I too find step entry a very difficult way to make most things sound realistic.

For slides, hammer ons and pull offs, I do two things depending on the synthesizer I'm using.

If the synth has a good legato mode, just playing the notes for hammer on and pull off will work. But again, that depends on the synth. If not, good, quick use of the pitch bend control works wonders.

For slides, if emulating a glass or brass slide, I'll always use pitch bend. Depending on how much I want to slide, I might use the Continuous Controllers to control the pitch bend range so I can slide more than a couple of half steps.

Using the CCs can also help with hammer ons and pull offs. If you set your pitch bend range to a half step, you can rapidly move the joystick or pitch bend wheel to the max to get a quicker transition between pitches, making the hammer on more realistic.

One more thing, if you export your MIDI and import it into a sequencer, you can just play the first note and then insert the pitch bend at the right time. I've had very good results with this, but it takes a bit of trial and error to get this right.

A complete list of continuous controllers and their functions can be found here: http://www.nortonmusic.com/midi_cc.html

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Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
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