Velocity baseline for MIDI drum loops?

[RABid]

Im making my own MIDI drum loop library in Project 5 v2 and am not sure what velocity I should use for various drums. This has long been a problem for me because various programs use different default settings, and various MIDI devices have different sensitivity when recording drum parts.

 

I want to be consistent across all of my patterns no matter where they are created. The best way may be to have a baseline value for bass drum and snare. For bass drum I can start with a standard 4 qtr note pattern with accent on the down beat. Snare drum as standard back beat with 2 accented a bit more than 4. HH running at a steady velocity through 16th notes.

 

But what should the velocity be for these various drums? Is there a standard or a common practice? From this I can adjust and vary, giving life to parts without getting too far away from the norm. But, what do I normalize to?

 

Robert

[aeon]

I think this becomes a function of what device(s) you are driving, and how those sounds are mapped and how they respond timbrally to velocity changes.

 

For that matter, I find reshaping the incoming values so easy (in the DAW sequencer) that it doesn't really matter what they were...they are in the range I need, whether the target is a patch on the Nord Mod, the MachineDrum, or samples from the NSKit, etc.

 

 

cheers,

aeon

[philbo_Tangent]

The best thing to do is to play them on a midi drum pad or keyboard when recording the midi, so you can generate them as you play. This will make it sound like drums instead of a machine.