glissandofriendly

Glissandofriendly is an adjective used to describe instruments, hardware, software, or musical setups that facilitate or preserve glissando effects—continuous pitch slides from one note to another. The concept encompasses devices and interfaces designed to enable smooth pitch transitions, as well as performance contexts that minimize unintended articulations during slides. The term is commonly encountered in music technology, instrument design, and pedagogy related to expressive intonation.

Etymology: The word blends glissando with friendly (as in user-friendly), typically hyphenated as glissando-friendly. It emerged in online music communities and product descriptions in the late 2010s and early 2020s to describe design goals that support glide-based articulation.

Examples and characteristics: In acoustic instruments, fretless strings, slide instruments, and bowed instruments with continuous pitch control are inherently glissando-friendly. On keyboards, devices with continuous pitch control (such as aftertouch, assignable mod wheels, or dedicated glide modes) qualify when they allow seamless slides. In electronic music, synthesizers and plugins that offer configurable portamento or glide times, legato glide, and glide curves are described as glissandofriendly. Patches and samples that preserve pitch continuity during legato slides also fit the concept. In education and performance practice, curricula that emphasize smooth glissandi and intonation stability across ranges may be labeled glissandofriendly to indicate suitability for such techniques.

See also: glissando, portamento, pitch bend, fretless instrument.