"Omnichord" style strum emulation using a pitch bend ribbon + keyboard

Mindtrap's icon

Whilst experimenting with manipulating live MIDI input in Max using a Roland AX-7 keyboard controller, I've run into a bit of a snag as far as using the pitch bend is concerned...

I've managed successfully to create a patch which allows me to use the pitch bend ribbon controller to 'strum' a chord held down on the keyboard, with adjustable settings for the range of octaves covered by the ribbon, but of course it returns to it's centre value whenever I take my finger off, triggering random notes that I don't necessarily want to be played.

Does anyone know of a way to bypass this at the software end, or is it most likely built into the hardware?

Eli's icon

The way the pitch bend wheel works is just like the mod wheel-except it has two bendable pieces of metal that keep it in the middle of its range-MIDI value 64.

You could set something up using a [past], [maximum], or [peak] object so that when you "strum" the note (when the value of the pitch bend goes up to MIDI #127) as the pitch bend wheel settles its natural position it doesn't output.