Volume & Velocity

• Aug 18, 2015 - 02:47

Hi, gang!!!

As an information to new users of MuseScore (and any General MIDI software), there are two values whom are a normally not well understood concept:

VOLUME (adjustable from the MuseScore Mixer panel): It controls the overall audio level (power) of any MIDI channel. Into MuseScore, the Mixer "tracks" are MIDI channel only from the 1st to the 16th used channels (all the channels from the 17th and above, are not useful into any other MIDI software, because the standard GM only has 16 MIDI channels). Remember that each MuseScore Mixer track is intended to only one instrument sound, and the instrument sound depends on the soundfont file we are using on the MuseScore Synthesizer panel.

VELOCITY: (adjustable from the MuseScore Inspector panel): It is an "extra" gain resource to each instrument we are using on the musical piece. BUT... it is not ONLY affecting the overall audio level of each track. Of course it affects the level, but it also changes the "brilliance", flavor of the final instrument sound. For example, listen to the Piano notes into the attached file, you will be able to note the level changes, but the "brilliance" changes, too. I used the "GeneralUser GS MuseScore v1.442.sf2" soundfont file as the Grand Piano sound.

BTW: If you can hear on that "wonderful" musical masterpiece (hehehehe), there is a kind of "bug" about the expected changes: the notes with the -20 velocity value sound softer than -30 and -10 (it isn't a consistent continuous scale). Maybe a soundfont file bug? ???

The only great doubt I have is about the MuseScore Dynamics control. It acts over... The VELOCITY only value? or... Is it a rare combination of VELOCITY and VOLUME values? ???

Greetings & Blessings from Curicó, Chile!!!!!!!

Juan

Attachment Size
Piano Notes Volume & Velocity.mscz 9.3 KB

Comments

• Aug 18, 2015 - 03:30

Velocity is a scale from 1 to 127. There are no negative numbers for velocity, but the Inspector in MuseScore does allow you to set an *offset* from the default velocity, and that offset can be negative. The default velocity is set by the dynamic marking currently in effect.

I don't understand what you mean about velocity being controllable from the Synthesizer window, though - the only place velocity is controlled is in the notes themselves. The current dynamic level and the Inspector settings determine velocity, and nothing else does as far as I know.

I think you are right that the piano sound GeneralUser GS has a bug or artifact of some sort where velocity 60 (the default 80 plus the offset -20) sounds quieter than velocity 50 (default 80 plus offset -30).

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