Logic Pro 8 Velocity Curve

[robert safir]

This should be a simple problem to solve, but for some reason, it escapes me.

I want to record a part, go into edit mode on the Matrix Editor and draw a velocity curve that starts out soft and ends up loud. This is not a question of volume or expression but of velocity only. Think of a staccato trumpet part that starts softly and increases in loudness until it's at 125 or 126, etc.

In other sequencers, there are vertical lines representing velocity. You simply draw a line horizontally across the vertical lines, starting low and ending high. Voila, steadily increasing velocity.

In Logic, I doubt that we'd be expected to go in a adjust the velocity on each individual note...one by one, with the velocity tool. This is a process that should take two seconds, but in Logic, I can't figure out how. Can anyone help solve this?

 

[Orren Merton]

I want to record a part, go into edit mode on the Matrix Editor and draw a velocity curve that starts out soft and ends up loud. This is not a question of volume or expression but of velocity only.

You have a few choices, depending how you like to work. One may not apply, since I'm not sure of what you mean by "not...volume...but...velocity..." in my music-theory free zone, velocity = volume.

In the Piano Roll Editor (That's the name of the "Matrix" now in Logic 8)
Select View > Hyperdraw > Volume. This will give you a horizontal line like an automation line to adjust channel volume. Then create a node at the beginning of your notes, and a node at the end of your notes, and drag the line to taste.

But if channel volume won't do it for you, there is a way to do what you want, just not in the Piano Roll:

In the Hyper Editor
The Hyper Editor gives you a "drum grid like" view of all your MIDI messages as vertical lines. So in one visible lane, select velocity (it should actually be showing in the default set when you open the Hyper Editor, as velocity operations and drum editing are the two most common uses for the Hyper Editor. Select the line tool in the toolbox. Click at one end of your note range, and draw a diagonal line to the other end of your note range, then release the mouse. This will create the velocity line you're thinking of. You can also draw a freehand line if you want to do a curve, or you can use the line tool to create a line and then adjust specific velocities in the middle, etc.

In the Transform Window
Finally, if you're comfortable with math, probably the fastest way to do it is to select the region, then open the transform window. One of the included Transforms sets I'm certain is for velocity. Just type in the minimum and maximum values, click "operate" and that's that.

Hope that gives you some ideas!

Orren

 

[robert safir]

Velocity

Ah, yes...the answer lies in the Hyper Editor. The underused, often ignored, but essential Hyper Editor.

Using the Hyper Editor and drawing the line from low to high does the trick. I should have tried this before. But I have to add that volume and velocity are not the same. Velocity is the strength with which you play (hit, pluck, bow, etc.) the note, and it creates the "suggestion" of more volume. But adjusting volume, velocity, and expression - although related - are different in what they do to the sound.

Thanks, Orren...now I can do what I need to do!

- R. Safir