manual/include/automating-midi---pitch-bending-and-aftertouch.html

<p>Adding pitch bending or aftertouch can add a lot of subtlety to an otherwise plain sounding midi region and help humanize it.</p>

<img src="/images/MIDI_pitch_bending.png" alt="Automation: pitch bending" />

<p>Pitch bending and aftertouch both work the same way, through automation. Right click the MIDI track's header &gt; Automation &gt; Bender <em>(or Pressure)</em> &gt; <em>choose the channel you want to bend</em>.</p>

<p>Using the Draw tool, as for all the automation, allows to create a gradual change from one drawn point to another. A line in the center produces no change to the pitch, while a line above the center will bend the pitch to a higher note (up to 4 semitones) and a line going under the middle will bend the pitch to a lower note.</p>

<p>The values can be anything between 0 (-4 semitones) to 16383 (+4 semitones). No automation or a value of 8192 means no pitch shifting.</p>

<p>Aftertouch works very similarly, though the values are between 0 and 127. It should be noted that aftertouch differs from velocity, as aftertouch allows to slightly change the timbre or create a vibrato, while the velocity sets the power with which the note is played (e.g. on a keyboard, the key is hit).</p>