Just to clarify here, midi volume and midi
velocity vs. simply turning down the volume control all yield
different results. Not all midi ensemble tones respond to velocity, nor should
they to emulate 'real' instruments. Other velocity changes completely
change the instrument's characteristics --- again, as it should be. Initial
velocity may need adjustment instrument by instrument, but well-sequenced MIDIs
(such as Classical or Jazz Pianist by PG Music, maker of BnB) recorded on
non-DKV but weighted keyboards, need no velocity adjustments or pedal
adjustments whatsoever. For the DKV, I just need batch track mapping
Import File = Channel 3 and Voice Mapping: Channel 2 for Acoustic Bass,
otherwise, you know what is sounding like a bass.
As for the ensemble balance, I don't feel that it
works at all with the controller. Instead, I feed the output either to
my home stereo with equalizer or a pair of Yamaha powered mini-monitor speakers.
A hardware solution will work every time where software fails!
Fred
From: Carol Beigel
Many people think their Disklaviers play too loudly. Usually this is
happens because the piano hammers are too hard and give the piano a very
"bright" sound. If the piano hammers don't hit the strings too hard, it
will play more quietly. Velocity values for MIDI tone generators do not
always translate into the voltage necessary to make a piano key move. The
best velocity numbers fall between 30 and 80 in my opinion. I agree with
PianoBench that reducing volume by a percentage instead of straight values,
leaves the music with more nuance. I know that when I look at the graph on
Veloset that I have no idea what the vertical lines mean. If I smoosh them
all so they fall between 30 and 80 I know that I am losing dynamic range.
Yamaha PianoSoft disks come in several varieties. There are piano-only;
piano plus Ensemble sounds, and piano plus audio.
I know from experience that most owners of Disklaviers never read their
owner's manuals or want to spend more than a few minutes learning how they
work or all the wonderful features these things can do. They just want to
put the disks in and listen to them. If you could turn down just the
velocity of the piano parts (Channels 1 and 2) and use the volume control
for the sounds coming out the speakers, that would be SO good! Right now,
if you put a MIDI file with Ensemble sounds into Veloset, it turns down ALL
the tracks and you can never turn up the volume on the ensemble. I think
the Giebler utilities let you decide upon the features when you do
adjusting.
Yes, no matter what patch data is on Channel 1 or 2, it will make the piano
keys move!
Carol Beigel
----- Original Message -----
From: "Spencer Chase"
To: "Carol Beigel"
Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2004 5:15 PM
Subject: [disklavier] A reply to your message.
Greetings Carol,
So for the program to do what you want, and just turn down the piano,
what would you want as a determining factor? Would it work to adjust
the velocity on any channels 1 and 2 no matter the track or smf0 or
smf1 or patch as the piano would play all these parts, no matter what?