Note Length: Separate the Attack from the Gate
Note Length changes the instructions sent to an instrument, not the decay of a recording. It can keep a phrase’s attacks in place while changing articulation—or move each attack to the original note’s release.
Make note duration audible first
A plucked instrument may fade before a long MIDI note ends. That would make a duration experiment misleading. Here Note Length feeds Synth with a sustaining triangle-wave sound, 100% Sustain and a short 35 ms Release. The original bass phrase contains eight notes over sixteen beats: eight seconds at 120 BPM. No hardware or imported MIDI is needed.
Change the bass gate without moving its attacks
Interactive MIDI example
Note On keeps each attack in place. In ms mode, Length starts at 125 ms and Gate at 100%. Before the effect, every bass note lasts 600 ms; afterward it lasts 125 ms. There are still eight notes, with the same pitches and velocities. Listen for larger gaps, not a faster sequence.
| Stage | Start | Length | MIDI pitch / velocity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before | 0 ms | 600 ms | 36 / 76 |
| Starting setting | 0 ms | 125 ms | 36 / 76 |
| Length raised to 750 ms | 0 ms | 750 ms | 36 / 76 |
Compare 125 ms with 750 ms, rewinding between passes. The longer setting should carry through more of the gap before the next attack at 1000 ms. If it merely sounds louder overall, concentrate on the 400–600 ms region: one setting has already released while the other is still held. The instrument's small release tail means audible silence need not coincide exactly with the drawn note ending.
Length chooses a base; Gate scales it
Gate is a percentage of the selected Length, not of the incoming note. At 750 ms, Gate 50% gives 375 ms. Choose Sync and Length 1/8 to use half a quarter-note beat: 250 ms at this tempo, or 125 ms with Gate 50%. Millisecond timing stays fixed when tempo changes; synced timing follows the beat.
This implementation's reachable synced range tops out at 1/4. Its first displayed setting, 1/64T, currently emits no notes; do not use that endpoint as a short-note preset. The examples avoid it. Also, a later note of the same pitch truncates an overlapping earlier note. Increasing Length beyond the next same-pitch attack therefore does not guarantee uninterrupted sustain.
Answer the release instead of the press
Start a new note where the written note ends
Interactive MIDI example
The second original phrase has eight written notes, each 275 ms long and one second apart. Note Off replaces their attacks with triggers at 275, 1275, 2275 ms and so on. With Length 200 ms, the first output runs from 275 to 475 ms. This is one replacement event per input note, not an extra echo layered over the original.
Rel Vel is 100%, so these output notes use release velocity, which is 64 in this teaching stream. Turn it toward zero to use more of the original note-on velocity. Decay, currently Off, reduces that note-on contribution according to how long the input was held. It is not the synth's amplitude decay, and it has no effect at a fully release-velocity balance.
Use the before/after diagram and expand Note-event details to separate changes in start, length and velocity. Bypass leaves Synth sounding but restores the original notes. Reset parameters restores both devices. These are scheduled-note experiments; seeking into an already-started note does not chase it, so rewind for a reliable attack comparison. Keep long settings within the eight-second audition rather than treating the loop boundary as an unlimited sustain test.