November 03, 2014, 06:33:57
First off, our wiki is not the wikipedia (https://www.wikipedia.org/). It just happens to run the same wiki software. If you don't understand that article, it would be helpful to know what you didn't understand about it, since that article is also part of the OpenMPT manual, where you could just have read up the same stuff as well. I know there's always room for improving it, but for that I first need to know what people don't understand.

Sorry, I know it isn't actually "the Wikipedia". I was typing fast and wasn't giving it much thought.
Anyway, due to me being a total beginner with this software, I didn't actually know what the "Effect Column" was, so most of the information was really confusing because of that alone. Also, just read it;
"Slides up the pitch of the current note, decreasing the playback period by xx on all ticks but the first."
Call me stupid, but I couldn't make sense of the second part of that sentence. Playback period? xx? Ticks?
I'm not saying you should fix anything, seeing as everyone seemed to get it except me. I understand now, so it's all good.
Title: Re: How to slide pitch of a note up or down? (Portamento effect)
Post by: Saga Musix on November 03, 2014, 18:52:16
The part about the playback period is definitely misleading, since it tries describing the same thing twice using two different terms, of which one is most likely unknown to the reader. That should definitely go away. I suppose adding a short introduction to the different columns in the effect reference wouldn't hurt, although they are already described shortly in the pattern editor section. Thanks for the input.
Title: Re: How to slide pitch of a note up or down? (Portamento effect)
Post by: Saga Musix on November 03, 2014, 23:24:22
Alright, I modified the descriptions a little bit. Formats that make exclusive use of periods (MOD, S3M) were left untouched, but for XM and IT/MPTM, I updated the description to mention 1/16th notes as the base unit first, then periods as the second unit if linear slides are disabled (which is rare for good reasons).
I'm sure there are still dozens of ways to improve this table so that it's more understandable to newbies (this is so hard to figure out if you've spent more than ten years with this software!) - so if you have any ideas on how to improve it, please post them here, or edit the wiki right away!