let's talk VIs & Velocities

[paults]

The Roland GI-10 pitch to midi convertor has a mic input that can be used to input monophonic lines into a sequencer- If it records velocity, you might be able to just sing the part directly into a midi track, complete with natural phrasing.

[ibanez468]

Hey rfrey!No problem. It's a little time consuming, but hey...anything dealing with makin' music is a time consumer, I've found.ibanez468

[ibanez468]

Quote:The Roland GI-10 pitch to midi convertor has a mic input that can be used to input monophonic lines into a sequencer- If it records velocity, you might be able to just sing the part directly into a midi track, complete with natural phrasing.Now that might be something to look into Vikki!ibanez468

[matto]

Quote:One trick is to crossfade a note from one velocity to another. When you use the expression controller, it won´t change the velocity layer. Sometimes it´s cool that the texture changes too when the note/instrument gets louder (or vice versa). Here´s how:1. Load an instrument into two separate channels (use the same patch)2. Play a note 3. Copy the note to the "channel 2", but change the velocity value4. Fade the first channel in (or out) and the second one out (or in)I´ve got good results with this. Sometimes I use the pitchbend controller to put some notes slightly out of tune (but just very slightly), and simulate vibrato, slide, etc. when needed. Of course you can use more than two different velocity layers within the same note if you like.Happy editing! - JHThe DXF patches in Gold XP kind of do that for you, they tend to work quite well.Vikki,As mazz has pointed out, when you use DXF patches you can simply use the mod wheel to impart dynamics onto the phrase you're performing, pushing it up to make the sound louder and pulling it back down to make it softer. Try this with one of the 18Violin DXF patches or French Horns DXFs and you'll get the idea.If this feels natural to you, you can achieve a similar thing with non-DXF patches by simply assigning the Mod wheel to transmitt Controller 11 (Expression) in your host software (I'm assuming Tracktion can do this).This type of continuous dynamics would be the way to go on long articulations.On the short articulations (staccato, marcato etc) you'd use velocity.

[anne]

I'm trying to get my head around this issue without using the piano roll method all the time. Wow, Vikki - thanks for starting this.

[mazz]

Anne,You can use the piano roll method in conjunction with the live playing method if your piano roll editor also has a controller display. This is usually under the window that displays the notes as little dots and lines. If you can view this, you probably have an option to view controllers as a "rubber band" style point to point line (like audio automation) or as what looks like a series of hills and valleys. In Digital Performer, I can view the controller data this way and each controller is a different color. After you can see the controller data, you should be able to edit it. For instance, change the curvature or raise or lower a certain time range. By viewing it under the note display, you can see the exact controller response and the notes it relates to.I tried to make this as generic as possible because each DAW might be slightly different but the concepts are the same.I haven't had time to take a screen shot but when I do, I'll post it.HTH,Mazz

[rfrey]

I've been having so much fun with Velocity issues today. I have an M-Audio Keystation Pro 88 controller and Ivory all put together with Sonar 6 Producer Edition. I really think Ivory is great but, I've spent hours upon hours trying to get the right velocity maps together for my style of playing. The Keystation 88 has its own set of velocity curves built in so you have that to work with in addition to the extensive velocity mapping configuration in Ivory. I have a low-end grand piano at home, so I played the same piece I've been working on this weekend, and man, what a difference! I don't have to be so careful how I strike the keys! I can just play the way I do naturally and things come out OK. The good news is I love to mess with this stuff so I'll keep trying , but I have a listing that I want to submit to that is due tomorrow so I have to get this together!The bottom line is, we are so fortunate in this day and age, as composers/songwriters to have such a wealth of instrumentation and recording capabilities in our homes! I've concluded today that it does have a cost in that, as good as these plugins are, there's nothing better than the real thing. I've noticed that Ivory is very sensitive to velocities and I still can't quite get things tweeked good enough so I can just play naturally and have things sound OK. Has anyone else who uses Ivory found a neat trick to achieve the most natural velocity map settings?Rich

[brindabella]

I dont have it yet, plan to. I think you should ask Stick. Dunno if he has any problems with it but Man, he sounds Mahvelous!!

[mazz]

I'm not familiar with Sonar so I'm wondering if it has some velocity compression plug-in that you can insert on your track input.Another thing I suggest is to try one thing at a time, either keyboard velocity curves or Ivory velocity curves. Sometimes with these things you can end up chasing your tail if you bounce back and forth. Mazz

[brindabella]

Quote:I'm not familiar with Sonar so I'm wondering if it has some velocity compression plug-in that you can insert on your track input.Another thing I suggest is to try one thing at a time, either keyboard velocity curves or Ivory velocity curves. Sometimes with these things you can end up chasing your tail if you bounce back and forth. MazzIm wondering if that is my problem with the EWQL piano? As I told you, the notes dont sound even. Then again, I dont have that problem with Truepianos and Sonar?