help with synthesizer, please

• Dec 15, 2018 - 14:31

Oddities in playback include, say, 4 instruments at mp coming off louder than the full ensemble of 15 at ff. What is desired is a great difference between the two, especially when you've gone through the process of creating a dramatic effect with the very dynamics. (I realize and accept playback is a secondary concern at MuseScore.)
So...
I noticed in the synth a SC4 compressor. Before I twiddle and tweak I'd like some direction. I've read the overview, but don't quite understand it.

First off, will this device solve the problem of dynamic range?


Comments

In reply to by Shoichi

Thank you. I always tweak the velocities throughout a piece. I am speaking of the entire landscape. The two attached files illustrate:
The first is early on at mp
The second is toward climax at ff

Yet the first comes off on playback almost as loud as the climax.

During a lengthy work there should be more differential between pp p mp ff etc

Attachment Size
First_Flight1.pdf 24.63 KB
First_Flight1B.png 133.65 KB

In reply to by Shoichi

Every score! That is, every ensemble score shows the same problem on playback. I've also noticed it on all the scores (orchestral) I've listened to on .com. whenever there is a thick texture. The sound does not get louder than an earlier mp, it just gets more muddled. It is difficult over the course of a piece to playback a significant difference between extremes in dynamic.

More to the point? From handbook (synthesizer):

"The SC4 stereo compressor (available as of version 2.0.3) gives you fine control over the playback's dynamic range, reducing the volume variation between loud and soft sounds."

Would this device thus increase the volume variation between p and f?

In reply to by DanielR

I'm not sure what you are asking. The problem I had is not a local one which has to do with a specific dynamic or bar(s). The more I explore it seems to be a problem of "clipping". Throughout an extended work for ensemble it was difficult to have ff passages much louder than previous ones of, say, mp. by cranking up the volume all I was doing was decreasing the difference between p and f (making p's louder). This has to do with compression, which I'm finding may be adjusted in the synthesizer. I want to increase the difference. Also...

FWIW - the synthesizer, I just realized, allows to control overall volume of playback without anything to do with velocity. Just like in the days of analogue stereo one must record at within a safe maximum range to avoid distortion. Ignoring this consideration will render ff passages not louder than one mp, but more distorted...the volume is clipped.

Perhaps I have addressed what you are referring to as "confusing volume levels"?

IF...you are talking about a simple velocity change from one note(s) to another, I have never needed to set a velocity change on a crescendo or hairpin, relying on the app to do so automatically. I tried velocity change on sustained notes, to no avail. (That doesn't work yet.)

joe

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