VELOCITY SECRETS

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Note velocity is an element of music production that many of us take for granted, lumping it in with its invariably accompanying pitch messages as nothing more than the means for controlling individual volumes in a MIDI performance or programmed part. While governing the amplification of synths and samplers is, indeed, its most commonly served purpose, there’s actually much more to this misleadingly modest spark of data than just that.

As you probably know, a note-on velocity message is sent every time you play a key on your MIDI keyboard, with the speed or force of the press setting its value from 1 to 127. A second, note-off velocity message is sent when the key is released, too, but it’s not hugely useful, so we’ll consider it beyond the scope of this feature. Despite its almost-assumed connection to volume (1 is quiet; 127 is loud), velocity is in fact a versatile modulation source signal – albeit a ‘one-shot’ rather than continuous one – assignable in the mod matrix of software instruments in exactly the same way as LFOs, envelopes and MIDI CCs. And just like those modulators and controls, it can be hooked up to a huge range of sound-shaping parameters, from the obvious likes of filter cutoff and resonance, through rather more interesting stuff such as LFO rate and depth, to decidedly esoteric fare like wavetable position and sample start point. Not only that, but velocity itself can be modified on the fly using MIDI plugins, adding considerably to its potential as a creative tool.

In this tutorial, we’ll get to grips with all of this and more as we explore the highs and lows of velocity modulation and manipulation.