elongating a synth sound (fl studio 8)

[madnessman]

I'm new to the whole electronic music production thing so please go easy on me. i wrote up the melody using piano roll on the ts404. right now my sound is very staccato though. it sounds like "<beep>silence<beep>silence". it's supposed to be more legato. haha sorry but it's not very easy to describe what i want (and where I am right now). Do you get what I'm asking?

 

[widdly]

find the synths amplitude envelope section then find the release knob and increase it.

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

or another way if using the piano roll, extend the duration of the notes you wanna, rite into the next note and so on

 

[Cheez]

Easiest way is to invest in a simple midi controller keyboard. Sequencing using the mouse tends to end up like that. Increasing duration of the note via software is also difficult - you either fall short of the exact duration or go beyond it. Too much tweaking involved. Note by note notation is done during the final stage - final tweaking phase.

 

[madnessman]

or another way if using the piano roll, extend the duration of the notes you wanna, rite into the next note and so on

Sorry... I guess I didn't make myself clear enough. I'm almost 100% certain that my note lengths in piano roll are correct. Let's say that my riff is 4 whole notes. Instead of holding the note over 4 beats, the synth just kinda beeps and there is silence until the next note. I tried to find the synths amplitude envelope but I'm having a little trouble. Are there any other common names it might be labeled as (I'm on FL Studio 8)?

Thanks!

EDIT: And I am looking for a midi keyboard controller. A USB one preferably. Any recommendations? I just need a controller as I'm trying to familiarize myself with FL's soft synths. I forgot what the common # of keys there are but I don't think I need the full size keyboard (88 keys?) but I want something bigger than the small ones (42 keys?) so I guess it'll have to be one of the mid sized ones (62 keys?)

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

beeps and silence aint too normal, expecially beeps, heh, for a while i was thinking whether is it a demo or trial version.

oh, any pic of the piano roll arrangement screen or sound clip of the problem?

 

[soft]

madnessman, did you select another patch to test? Some sound are staccatos.

Another possibility could be some "Note Off" inserted accidentally.

 

[madnessman]

Well I'm using the TS404 bassline synth (but i tweaked so i got a nice sound for my melody).
http://flstudio.image-line.com/help/html/chansettings_ts404.htm

I messed around with the release and sustain settings but that's more like... playing with the sustain pedal on a piano (with staccato notes) instead of holding a note on a keyboard. Is it because the TS404 was meant to be a bassline synth?

 

[Cheez]

The TS404 is based on the TB-303 synth bass - which is short articulated synth bass. Best effect is for quick repetitive/droning bass lines. Doesn't work well for sustain basses. Not meant for that type of bass lines.

 

[madnessman]

argh.. I had a nice sound going too! what synth (in fl studio) should I being using for a more melodic line which has whole notes?

 

[widdly]

You can definetly play legato melodic synth lines on that ts404. Spend more time experimenting with the envelope and I'm sure you will find the sounds you are after.

The "pluck" sound at the start of the note is caused by having a sustain level (SUS) less than 100%. With the SUS at 100%, the note should stay the same volume all the way though. Setting less than 100% for SUS will mean there will be a louder sound at the start of the note sort of like when you pluck a guitar string. The DEC control is used to set how long the "pluck" lasts.

The attack setting (ATT) controls how long the note takes to fade in. The release (REL) is the time to fade off the end of the note after it has finished.

The envelope is a bit odd on the TS404 because is has a sustain-hold setting which you wont find on other synths. You need to adjust this to get the notes to sustain for the proper lengths.

Be aware that the envelope that controls the volume also controls the filter cutoff. You might want to try turning the "env" knob in the filter section to 0 while you get the envelope setting correct for the volume. BTW: There is a mistake in that link you sent, the envelope controls the cutoff not the resonance like the link says.