Music by Boletta

Oboe Passage Played Legato on GPO Instruments

CLICK ON THE LITTLE OBOE ICONS BELOW and you can download mpeg3 files of a short melody played on GPO instruments. I applied a variety of editing techniques to make the passage sound legato. In addition to using the mod wheel, I overlapped the notes slightly (very slightly) in the Matrix Editor and lowered the Velocity of each note to quite low levels (under 20) to make the onset of the attack gentler. (I used Logic Pro 7.1, but any sequencer has similar functions.) The oboe in this passage is playing in the low and middle registers, starting at A4, going down to E4 and then ending on D5 and E5. The final two short phrases show the difference between staccato and legato on a repeated note. I was very pleasantly surprised with how well the repeated note legato turned out in all four versions. This is hard to do even on an acoustic instrument. And, of course, the oboe is notoriously difficult instrument to play in any case, so it is not surprising that electronic intervention also presents problems. A and C use the various editings mentioned above but don't have a sustain pedal added. B and D,again with the identical editings of A and C do have the Ped function added, and I think you will be able to hear the difference. Which one do you think has the best legato?

A: Oboe 3 Modern Solo
This legato sounds a bit like the sounds are being turned on and off like a water spigot. Not so graceful.

B: Oboe 3 Modern Solo with Ped
Now this is the same instrument as A with all the same edits as the previous file, BUT with one major addition. I added a sustain pedal marking (Ped=cc#64) to the score in Logic. This has the same effect as playing it originally with the sustain pedal. Big difference. I'm amazed. Much better legato in my opinion. What do you think?

C: Oboe Classic Solo
This is a different instrument with all the same edits as the instrument in A above. The classic oboe has a darker, fuller tone and seems to lend itself to legato phrasing more readily than the Oboe 3 Modern Solo does.

D: Oboe Classic Solo with Ped
Here is the same instrument as in C above but with the added sustain pedal marking (Ped=cc#64) as in B above. The general effect is a smoother, more silken legato. This is by far the best legato of the four in my opinion. Do you agree?

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