Glide VST: draw the glide on the note

MIDISketch is a piano roll plugin where a glide is a line you draw. Put a pitch point on a note, drag it to where the note should land, and bend the line between them into the curve you want. Every note glides on its own, so a chord can slide apart, scoop in or resolve in different directions. VST3, AU, CLAP and AAX for FL Studio, Ableton, Logic, Pro Tools and any other DAW, plus a standalone app.

Portamento glides every note the same way

Most synths have a glide or portamento knob. It is one setting for the whole part: every note slides from the last one at the same speed, along the same curve, whether you wanted that slide or not. Turn it up for the one note that needs it and the rest of the line goes soft too.

A drawn glide lives on the note. You choose which notes slide, where each one starts moving, how far it travels and the shape it takes on the way.

How to draw a glide

1. Add a pitch point. Double-click the note body (or Alt + click it) where the glide should start.
2. Drag it to the target pitch. Hold Shift to snap to semitones, or leave it free for fine bends.
3. Shape the slide. Alt + click the segment between two points to turn it into a bezier curve, then Alt + drag it up or down to change the tension: fast and easing in, or easing out and snapping at the end.
4. Or join two notes. Select two notes and press J to join them into one note that glides from the first pitch into the second.

Every point stays editable. Move it later, retime it, copy the curve to another note with Copy Pitch and Paste Pitch. The docs list every gesture.

808 glides and slides

The classic 808 slide is one long note whose pitch drops or jumps partway through. Draw it as one note with a pitch point at the slide, and the 808 keeps ringing through the glide instead of retriggering. For a starting point, the Math tool's 808 Kicks and Phonk 808 shapes write bending glide notes you can then edit point by point.

An 808 is usually one voice at a time, so it does not even need an MPE synth: a mono line glides correctly on any synth through the ordinary pitch wheel. Set the synth's pitch bend range to match MIDISketch's and the glide lands on the exact note.

Glides inside chords

Plain MIDI has one pitch wheel per channel, so bending one note of a chord bends all of it. MIDISketch sends MPE, which gives each note its own channel: the top voice can slide up a tone while the root holds still. For that, the synth needs MPE turned on. Vital, Serum 2, Surge XT, Pigments, Equator and many more support it; the synth setup page shows the switch for each.

No MPE in your DAW? FL Studio has none, and MIDISketch is the usual route there: it hosts your synth inside itself and plays it in MPE, so glides work in FL without any extra routing. See the FL Studio guide.

Other ways to glide

• Sing it. Voice to MIDI turns a sung line into notes that carry the slides and scoops you actually sang, as editable pitch points.
• Arpeggiate it. The arpeggiator's Glide expression mode slides each step into the next, with a Glide amount from 0 to 100%.
• Write it as maths. The Math tool's Glide mode turns an equation into bending notes, one per piece of the curve.
• Export it. Drag the result out as a standard MIDI file, MPE or plain MIDI 1.0, into any DAW or synth.

Common questions

Is MIDISketch a glide plugin?

It is a piano roll plugin, and drawing glides is one of the main things people use it for. It writes the glide into the MIDI itself, note by note, rather than adding a portamento effect to everything.

Does it work in FL Studio?

Yes. Load MIDISketch on a channel, load your synth inside it, and draw. FL has no MPE of its own, so MIDISketch handles that part for you.

Do I need an MPE synth to glide?

Only for glides inside chords, where notes move separately. A single line, like an 808 or a lead, glides on any synth through the normal pitch wheel.

What does it cost?

$50 once for a lifetime license on two computers. The 7-day trial has every feature and needs no card.