Velocity 101

What is velocity and how do you program it?

Let’s discuss velocity – how an individual note is. Reducing the velocity of less-emphasised notes adds dynamics into your groove, just as a human drummer will strike the main elements of the kit much harder than less important ones, and at a slightly different force each time. Program all your drum machine notes at maximum velocity, then, and your groove will sound machine-gun-like… which may be what you want! Many classic drum machines only let the user program one of two predetermined loudness levels – either accented (ie, louder) notes, and regular-level notes – whereas others offered no loudness variation whatsoever; so if you’re emulating the programming style of a classic groovebox, find out how said instrument dealt with velocity (if at all), and program your velocity values accordingly. As mentioned above, if you’re purposely looking to emulate the sound of a classic drum machine, start off by setting all notes to identical velocities. If you’re choosing between louder accented notes and regular ones, always set the most important notes to max velocity. As a general rule, start with downbeats, upbeat and offbeats at a higher velocity than the less-important even 16th-notes within a groove. After that, judge how everything’s working together, and raise less-emphasised notes where needed. When programming a groove based around a 16th-note structure, use velocity variation to ‘wrap’ less important notes around those that need to stand out. In the screenshot above, we’re emphasising the offbeat hi-hat by ramping surrounding notes up and down around it.