Increase velocity without increasing loudness
I have a passage of repeated notes that need to be crisp staccato, but I am getting a sluggish response.
I tried inspector to increase velocity, and also in the piano roll, but I think I misunderstand how this works - it seems to just increase loudness.
If I over shorten the length in the piano roll to simulate a crisp staccato, then the note does note have time to sound, there is a delay.
Any ideas how to speed up the response time of the instrument?
Comments
If I understand you correctly you want a clean staccato...
Velocity = amplitude in MIDI (loudness)That won't help. It will only, as you've observed, increase loudness.
Did you enter staccato dots on the notes? They are in the palette under articulations and ornaments, as are the staccatissimo wedges for a quicker staccato.
In reply to If I understand you… by penne vodka
Yes I did, and staccatissimo too.
It's hard to explain, the instrument sound font is an accordion and it is quite a good one.
But there is a physical delay on the reed sound font. In the real world this is normally overcome by tugging very quickly on bellows to activate the reed quickly, but not too much so it does not have to be loud. Otherwise known as reed attack or "bite"
I am sure the same applies to a large bowed string instrument, push hard and sharp to quickly activate, but no more than to get a clean bowed staccato.
I was hoping that the sf2 sound sample could be "quickened" by increase speed of attack on the basic sound.
In reply to Yes I did, and staccatissimo… by Paul6
Ahha! Now I understand what you mean. (I played accordion when Eisenhower was president). Unfortunately, I cannot help you with the specific attack problem as it applies to the app...still a rookie. There is plenty of info on the site, and usually one of the experts will come around to assist you soon enough.
Sit tight...
In reply to Yes I did, and staccatissimo… by Paul6
No such things currently exist. What you are talking about in synthesis terms is called the "attack", and there is control to change the nature of the atrack. Velocity is, as mentioned, the MIDI term used to control loudness, because the way you make a note louder when playing a MIDI keyboard is too play "harder" which literally translates into the key descending more quickly.
If you want a faster attack, you'll need a different soundfont.
In reply to No such things currently… by Marc Sabatella
I know I'm showing my ignorance here, but I thought soundfonts were velocity sensitive, giving different timbre and/or attack the way many keyboards respond to attack and key pressure. A keyboard player can produce a harder attack on the keys while adjusting the output via volume control. Are soundfonts different in this respect?
In terms of MS functionality, are the volume controls in the mixer, play panel, and synthesizer the same as midi velocity? If soundfonts are velocity sensitive, shouldn't the OP be able to get a brighter attack by increasing velocity, and adjust the playback volume in the mixer? (Think Gain and Volume on a mixing board... similar, but different.)
By all means, tell me how far I am off base with this thinking.
Tom
In reply to I know I'm showing my… by toffle
Velocity usually increases volume because that it how the MIDI response is set up.
... giving different timbre and/or attack the way many keyboards respond to attack and key pressure. ...
Key pressure is a different controller (CC=continuous controller) .and can be rerouted to anything that MIDI can control.
You can check out the MIDI spec here: https://www.midi.org/specifications
It should make things clearer.
In reply to Velocity usually increases… by xavierjazz
Thanks for the clarification. I understand that velocity, as a midi function, affects volume. It was my mistake to think that it might also serve a purpose within the sample library of the soundfont, as it does in a keyboard.
I should not have included keypress in my example. (I know the difference, but it only confused my point.)
In reply to No such things currently… by Marc Sabatella
Thank Marc, you clarified what I thought was the case.
Just for interest... even though the piano accordion looks like a keyboard instrument, it does not play anything like one. No matter how hard you hit the key, it will never play louder - it is all in the bellows and timing of depressing the keys.
So from an accordionist point of view, velocity of fingers is related purely to speed of note, or attack, and this is limited to the quality of the reeds too.
Thank you
In reply to Thank Marc, you clarified… by Paul6
True, but then, the velocity of the bellows are now relevant :-). Anyhow, MIDI wasn't originally designed for that, it was designed to have velocity = volume. But it's not the only way it can be sued, and indeed, some synths use "controller" messages for volume and use velocity to do other things, like switch between articulations. Even tradition velocity=volume synths and their soundfonts often use "velocity switching" where velocity controls not only the volume but also changes between one set of samples and another. So for instance, there might be six different samples of the instrument playing the same note at dynamic levels, so when you go form "p" to "f" it doesn't get louder but also gets brighter/harsher/whatever based on hwo the sample was recorded. It would certainly be possible for someone to program an accordion soundfont this way.
In reply to True, but then, the velocity… by Marc Sabatella
'Even tradition velocity=volume synths and their soundfonts often use "velocity switching" where velocity controls not only the volume but also changes between one set of samples and another....'
This was the basis for my earlier comments. Does Musescore have the capacity to choose which layer of a soundfont to use based upon the velocity of the notes?
In reply to 'Even tradition velocity… by toffle
It's not up to MuseScore to decide. If the soundfont is setupt, then that is how it works.
In reply to No such things currently… by Marc Sabatella
Hi Marc,
just a thought... if the attack is built in to the sound font, is there some software that can change the speed and therefore the attack of a sound font, without changing pitch? ( eg Audacity can do this with normal sound files )
That way i could re process my accordion sound font to have the equivalent of a pizzicato accordion, just for repeated staccato notes.
Paul
In reply to Hi Marc, just a thought… by Paul6
You can edit an existing soundfont using something like:
https://www.polyphone-soundfonts.com/en/
(But you may have to use Audacity as an intermediate step to "change the speed" of each sample in the accordion soundfont.)
In reply to No such things currently… by Marc Sabatella
Hi Marc,
I'm not sure if it is my imagination, but I doubled the tempo and doubled the note length to compensate for about two bars. It then seemed to speed up attack.. which is what I needed it.
Is that what you would expect or am I imagining this?
I wonder if there is a plug in that would do this invisibly, just for a selected bar or two? eg a plugin in called "speed up rate of attack"
I could really have fun with William Tell overture !
In reply to Hi Marc, I'm not sure if it… by Paul6
I think you imagined this :-). The sound of a note is not influenced by the tempo, nor could a plugn do this. It's just a matter of choosing which of the available samples to playback - the one marked as "play me for velocity 20-40" or the one marked "play me for velocity 60-80" etc.