MPE & Tuning Systems
Per-note bends. Microtonal scales. Beyond 12-EDO.
MIDI was built for pianos. MPE turns it into a violin. Tuning Systems let you leave 12-EDO entirely.
// WHAT IT DOES
Normal MIDI sends one pitch-bend wheel for the whole keyboard, so if you bend one note, every note bends. MPE (MIDI Polyphonic Expression) gives every note its own bend, slide, and pressure channel.
On an MPE controller (Push 3 pads, Roli Seaboard, LinnStrument) you can press harder on one note and only that note gets brighter, or slide one finger and only that note's pitch glides.
Tuning Systems (Live 12) let the whole project play in something other than the standard 12-notes-per-octave system — load a Scala file and you can play just intonation, 24-EDO, historical temperaments, or your own custom scale.
- • Vocal-style vibrato and slides on a synth, per finger.
- • Microtonal music without leaving Live.
- • Dynamic timbre that follows touch instead of a fixed velocity stamp.
// SEE & HEAR IT
Click cells to draw notes. Press Play to hear them.
▸ HOW IT WORKS
Per-note MIDI channel → device receives pitch-bend / pressure / slide per voice → tuning table maps note number to frequency via the active Tuning System.
- • One-note vibrato while a chord sustains.
- • Microtonal beating intervals when not in 12-EDO.
▸ WALKTHROUGH (3 steps)
- 1. DO: Load Wavetable on a MIDI track and enable MPE in the device header.▸ LISTEN: Pressure on one Push pad bends only that note.
- 2. DO: Open the Tuning panel (top bar) and load a Scala file.▸ LISTEN: The same MIDI clip now plays in the new tuning.
- 3. DO: Play a chord and add slide on one finger.▸ LISTEN: Single voice glides while others sit still.
▸ COMMON MISTAKES
- ✗ Using a non-MPE synth and wondering why the bends are global.
- ✗ Forgetting to enable MPE per device — most ship MPE-off by default.