Pitch
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Pitch articulation settings are made in the DLS Designer Window when the Pitch button is selected.
The pitch articulation defines the pitch of the tone in relation to the note being played, here called the target note. In the graphical interface, the target note is at the bottom of the graph, and the pitch of the note plus or minus the value set by the Range slider is at the top. Points in the graph can be either higher or lower in pitch than the target note, depending on whether the Range setting is positive or negative.
The following segments make up a DLS2 pitch articulation. If the DLS1 check box is selected in the Instrument Articulation or Region Articulation area, the Delay and Hold segments are not available. For more information about the graphical interface, see Volume.
| Setting | Range | Notes |
| Delay | .001 to 40 | Duration of tone before the attack begins. |
| Attack | .001 to 40 | Time it takes to reach the maximum or minimum pitch. |
| Hold | .001 to 40 | Duration of the maximum or minimum pitch. |
| Decay | .001 to 40 | The value in the text box is the time that would be required to reach the target note. The time to reach the sustain level is shown in the gray box. |
| Sustain | 0 to 100 | Pitch at which the note is sustained, expressed as a percentage of the range. A value of 0 is the target note. |
| Release | .001 to 40 | The value in the text box is the time that would be required to reach the target note if the sustain level were 100 percent. The time needed to go from the current sustain level is shown in the gray box. |
Typically, you would use pitch articulation to define an approach to the target note from a higher or lower note. Because the attack segment starts at the target note, you would set the attack and hold durations to the minimum value and then use the decay segment to bend the pitch to a sustain value of 0 percent.
The sliders in the Instrument Articulation or Region Articulation area are used for the following settings:
Vel to Attack
This value is a multiplier that DirectMusic Producer uses to modify the attack speed. Move the slider to the right to simulate the effect of a note being struck harder.
Key to Decay
This value is a multiplier that DirectMusic Producer uses to modify the decay duration according to the pitch. Lower-pitched notes decay less quickly than higher-pitched ones. The farther to the right the slider is, the more pronounced is this effect.
Key to Hold
This value is a multiplier that DirectMusic Producer uses to modify the hold duration according to the pitch. Lower-pitched notes hold longer than higher-pitched ones. The farther to the right the slider is, the more pronounced is this effect
Range
Difference between the target note and the pitch reached by the attack, in semitones. For example, a range setting of 5 causes the note to ascend five semitones above its normal value during the attack segment.