I have a Yamaha DGX 505 keyboard.  I can record myself playing and save the
recordings as midi files.  When I transfer the midi files to my computer, or
to another keyboard, the midi files are very soft in volume.  I have to turn
the volume on my computer up to maximum in order to hear the files.  I have
downloaded several midi editors, but increasing the volume does not work
with these editors.  Is there anything that can be done about this, or are
midi files created in this way always of poor quality?

- Gillian Lyons

Gillian Lyons wrote:

>I have a Yamaha DGX 505 keyboard.  I can record myself playing and save the
>recordings as midi files.  When I transfer the midi files to my computer, or
>to another keyboard, the midi files are very soft in volume.  I have to turn
>the volume on my computer up to maximum in order to hear the files.  I have
>downloaded several midi editors, but increasing the volume does not work
>with these editors.  Is there anything that can be done about this, or are
>midi files created in this way always of poor quality?

It is important to remember that there is always a sound generator of some
kind (synth, sampler, etc.) between MIDI files and your ears.  The volume
controls in sequencers (MIDI editors) control levels relative to the maximum
volume of the sound generators that they drive and, if the volume controls
of the sound generators are set low then no amount of tweaking the MIDI files
will increase the ultimate volume.

IOW, ensure that the volume settings of your sound generators are turned up!

-- 
========================================================================
          Michael Kesti            |  "And like, one and one don't make
                                   |   two, one and one make one."
    mrkesti at comcast dot net     |          - The Who, Bargain

Thank you for your response.  As a result, I went to Control Panel, Sounds
and Devices, Audio, MIDI music playback, and turned SW Synth up to maximum.
That helped for playing MIDI files on the computer.  However, I don't think
this will help when I play the files on another keyboard.  I have the volume
up to maximum on the keyboard from which I am doing the recording, but it is
not enough - this sounds stupid, but is there any kind of device that could
increase the volume of my keyboard (while recording) so the MIDI files are
louder?!

- Gillian Lyons


"Michael R. Kesti" <mrkesti@nospam.net> wrote in message
news:43D7BA3C.625B150A@nospam.net...
> Gillian Lyons wrote:
>
> >I have a Yamaha DGX 505 keyboard.  I can record myself playing and save
the
> >recordings as midi files.  When I transfer the midi files to my computer,
or
> >to another keyboard, the midi files are very soft in volume.  I have to
turn
> >the volume on my computer up to maximum in order to hear the files.  I
have
> >downloaded several midi editors, but increasing the volume does not work
> >with these editors.  Is there anything that can be done about this, or
are
> >midi files created in this way always of poor quality?
>
> It is important to remember that there is always a sound generator of some
> kind (synth, sampler, etc.) between MIDI files and your ears.  The volume
> controls in sequencers (MIDI editors) control levels relative to the
maximum
> volume of the sound generators that they drive and, if the volume controls
> of the sound generators are set low then no amount of tweaking the MIDI
files
> will increase the ultimate volume.
>
> IOW, ensure that the volume settings of your sound generators are turned
up!
>
> -- 
> ========================================================================
>           Michael Kesti            |  "And like, one and one don't make
>                                    |   two, one and one make one."
>     mrkesti at comcast dot net     |          - The Who, Bargain

Gillian Lyons wrote:

>Thank you for your response.

You're welcome.

>                              As a result, I went to Control Panel, Sounds
>and Devices, Audio, MIDI music playback, and turned SW Synth up to maximum.
>That helped for playing MIDI files on the computer.

Great!

>                                                     However, I don't think
>this will help when I play the files on another keyboard.

You're correct.

>                                                           I have the volume
>up to maximum on the keyboard from which I am doing the recording, but it is
>not enough -

There are a couple more things (at least!) that you might check.  The first
applies only to the keyboard's sounds.  Some synthesizers include individual
volume controls for each patch/program.  Are these set high enough?

The second applies to both your keyboard's sound and your software synth's
sounds.  It may be that yu use a very light touch when playing your keys.
This could result in very low note velocities that your sound generators
correctly interpret as low volume sounds.  The range of note on velocity
is 1 to 127.  Check your MIDI files' note velocities.  If they are
consistently low then that may be your problem.  You might try downloading
MIDI files from the net and seeing if they play more loudly than those you
produce yourself.


>             this sounds stupid, but is there any kind of device that could
>increase the volume of my keyboard (while recording) so the MIDI files are
>louder?!

Not stupid at all!  It is somewhat common to use a mixer between one's
external sound generators and computer's line input.  Such a mixer can,
in addition to mixing multiple sources and providing more flexible
monitoring, be used to bring up levels when needed.

-- 
========================================================================
          Michael Kesti            |  "And like, one and one don't make
                                   |   two, one and one make one."
    mrkesti at comcast dot net     |          - The Who, Bargain

On Wed, 25 Jan 2006 12:23:07 -0600, "Gillian Lyons"
<gillianlyons@sasktel.net> wrote:

>but is there any kind of device that could
>increase the volume of my keyboard (while recording) so the MIDI files are
>louder?!

Hit the keys harder :-)

But that's the serious answer as well.   Play louder, you'll get
higher MIDI velocity.  Maybe your keyboard has an adjustable touch
response curve setting?
   
   CubaseFAQ www.laurencepayne.co.uk/CubaseFAQ.htm
 "Possibly the world's least impressive web site": George Perfect

Thanks again!  I forgot to tell you that I tried turning "touch sensitivity"
off on my keyboard.  It only made the MIDI file slightly louder, and it
sounded horrible!  MIDI files from the internet do sound much louder.  I
think I will have to try learning about using a mixer, although I have no
idea where to start.

- Gillian Lyons


"Michael R. Kesti" <mrkesti@nospam.net> wrote in message
news:43D7C6B4.C894E661@nospam.net...
> Gillian Lyons wrote:
>
> >Thank you for your response.
>
> You're welcome.
>
> >                              As a result, I went to Control Panel,
Sounds
> >and Devices, Audio, MIDI music playback, and turned SW Synth up to
maximum.
> >That helped for playing MIDI files on the computer.
>
> Great!
>
> >                                                     However, I don't
think
> >this will help when I play the files on another keyboard.
>
> You're correct.
>
> >                                                           I have the
volume
> >up to maximum on the keyboard from which I am doing the recording, but it
is
> >not enough -
>
> There are a couple more things (at least!) that you might check.  The
first
> applies only to the keyboard's sounds.  Some synthesizers include
individual
> volume controls for each patch/program.  Are these set high enough?
>
> The second applies to both your keyboard's sound and your software synth's
> sounds.  It may be that yu use a very light touch when playing your keys.
> This could result in very low note velocities that your sound generators
> correctly interpret as low volume sounds.  The range of note on velocity
> is 1 to 127.  Check your MIDI files' note velocities.  If they are
> consistently low then that may be your problem.  You might try downloading
> MIDI files from the net and seeing if they play more loudly than those you
> produce yourself.
>
>
> >             this sounds stupid, but is there any kind of device that
could
> >increase the volume of my keyboard (while recording) so the MIDI files
are
> >louder?!
>
> Not stupid at all!  It is somewhat common to use a mixer between one's
> external sound generators and computer's line input.  Such a mixer can,
> in addition to mixing multiple sources and providing more flexible
> monitoring, be used to bring up levels when needed.
>
> -- 
> ========================================================================
>           Michael Kesti            |  "And like, one and one don't make
>                                    |   two, one and one make one."
>     mrkesti at comcast dot net     |          - The Who, Bargain

On Wed, 25 Jan 2006 13:10:04 -0600, "Gillian Lyons"
<gillianlyons@sasktel.net> wrote:

>Thanks again!  I forgot to tell you that I tried turning "touch sensitivity"
>off on my keyboard.  It only made the MIDI file slightly louder, and it
>sounded horrible!  MIDI files from the internet do sound much louder.  I
>think I will have to try learning about using a mixer, although I have no
>idea where to start.


Send me one of your self-recorded MIDI files.  Let's see just where
it's lacking.

You'll have to derive my real address from the indicated one.  Not too
hard, I think :-)
   
   CubaseFAQ www.laurencepayne.co.uk/CubaseFAQ.htm
 "Possibly the world's least impressive web site": George Perfect

Gillian Lyons wrote:

>Thanks again!  I forgot to tell you that I tried turning "touch sensitivity"
>off on my keyboard.  It only made the MIDI file slightly louder, and it
>sounded horrible!

The reason it sounded horrible is that your keyboard then output a
fixed/constant velocity.  This removes all of the dynamics of your
playing and the result is as expressive as a robot.  That is, it is
not expressive at all!

The reason it was louder is probably because the fixed/constant velocity
that your keyboard uses is higher than that you create when you play.

>                   MIDI files from the internet do sound much louder.

This supports my idea that you play with a very light touch.  You might
try playing with heavier touch, your keyboard may provide various response
"curves", or your sequencer may allow you to adjust notes' velocities
programatically.

>                                                                       I
>think I will have to try learning about using a mixer, although I have no
>idea where to start.

If your problem is insufficient velocity then you may not have to start
using a mixer yet.  They can be very useful, though.  In addition to
providing a way to correct level problems they can solve a variety of
signal routing and monitoring problems and most provide mic preamps for
when one wants to record acoustic instruments and/or voices.  Good
starter units that are surprising cheap are the Behringer Eurorack
series.

-- 
========================================================================
          Michael Kesti            |  "And like, one and one don't make
                                   |   two, one and one make one."
    mrkesti at comcast dot net     |          - The Who, Bargain

With the program I use called Sound Studio II by Evolution, I opened one of
my MIDI files and was able to find the velocity for each note of the file.
The velocities ranged from around 23 to 57.  I found out that I can change
the velocity overall, but there is no option for changing it by a
percentage, so if I change the velocity by, for example 50, it makes the
entire piece one volume.  Is there a possibility, with a different program
to change the velocity by a percentage so that dynamic contrast is still
maintained?  When I think of it, MIDI files that I have downloaded from the
internet do not have natural sounding dynamics - they only have terraced
dynamics.

- Gillian Lyons


"Michael R. Kesti" <mrkesti@nospam.net> wrote in message
news:43D7DA93.83D9DC93@nospam.net...
> Gillian Lyons wrote:
>
> >Thanks again!  I forgot to tell you that I tried turning "touch
sensitivity"
> >off on my keyboard.  It only made the MIDI file slightly louder, and it
> >sounded horrible!
>
> The reason it sounded horrible is that your keyboard then output a
> fixed/constant velocity.  This removes all of the dynamics of your
> playing and the result is as expressive as a robot.  That is, it is
> not expressive at all!
>
> The reason it was louder is probably because the fixed/constant velocity
> that your keyboard uses is higher than that you create when you play.
>
> >                   MIDI files from the internet do sound much louder.
>
> This supports my idea that you play with a very light touch.  You might
> try playing with heavier touch, your keyboard may provide various response
> "curves", or your sequencer may allow you to adjust notes' velocities
> programatically.
>
> >                                                                       I
> >think I will have to try learning about using a mixer, although I have no
> >idea where to start.
>
> If your problem is insufficient velocity then you may not have to start
> using a mixer yet.  They can be very useful, though.  In addition to
> providing a way to correct level problems they can solve a variety of
> signal routing and monitoring problems and most provide mic preamps for
> when one wants to record acoustic instruments and/or voices.  Good
> starter units that are surprising cheap are the Behringer Eurorack
> series.
>
> -- 
> ========================================================================
>           Michael Kesti            |  "And like, one and one don't make
>                                    |   two, one and one make one."
>     mrkesti at comcast dot net     |          - The Who, Bargain

Gillian Lyons wrote:

>With the program I use called Sound Studio II by Evolution, I opened one of
>my MIDI files and was able to find the velocity for each note of the file.
>The velocities ranged from around 23 to 57.

This is somewhat low, as the total range is 1 to 127, and seem to explain
your volume issue.

>                                             I found out that I can change
>the velocity overall, but there is no option for changing it by a
>percentage, so if I change the velocity by, for example 50, it makes the
>entire piece one volume.  Is there a possibility, with a different program
>to change the velocity by a percentage so that dynamic contrast is still
>maintained?

I suspect operator error and that you selected a function that changes all
notes' velocities to 50 rather than adds 50 to them.  It could also be that
SS2 doesn't provide the function you seek, though.  I've not used SS2 so I
cannot be certain.

>             When I think of it, MIDI files that I have downloaded from the
>internet do not have natural sounding dynamics - they only have terraced
>dynamics.

The quality of downloaded MIDI files, especially those you obtain at no
cost, can vary quite widely!  None the less, if the downloaded files
have high note velocities and play at more acceptable volumes, then low
velocity is, again, indicated to be the source of your problem.

-- 
========================================================================
          Michael Kesti            |  "And like, one and one don't make
                                   |   two, one and one make one."
    mrkesti at comcast dot net     |          - The Who, Bargain

If you have an option to set velocity for the track, try setting it
higher.

This will be added to your keyboards velocity, thus everything will be
louder.

You can also load in those old weak sounding midi files, go to each
track and crank up the velocity,listen until it sounds adjusted right,
and then save the file to repair them.

Has anyone tried Midillustrator?  It has the ability to edit the
loudness of a midi file.  Unfortunately I have not tried it as I have
an expired demo copy.