Love MG3 except for the "whale song" effect

I can’t get past the “whale song” pitch effect. I can turn off pitch bend, but that disables a core feature of MG3. Are there any plans to work out a solution to this problem that doesn’t deal with altering the ADSR on the synthesizer?

Do you have a specific solution in mind? I mean, it is an effect from using a controller with a number of physical qualities that don’t work as well with sounds made for controllers with other physical attributes.

If you, for instance, are asking MG3 to turn off (stop registering) pitch bends just before your stop your notes, you need to come up with a way to inform MG3 that you are about to stop playing too.

You can start using sounds specifically made for controllers with similar qualities (like some of the Expressive E sounds for the Osmose). MPE sound in general are much more forgiving obviously, but then you have stuff like the Arturia synths that are MPE but still need some attention (ADSR shaping).

Which synths, in your experience, can’t be fixed by shortening the release?

I don’t know enough how it works to suggest a solution. Why does MG3 have a problem with pitch on release, while other multichannel hex pitch to midi devices don’t?

Well, all pitch-to-MIDI systems have the same fundamental problem. It is a question of where to mitigate the issue. There are indeed other solutions: Roland chooses to shorten the note considerably, and this probably helps a little, but leaves you with a very truncated MIDI note instead.

Both the Jamstik and Fishman keep the note length longer (with no premature cutoff) and have the same issue as MG3. (In my experience)

I haven’t noticed the problem with the Tripleplay. I’ll have to examine it more closely. Maybe an adjustable note output gate could be implemented? I’ll have to try some things in Ableton.

Note output gate? You want to send note-off at a particular threshold velocity/pressure value?

I am sure that is a relatively easy thing to do, but I guess it comes with some consequences. Soft velocity monophonic legato sound patches will become unreliable, and you’ll get this truncated choppy feeling you have with the Roland MIDI.

Maybe there is a “sweet spot” that will mitigate the whale effect, but not damage other aspects. Thanks for your help.

after 20+ years with the roland gear i tried mg2. to me, the difference in terms of musicality was astonishing.

i never really thought about exactly what makes mg2/3 better. it would be kind of funny if premature note cutoff is the primary factor.

if it is, imagine if roland allowed us to set this to our own liking. or if some inquisitive soul hacked up some new firmware.

all those choppy robotic boxes would be transformed into seriously usable pieces of gear.

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