STRINGS: short articulation midi management

[jhonny.eriksson]

Hello,

I've a general question to how to manage midi automation for different articulations. Obviously the legato, sustain, tremolo patches mainly focus on V-XF, EXP and in some case FILTER. But how do you guys manage short patches like the staccato, pizzicato, detache etc.?

I've gotten accustomed to micro manage them by doing very minor, detailed and controlled changes using V-XF to the point where the controller lane looks like a saw-pattern. I am trying to achieve a realistic movement of the bow in that the pressure on the string is not always even and depending on up- or down-strokes might start with more or less force.

However, this method is obviously very time consuming and also hard to perform during faster repetitions. Thus, I wonder if there are any other tricks to achieve the same or similar result? I've tried to automate the humanization features where I at least get a slight variation in tune and delay since I am normally quantizing pretty hard. But that does not impact the velocity for each stroke in a staccato repetition.

I made the following two samples that you can A/B (live performance to click without quant.)

1. Staccato without micro management, straight V-XF/EXP curves (DS/VI-DSK1)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/onya330hmselilv/staccato_without_micro-management.wav?dl=0

2. Staccato with micro management, saw V-XF straight EXP (DS/VI-DSK2)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/h8svgxxef8deyg1/staccato_with_micro-management.wav?dl=0

And the follow up question. If micromanagement is a thing, how do you control it? I've been using the mod-wheel because of the low friction and rapid response...

Thanks,BR

[Seventh Sam]

Do you play the notes in using a velocity sensitive MIDI keyboard? For short articulations, velocity XF isn't really necessary and can lead to, as you have experienced, mind numbing micro management. Often times, the act of simply playing in a staccato pattern on the keyboard gives enough variation in the velocity to lend the authenticity you're after. Other tricks are to not quantize nearly as hard... or at all, even. In REAPER, you can select the notes you want, press H, and have it randomize the velocity and timing of those notes by a certain percentage with an optional seed-based bias. I'm certain your DAW has a similar feature and can produce a controlled inconsistency that will give you what you're after, especially if you draw the notes in on a grid. If you're after a bit more nuance, automate the tuning amount so that the detuning and delay settings get applied more or less depending on the curve you draw/record. You can also automate the start offset and start offset attack a tiny bit to vary the amount and intensity of the attack you hear for ultra detailed impressions. Does any of this help? Id be happy to clarify/provide examples if you need. - Sam

[jhonny.eriksson]

@Seventh Sam said:

Do you play the notes in using a velocity sensitive MIDI keyboard? For short articulations, velocity XF isn't really necessary and can lead to, as you have experienced, mind numbing micro management. Often times, the act of simply playing in a staccato pattern on the keyboard gives enough variation in the velocity to lend the authenticity you're after.

Other tricks are to not quantize nearly as hard... or at all, even. In REAPER, you can select the notes you want, press H, and have it randomize the velocity and timing of those notes by a certain percentage with an optional seed-based bias. I'm certain your DAW has a similar feature and can produce a controlled inconsistency that will give you what you're after, especially if you draw the notes in on a grid.

If you're after a bit more nuance, automate the tuning amount so that the detuning and delay settings get applied more or less depending on the curve you draw/record. You can also automate the start offset and start offset attack a tiny bit to vary the amount and intensity of the attack you hear for ultra detailed impressions.

Does any of this help? Id be happy to clarify/provide examples if you need.

- Sam

Thanks for the feedback. The samples are played with only VXF and no velocity sensitive keys. I've a horrible key-bed (M-Audio Oxygen 88) which do not allow me to put down performances that would fair without quantizing. But the random quantizing is really interesting, I'll definitely dig into that. How do you combo that with the humanizer? My approach has been to quantize to grid and work the humanizer to blend in the delay. That way I have at least felt that I've avoided the "machine"-like performance.

----

(a little bit off-thread but regarding non-quantized performance…)

I’ll also seriously get to order a new keyboard… However as many seem to be, I am torn between key-bed and feature…

• Kawai VPC-1 has the best piano-feel but is large (too large to hide under the desk) and have no features.
• Studio Logic SL88 Grand and the Doepfer-line have Fatar TP/40GH key-beds which feel good, and can hide under the desk… but are also very limited in feature.
• Native Instrument S88 MK2 can hide under the desk, it has ton of features… but a Fatar TP/100 (most likely, although not confirmed) key-bed which I am told do not come close to TP/40GH wood keys.

Which one to choose….

[Seventh Sam]

@jhonny.eriksson said:

Thanks for the feedback. The samples are played with only VXF and no velocity sensitive keys. I've a horrible key-bed (M-Audio Oxygen 88) which do not allow me to put down performances that would fair without quantizing. But the random quantizing is really interesting, I'll definitely dig into that. How do you combo that with the humanizer? My approach has been to quantize to grid and work the humanizer to blend in the delay. That way I have at least felt that I've avoided the "machine"-like performance.

----

(a little bit off-thread but regarding non-quantized performance…)

I’ll also seriously get to order a new keyboard… However as many seem to be, I am torn between key-bed and feature…

• Kawai VPC-1 has the best piano-feel but is large (too large to hide under the desk) and have no features.
• Studio Logic SL88 Grand and the Doepfer-line have Fatar TP/40GH key-beds which feel good, and can hide under the desk… but are also very limited in feature.
• Native Instrument S88 MK2 can hide under the desk, it has ton of features… but a Fatar TP/100 (most likely, although not confirmed) key-bed which I am told do not come close to TP/40GH wood keys.

Which one to choose….

If your keybed is no good (I feel your pain) and you don't want to live record the velocities at all, here's one approach:

Click in an ostinato or whatever, like so.

Now, use your DAW's humanize feature (in the MIDI editor) and tweak the paramaters 'til you like what you hear, like this!

This won't produce a good performance, but it will give you a "controlled randomization" to tweak further.  Edit note lengths, individual velocities, etc. until it sounds good to you.  To answer your question, I would then just tweak and automate the humanizer in VI Pro until it sounded good.  Something like this.

NOTE: Check out the videos on the humanize function and interval map controller in the VI Pro videos on its product page.  Notice in the matrix how I have it set to vary the patch to a different short articulation if it's going up in pitch, and that I've tuned these leaps up and down with humanizer presets so it sounds like it's tuning up or down respectively.  The videos cover this in much better detail.

Those are just a few ways to turn a machine-gun, clicked in sequence into a more authentic sound.  A velocity sensitive keybed is best, but you work with what ya got, right? 😊

If you're a REAPER user, I can share some tips on how to "velocity compress" so you can essentially quantize velocity and timing separately to varying degrees.

As for keyboards, check out this drool-worthy beast:

Arturia Keylab 88

- Sam