Hold Beats

Controls: Sgram/PT Dialog >> Pitch-to-MIDI >> Setup
Changes: Hv=n

This sets the number of beats a note is to be held. It is effectively the same as slowing the Tempo by this factor, except it works on an individual Voice Setup.

The main use for this is with background chords that are to be held for a whole measure each. If you want 4 beats per measure, for instance, setting Hold Beats to 4 means you only have to enter 1/4 as many Velocity Pattern, Note Pattern, and Chord Pattern characters.

For example, the Note Pattern for a standard Blues Progression would be

CCCCFFCCFGCC

instead of

C...C...C...C...F...F...C...C...F...G...C...C...

Note that this does limit the ability to put arbitrary additional notes into individual measures on the same voice.

However, one important use of Hold Beats is with Arpeggio, especially with the Arpeggio Beat option, to spread the notes of the chord over the Hold Beats interval. You can then use a Custom Chord to play arbitrary notes instead of a conventional chord series.

Another application is to randomly slow down the effective tempo of one or more voices in a "jam session" performance like GlossyFish, where multiple voices play independent parts. Since the voices are slowed by an integer number of beats, they remain in time with the unslowed voices.

MIDI Changes Script:

Use Hv=n to set Hold Beats for Voice v to the value of n, which may be any unsigned integer or valid expression, including current MIDI control values, random values, current computer keyboard states or mouse position, input or buffered notes, or oscillators. The value will be limited to a range of 1 to 127.

For example, H2=4 sets Hold Beats for Voice 2 to 4.

You can use "voice" 9 to set Hold Beats for all 8 voices at once.

See also MIDI Voice Setup Dialogs, Pitch-to-MIDI dialog, Pitch Track Toolbox - Overview