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Why does Velocity not change the Volume below a certain threshold?

Mintaka

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Mintaka

Mintaka

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Hey :)

Im new to Cakewalk and forums in general and not a native english speaker so please excuse trivial questions or bad language. ?

I was trying to record a song using a MIDI keybord. Everything's working fine but no matter how softly I touch the keys, the minimum volume ist set to a certain value. There doesnt seem to be such a threshold for high velocities.
Is there a way to change the Volume/Velocity threshold?
 

Thank you for your help and have a nice day :)

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slartabartfast

slartabartfast

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Just to be clear, you are talking about MIDI velocity and not how "loud" (dB on the meter) the audio response is?

If the lowest velocity visible in the Event List view is fixed, then 57 Gregy has it right. My keyboard lets me filter/adjust the values that it sends in response to the physical keypress impulse, so check to see that it is not a setting you can change. Inexpensive keyboards may just lack the sensitivity discrimination to trigger and send low velocity messages, or may not, by design limitation, send the full range available in the MIDI spec.

If you are talking about the response of the audio dB level to a keypress on the controller, then that opens a whole other can of worms.

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msmcleod

msmcleod

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There could be various reasons for this:

1. A fault in your keyboard ( FWIW, I recently had to replace my Korg microKEY2 61 with exactly this problem on several keys)
2. The velocity curve configuration in your keyboard ( if it allows you to modify this )
3. The VSTi instrument itself, e.g:
    - Some VSTi's have their own configuration for velocity curves.  Check to see if you can change this.
    - Some sample based VSTi's have a limited number of samples, maybe as small as 4 samples per key. It may be that the VSTi just doesn't have a quieter sound for that velocity ( you can check this by editing the notes directly in the PRV to see if you can lower the velocity there)
    - Some VSTi's don't respond to velocity at all ( e.g. organs ).

I would start by trying to do a factory reset of your keyboard.  Most keyboards have some key combination you have to press when powering it up to reset it. Consult your keyboard's user guide, the manufacturer's website, and/or do a Google/YouTube search.

Once you've done this, start recording some quiet MIDI notes in Cakewalk, and view them in the Events View and check the velocity of the notes recorded.  Cakewalk doesn't modify velocity information as it comes in, so if it's stuck at a certain level, it's likely a hardware issue with your controller.

If the lower velocities are showing up in the Events View, then the problem lies with the VSTi.

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Mintaka

Mintaka

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Thank you for your great help :)

I just tested recording with the lowest key pressure I could do. The recorded notes have a velocity of 1 so I cant imagine a problem with sending fixed velocity values. 
My keyboard is a Yamaha DGX-305.

Im using the standard "Piano 1" instrument from Cakewalk, so I imagine your idea about the VSTi might seem right, msmcleod. The notes with a velocity of 1 just seem to loud for my taste (turning down the volume doesnt seem to be a good solution because then it just sounds to quiet in general). Maybe I am just used to my Keyboards real velocity/volume range. Normally I can play very softly and quiet but also very loud. This just does not seem to work the same way with the VSTi.
I tested it with some other intruments and they all had the same problem while the organ was the most extreme (it responds to higher velocity but the lower ones are fixed to a relatively high volume level). This supports the theory, msmcleod discribed.

So I imagine, there is no real way around it? 

I am really greatful for you help this far, thank you :)

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Glenn Stanton

Glenn Stanton

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maybe create a MIDI clip with notes at each velocity - 1, 5 ,10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, etc. 

if it's a sample based VSTi, it's likely a limit of the sample scaling used, if it's synthesized, maybe some velocity range is imposed to create "realism". perhaps a pure synth set to square or triangle tone would show/sound correctly.

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John Vere

John Vere

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46 minutes ago, scook said:

Is this setting being used with the TTS-1 plug-in or the MS GS Wavetable synth built into the PC?

This!  For proper dynamics you might want to invest in a good sample based piano VST. 
You can get the demo version of XLN Addictive Keys for free. Just create an account, install the download manager and the demos will be there. 
 

https://www.xlnaudio.com/demos

Edited by John Vere
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Mintaka

Mintaka

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2 hours ago, Glenn Stanton said:

maybe create a MIDI clip with notes at each velocity - 1, 5 ,10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, etc. 

if it's a sample based VSTi, it's likely a limit of the sample scaling used, if it's synthesized, maybe some velocity range is imposed to create "realism". perhaps a pure synth set to square or triangle tone would show/sound correctly.

Thank you for your answer :) What do you mean with "square or triangle tone"? Sorry, im pretty new to this kind of stuff.

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Glenn Stanton

Glenn Stanton

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3 hours ago, Mintaka said:

Thank you for your answer :) What do you mean with "square or triangle tone"? Sorry, im pretty new to this kind of stuff.

triangle or square wave setting on the synth oscillator(s). sine waves can be hard to hear so the triangle and square wave harmonics will likely be more noticable with lower volume levels...

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