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10. Setting up and using the pitchbend wheel

1 Most synth presets are programmed so that your pitchbend control bends the pitch of the notes, but often the amount of bend applied at full stretch needs to be adjusted. To do this, set the synth’s pitchbend range. Here’s Bazille CM’s HS Bass Punch Bag preset, set to +2 / -12 semitones.

2 Now, if you play a note and move the pitchbend wheel to its fullest extent either way, the pitch of the note will shift up two semitones or down 12. Hold down a C and bend the pitch up by moving the wheel fully upwards. We’re now playing a D – 2 semitones higher. Bending it all the way down, however, produces a low C.

3 Now you can incorporate bends and manual vibrato into your leads and basslines. So, for a Stevie Wonder-style Moog synth bassline in the key of E minor, you can apply upward bends to the third, fourth and seventh degrees ( G, A and D). You can also do a full 12-semitone downward bend to achieve octave slides, like we’ve done here on the A note.

4 A manual vibrato effect can be achieved by holding a note and rapidly flicking or tapping the pitchbend wheel just enough to change the pitch slightly, like how a guitarist applies vibrato to a note by wiggling the string back and forth. We’ve applied this to the long G note at the start of bar 2 of our bassline riff.