Making some notes of a melody louder: volume envelope?

[Leander]

Hi!

I have a melody played by a synth. I want want to mess with velocities...but I want to make some notes louder. Normally, you do this via a volume envelope, then make some parts louder or less loud. But when done, how do I mix this synth track? If I change the slider in the mixer, the volume envelope overrides my mixer slider/track volume because the volume envelope is automated...but is there a non-automated volume envelope?

Here's what I want to do:

1) The synth has a track/mixer volume of -4 db. Then I want to make some notes of the track louder. I use a volume envelope, then move some notes up by 2 db. Bottom line: overall track -4db, some parts +2db = -2 total.

2) Now I go on with different tracks...then want to listen to the song playback. I realize that the synth is to loud compared to the guitars. I want to set the track volume of the synth to e.g. -6db, BUT because of my "some notes up by 2db" volume envelope, I cannot change the track/mixer loudness from -4db to -6db because playing the song back will always cancel my volume change. 

I could use a bus for this synth, then change the volume there...but not every track in my project should have a bus just for this...there must be some easier way.

Please help!

Another example:

1) I have a VST flute. For my demo and song playback, the VST flute has a track volume of -6db. I want to finetune the volume of all notes because even when working with velocities are some articulations too loud or too soft...I draw a volume envelope, then adjust parts of the flute...

2) Later when adding new instruments the flute might be too loud or too soft...overall...so I want to change the track volume of the flute again, BUT the DAW does not let me because of my volume envelope. 
 

[John Vere]

There’s a zillion different ways to make it work. 
Im thinking you could use velocity to make individual notes louder.?

[Leander]

It's a cheap synth that does not have real velocity layers. Isn't there a volume envelope that is not considered as automation?

[Chaps]

Just to be clear, are you trying to adjust the volume of MIDI tracks or audio tracks? Are you using MIDI tracks to play your VST synths? If you are using MIDI tracks it's pretty simple to change the velocities of MIDI notes in a MIDI track to get the balance of volume you want, though this can change the sound of the audio because different velocities may use different samples.. If you are just trying to change the overall volume of an audio track, the Gain knob in the Track Inspector is one way of changing an audio track's volume independent of a volume envelope in the track. You can also change the gain/volume of an audio track with Process>Apply Effect>Gain or Normalize. Those changes are permanent (destructive) and should be used judiciously because increasing the gain/volume of an audio track too much can cause distortion.

[Chaps]

9 minutes ago, Leander said:

It's a cheap synth that does not have real velocity layers. Isn't there a volume envelope that is not considered as automation?

Here is a screenshot with the Gain knob outlined in red. You can use it to change the overall volume of an audio track (or bus). If you turn it too far the volume slider will show red. If you can't raise it enough without going into the red, turn everything else down. At least that's what I would do.

[Base 57]

Modify the envelope. 

[Xoo]

This is exactly when you want to use Offset Mode (and why linking the track slider to an envelope is unhelpful).