Pitch wheel

The Minimoog was the first synthesizer to feature a pitch wheel, visible at the left of the keyboard.

In electronic music, a pitch wheel, pitch bend or bender is a control on a synthesizer to vary the pitch in a continuously variable manner (portamento).

The first synthesizer with a pitch wheel was the Minimoog, in 1970.[1]

Alternatively, pitch bend controllers on synthesizers may be implemented as a joystick, knob, or touch-sensitive ribbon.[2]

MIDI represents pitch bend as a 14-bit integer, allowing for 16,384 possible values. General MIDI implementations default to a range of ±2 semitones.[3]

  1. ^ Kovarsky, Jerry (2022-04-04). "History of the Synthesizer, Part 1". Yamaha Music. Retrieved 2023-06-08.
  2. ^ "Pitch Bend". Nick Maclean - Pianist/Synthist. Retrieved 2023-06-08.
  3. ^ "General MIDI System Level 1". The Complete MIDI 1.0 Detailed Specification (document version 96.1, third ed.). The MIDI Manufacturers Association. 2014.