Virtual instruments sometimes very quiet

[R. Hancke]

Hi, I'm a Cakewalk beginner, I've read a lot, watched many videos and after Bandlab I'm now also active with Cakewalk. Unfortunately, there's one thing I can't get any further with. Some of the free virtual instruments I downloaded can only be heard very quietly in the Cakewalk tracks. In the tracks, the volume is then displayed with a value of e.g. -80, sometimes even +90. I went into the various plug-ins several times and changed and saved the volume there. Sometimes they are still set so low when I open the plugin again. Sometimes they are set correctly, but in Cakewalk they are still barely audible. In my helplessness I have already checked whether the plugins have write protection (Win11), but this is not the case. Can you help me further? Thanks in advance.

 

[57Gregy]

10 minutes ago, RH83 said:

Hi, I'm a Cakewalk beginner, I've read a lot, watched many videos and after Bandlab I'm now also active with Cakewalk. Unfortunately, there's one thing I can't get any further with. Some of the free virtual instruments I downloaded can only be heard very quietly in the Cakewalk tracks. In the tracks, the volume is then displayed with a value of e.g. -80, sometimes even +90. I went into the various plug-ins several times and changed and saved the volume there. Sometimes they are still set so low when I open the plugin again. Sometimes they are set correctly, but in Cakewalk they are still barely audible. In my helplessness I have already checked whether the plugins have write protection (Win11), but this is not the case. Can you help me further? Thanks in advance.

 

Welcome to the forum.
What are the velocities and/or volumes of the MIDI tracks feeding the soft synths?

[R. Hancke]

Thanks Greg. First of all: I'm from Germany and use Cakewalk in German, but I try to use the correct English names. Bear with me...
I use software synthesizer tracks with midi files (melodies created via Muscore), not midi tracks. Here is an example with the volumes

- Inserting software synthesizer tracks
- Kontakt Player 8.1: -9.0
- Foundations Piano: 1.8 db
- Import Midi: Track volume (101)         

What surprises me: the sound is often different when using Kontakt, just again.

[TracingArcs]

It is quite common for the modulation wheel to be assigned to velocity/volume/expression in Kontakt. Try hitting a key and moving your modulation wheel.

[Wookiee]

@RH83 what is the velocity of the MIDI notes, not the MIDI volume? Many synths use MIDI velocity to control volume of the instrument. 

[R. Hancke]

If my answer takes a while, it's because I'm experimenting with the hints...

I don't see any changes. As I said: I don't use a midi keyboard, but midi files that consist of “notes”. However, it is quite possible that I am doing something wrong when using the contact player. I haven't made any settings there yet. Basically, I select the Kontakt Player in Cakewalk and choose a virtual instrument...

[R. Hancke]

velocity of the MIDI notes:    in Muscore 127, such as in the Event List

[Andi Rock]

8 hours ago, RH83 said:

Hi, I'm a Cakewalk beginner, I've read a lot, watched many videos and after Bandlab I'm now also active with Cakewalk. Unfortunately, there's one thing I can't get any further with. Some of the free virtual instruments I downloaded can only be heard very quietly in the Cakewalk tracks. In the tracks, the volume is then displayed with a value of e.g. -80, sometimes even +90. I went into the various plug-ins several times and changed and saved the volume there. Sometimes they are still set so low when I open the plugin again. Sometimes they are set correctly, but in Cakewalk they are still barely audible. In my helplessness I have already checked whether the plugins have write protection (Win11), but this is not the case. Can you help me further? Thanks in advance.

 

There are many things involved with what you are trying to do if not as simple as you want to be. But I think that you should start with learning about gain staging, and also high pass filters.  Start with that and then move forward.  

[R. Hancke]

Thanks! I will do so. Furthermore, I think I should also take a closer look at the contact player and the various settings.