fade effects

[elana_chan]

hi there, I don't know if this is in the right area or not but I've been working on a piece that makes extensive use of a pipe organ and there is a rather long pause in the peace where the sound should fade out instead of just immediately cutting out and I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions on how to do it.

[herbert]

Hi Elana,

It is not natural for a pipe organ to fade out in a song. A fade out is useful at the end of a song. You can accomplish a fade by first extending the length of a note or notes and then changing the volume graphically by going to graph over notes, volume.


Best wishes,

Herbert

[elana_chan]

Hi Elana,

It is not natural for a pipe organ to fade out in a song. A fade out is useful at the end of a song. You can accomplish a fade by first extending the length of a note or notes and then changing the volume graphically by going to graph over notes, volume.


Best wishes,

Herbert

A pipe organ's sound does in fact fade when a note is let up in a similar fashion to the fade out you get from a piano that has it's sustain pedal held down. Call it an echo of the sound if you wish but it's the result of the sound reverberating off nearby objects (such as the walls of a church or concert hall) after the organ itself has stopped playing. Here is a link to the original song I am transcribing, the effect I am asking about can be heard at 0:14 (14 seconds) and is present for nearly two seconds before the organ starts playing again http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssbXlqSQ1AY

[herbert]

Hi Elana,

What you are talking about is not a fade-out but is reverberation. You need to use a reverb plug-in with your software, to get the effect you are after.


Herbert

[dj]

Hi, Elana, Herbert:

What synth/software are you using for your organ sounds, Elana? Chances are that it has some kind of reverb or echo effect built in. I use a freeware program called Miditzer, which is a virtual Wurlitzer theatre organ (www.Virtualorgan.com). The amount of reverberation can be controlled by the program's setup panel.

Reverberation is usually controlled by Midi CC #91 (Effect Level). You can manipulate that by using the GraphOverNotes(TM) feature and selecting the appropriate CC using the C?TL icon and its pop-up menu.

Good luck.

David

[elana_chan]

I'm not using any special software with composer, using the Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth

[dj]

Hi, Elana:

Unfortunately, the Microsoft GS Wavetable synth doesn't have provision for effects like reverb.

What you might do is record the playback of your file in the Windows Recorder (resulting in a .wav file) and then use a 3rd party program like Audacity (freeware) to work on the .wav file, adding reverb and echo to taste.

David