Hi! I want to create a bass drum on C1 with 16 velocity layers. Are there standard or recommended increments for doing this? I'm assuming the top one is at 127 or 126, but then ____, ____, etc? What would the softest one typically be at? Thank you!

 

You want to set this up for other users?

I'm not an expert here but my experience as a user is that it depends on the instrument. If they're simply a sliding volume scale then equal increments seems common but if you're talking about different articulations then that's going to depend on which are the most common.

A rare "smash" for example might be limited to the peak of 127 alone and try to give the more common hits larger ranges. 16 layers on a bass is probably going to be hard to deliberately control but if you're just going for an organic result then take the above into account and see what you think feels right.

If you can give the user the ability to adjust the settings without adjusting their global velocity that'd be great also.

 

Just trying to set up a bass drum at this time. I struck the drum 16 times . . . each slightly softer. I'm not sure if I should simply divide 127 by 16 and use equidistant increments of 8 (approx) down to 0 or if there is a recommended curve of some kind.

 

Equidistance seems like a good choice for straight up volume layers. Personally I have a prob with softness so I tend to curve towards upper velocities with my personal settings. But that's because I'm incompetent.
Users can sort that out themselves.

 

I don't know much about the subject but go for the proportional steps like the fellow user has advised.
You can always, or the final user, remap the MIDI velocities. Kontakt has amazing MIDI scripts, very little known.

 

Should I go with proportional steps down to 0 velocity of have 20 or 30 or 40 as the bottom? What is standard for drum hits?

 

TL;DR: it depends.
Longhand:
1. Open a drum lib in Kontakt; click on wrench; Click on Mapping Editor; see this:

That's how velocity is typically mapped to samples.

2. (1) is irrelevant -- what's relevant is the perceived volume of the samples you've recorded, and how they map to your keyboard. My keyboard is trash, its lowest velocity = 13 (no matter how lightly a key is hit). This could be partially compensated for in the DAW or Kontakt itself ( ) .

 

What style?
In popular music with low headroom and relatively low dynamics, sometimes 3 or 4 layers are enough, depending on the instrument. If you want variation, you can also accomplish that by choosing slightly different sounding samples in round-robin configuration.
I personally tend to set the velocity limits "logarithmically", like for example 50, 75, 95, 110, 122 in case of 6 layers. The last threshold is quite high and is only used when I need an exceptionally "hard hit".

Using velocity thresholds is not always the best solution, sometimes mapping the samples to different keys instead of velocity zones can be an advantage when you need full and easy control over choosing "the right sample".
When you don't, you often end up tweaking the velocities of individual notes in the piano roll, and that can be a little more time-consuming.
Many sample lib producers use both - a mix of >1 keys and velocity layers, whatever is the most intuitive for recording drums live.

 

Thank you for all the thoughts and suggestions. It really helps. I found an interesting diagram in Apple MainStage for 16 Velocity Layers. I'm not sure what CURVE this represents, but it is the default setting.

(BTW, how do you insert images on these threads? I pasted a dropbox link but no image . . . just the above link . . . using the landscape/image icon above).

 

Last edited by a moderator: Mar 11, 2018

DropBox is not a pure image hoster, it's a file general purpose one. You should use a pure image hoster, there are tons being imgur a popular one.

 

Got it!! I needed to insert Direct Link, not image link into image icon field.

 

The curve is just the shape of the values of the mapping when you put them together.

If you pay attention this mapping is not linear, it's slightly logarithmic (kind of "it augments less with every step"). Borrowing @Blorg example this would be like the second velocity curve (linear, logarithmic,exponential and flat).

For instance, the flat mapping curve would be a constant velocity after mapping no matter how hard/fast you press the key.

 

Where can I find various curve mapping (linear, logarithmic - a few in increments, exponential, and flat).in numbers for me to set-up manually?

 

Hi!! Can you guys help me out with this issue/thread?
https://audiosex.pro/threads/help-needed-setting-up-velocity-layers-simple-round-robin.33979/