Legato in the context of a sample instrument refers to a technique of capturing the sound of an instrument moving from one note to the next. To create this realism the patch features a lot of details in its sampling and scripting in order to ‘trigger’ the in-between sounds.
To create fluid performances you must make sure that you hold down the first note while pressing the key of the second note. As long as you overlap the notes in this way, the engine will know that you want to trigger what we call a ‘legato transition’ or 'interval'.
INTERVAL TYPES
There are three different interval types in the library that your performance can trigger for added realism.
SLOW INTERVALS: These are great for slower phrases that require quieter, more delicate phrasing.
Program the notes below 99 Velocity, playing at normal speed. Timed to 125ms.
Slow Intervals will trigger regardless of playing speed below 40 Velocity.
HARD INTERVALS: These are better for faster, louder passages.
Program the notes over 100 Velocity, or playing at faster speeds. Timed to 75ms.
RUNS: Use these for scale passages.
Trigger a series of notes in succession at very fast speed only. Timed to 125ms.
When intervals are timed, this means you know how much negative delay to apply. Negative delay, or MIDI offset, makes sure these intervals sound in time with the rest of the music.
For example slow intervals should have a negative delay of 125ms on your DAW track. More about negative delay / track offsets here:
When deciding what interval to use, it is also important to consider the dynamics you are working at. The 3 dynamic peaks found in these libraries are as follows:
ff - 127 (100%)
mf - 64 (50%)
pp - 20 (15%)
For Hard Intervals it is smoothest to work in the MF to FF range, and for Slow Intervals it would be best to work at quieter dynamics.