Hi guys,
I have an issue with the velocity of individual drums in BFD3. If I play the kit with my midi keyboard, the drum distorts slightly. If I manually reduce the velocity in my DAW the drum sounds fine.
Is there any control over velocity within the BFD3 player?
Thanks
Steve
Yes. Go to that rectangle in the middle that says Presets/Dashboard/Macros. Press Dashboard. The Dyn knob is the master velocity control.
I think that’s for random velocity output from BFD3 though and not the MIDI data that’s being received from a controller?
@duzBFD3WURK Is this possibly the velocity output from your controller, maybe set to a louder curve? There are usually preset velocity curves for the controller that you can choose. I tend to flip between one for shells and the other for cymbals.
It’s very common that I will overload channels when I’m triggering sounds from my controller too, but usually playback of the MIDI doesn’t peak quite as high. I still have to go in and adjust the velocities anyways.
You could experiment with the Gate or Velocity Learn Features…
Gate
With the Gate setting activated, any incoming MIDI notes with velocities outside the input range are ignored for the articulation mapping. This behaviour can be very useful when creating velocity splits or for eliminating crosstalk-related issues when playing BFD3 from an electronic drumkit.
With the Gate button deactivated, such notes trigger the articulation, with velocity values that are forced to the Input Range boundaries. For example, if the Input Range is set from 25 to 90 and an incoming note’s velocity is 10, it is treated as a velocity of 25. If an incoming note’s velocity is 100, it is treated as a velocity of 90
Learn Velocity
This function is designed to analyze incoming MIDI note input and set the Input Range accordingly. Activate the button and play a series of low-velocity and high-velocity notes within the velocity range you intend to use with the articulation mapping.
The detected notes are analyzed and the Input Range is set.
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This might just be the levels in the mixer, and nothing to do with the velocity. Higher velocities should not distort, unless the mix is all at unity gain, and then in those cases it sometimes might - that’s kind of a natural by product of adding so many channels together.
My suggestion is to turn down the master in the mixer so it no longer clips red, and see if it still distorts.
Try it. It’s the master MIDI input velocity. I use it all the time. Frequently, I’ll automate that from the DAW to control the contour of the performance. But it’ll work for any MIDI source.
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Thanks, that’s a good tip about automating it. I may even just try lowering that a bit as I track MIDI going into BFD3 to prevent overs, but generally I just turn down the global output volume to leave some headroom in the DAW.
It’s about playing dynamics, rather than output. Volume is better controlled with the output gain, as you point out. Or, if it has to be changed dynamically, with a fader on the DAW so it can be automated. But if you want a song to build, you often want the musicians to play harder. That’s where Dyn knob automation comes in. It’s also good for getting more out of your canned grooves.
Or, as I think the OP is asking, just something quick to adjust the input so he can compensate for one controller or another.
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Yeah, I think the groove FX takes it a step further with getting more realism out of as you say, canned grooves, but I generally don’t use the groove editor a lot when I program my own tracks. I may start importing my finished MIDI from the DAW into the groove editor to take advantage of the groove FX.
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