CHAPTER 23. LIVE INSTRUMENT REFERENCE
442
Global and Keyboard Parameters
Tension's Global and
Keyboard Parameters.
The remaining section contain all of the parameters that adjust how Tension responds to
MIDI data, as well as controls for performance parameters such as tuning and portamento.
The Keyboard section contains all of Tension's polyphony and tuning parameters. The Voices
chooser sets the available polyphony, while Priority determines which notes will be cut off
when the maximum polyphony is exceeded. When Priority is set to High, new notes that
are higher than currently sustained notes will have priority, and notes will be cut off starting
from the lowest pitch. Low Priority is the opposite. A setting of Last gives priority to the
most recently played notes, cutting off the oldest notes as necessary.
The Octave, Semi and Tuning controls function as coarse and ne tuners. Octave transposes
the entire instrument by octaves, while Semi transposes up or down in semitone increments.
The Tuning slider adjusts in increments of one cent (up to a maximum of 50 cents up or
down).
The pitch bend modulation range in semitones is set by the P. Bend slider.
Stretch simulates a technique known as stretch tuning, which is a common tuning modi ca-
tion made to electric and acoustic pianos. At 0%, Tension will play in equal temperament,
which means that two notes are an octave apart when the upper note's fundamental pitch is
exactly twice the lower note's. But because the actual resonance behavior of a vibrating tine
or string differs from the theoretical model, equal temperament tends to sound wrong
on pianos. Increasing the Stretch amount raises the pitch of upper notes while lowering
the pitch of lower ones. The result is a more brilliant sound. Negative values simulate
negative stretch tuning; upper notes become atter while lower notes become sharper.
