Pitch bending
The pitch bend (Engl.) (In German " Tonbeugen ") referred to in the music sliding, so continuous change in pitch of a sound in the direction of another sound, hence the "bending the pitch."
Audio example without pitch bending
Audio example with pitch bending
Pitch bending on instruments
This sound effect was developed on conventional instruments such as guitar , violin , harmonica or saxophone . A tone is continuously increased by pulling the string on the fingerboard of a guitar ( bending ). In the case of the harmonica and saxophone, the pitch is changed by varying the blowing pressure and opening; on the violin, by slightly moving the pressure point of the string on the fingerboard. In contrast to the glissando , in which - depending on the instrument - a stepless or graduated transition is created between two tones even further away, pitch bending describes a tone change in the mostly narrow range around one to two semitones , for example in jazz and blues usual blue notes . On most acoustic instruments, the playing technique is similar to generating vibrato .
While continuous bending of the tone is not possible on conventional keyboard instruments , in electronic keyboard instruments (such as synthesizers ) a control element (“ pitch bend wheel ”, “pitch bend stick”) is often built in to achieve the pitch bend effect to be able to generate on these instruments too.
Pitch adjustment when DJing
There is a similar function in DJing . In order to ensure a constant tempo or a consistent key when transitioning two successive tracks (with the DJ mixer ), the playback speed of a sound carrier and thus its tempo and pitch can be adjusted with a pitch adjustment control. In the analog turntable this is done by changing the speed of rotation , in modern systems such as CD players or computers are special pitch-shifting - algorithms used allow even independently the changes of tempo and pitch.