Aftertouch and velocity modification

[GregVDS]

Hi,

I’d like (intellectually at first) to understand and know how the Aftertouch (pressure) and velocity settings can be altered so as to be able to tweak it. There are some numbers in a menu about Aftertouch if I remember, but don’t know what they mean neither how changing them will affect the response. Don’t remember having seen a menu about velocity.

Thanks already.

All the best,

Greg

[_DemonDan]

@GregVDS

I’d like (intellectually at first) to understand and know how the Aftertouch (pressure) and velocity settings can be altered so as to be able to tweak it. There are some numbers in a menu about Aftertouch if I remember, but don’t know what they mean neither how changing them will affect the response.

Hi Greg,

This is from page 43:

CONTROL MENU PARAMETERS

MOD WHEEL
This parameter sets the modulation depth caused when the MODULATION wheel is raised to its maximum position. The values range from -100% to +100%.

VELOCITY
This parameter sets the modulation depth caused when the keyboard velocity is played at its fastest speed. The values range from -100% to +100%.

AFTERTOUCH
This parameter sets the modulation depth caused when the keyboard aftertouch is pressed fully. The values range from -100% to +100%.

CTRL4 AMT
This parameter sets the modulation depth caused when a designated external MIDI Continuous Controller (currently fixed as CC#2) is sent to the Sub 37. The values range from -100% to +100%.

So… if you have any of the three lower knobs in one of the MOD sections (MOD 1 or MOD 2) turned anywhere other than 0 (straight up) then the above parameters are used to control the modulation depth of those three knobs.

Try this:

Start with INIT PRESET. Turn MOD 1 PITCH AMOUNT knob to something other than 0.

Move the Mod Wheel.

Notice how it changes the depth of the Pitch modulation.

That’s because, in the MOD 1 CONTROLLER page (found by pressing the MOD 1 CONTROLLERS button), you’ll see that the MOD WHEEL parameter is set to 100%.

This means that there is 0% modulation when the wheel is down and 100% modulation when the wheel is up.

Now turn the MOD WHEEL parameter to 0% and notice that there is always modulation.

Now turn VELOCITY to 100% and notice that your velocity controlls how much PITCH modulation there is .

Now intellectually apply this same concept to AFTERTOUCH and CTRL4 AMT. Each time bringing the other parameters to 0% so that you can see what’s happening.

Now experiment with other values besides 100% and notice what happens then.

[GregVDS]

Thanks DemonDan,

All this I think I grasped it already; my question was rather about the calibration itself of the aftertouch sensor of the keybed. There are sensor = 0, minvalue= 200, maxvalue=8192 and slew=200 somewhere in a menu that was intriguing me (intellectually ).

All you explained is how to use modwheels, aftertouch, velocity, ctrl4 to pilot one of the modulators. That’s anyway very kind and helpful of you .

Regards,

Greg

[_DemonDan]

@GregVDS

All this I think I grasped it already; my question was rather about the calibration itself of the aftertouch sensor of the keybed. There are sensor = 0, minvalue= 200, maxvalue=8192 and slew=200 somewhere in a menu that was intriguing me.

Ahhh… It was when you mentioned both Aftertouch and Velocity that I got thrown off on what you were asking (as there is no Velocity Calibration).

You’re talking about the CALIBRATION page in the GLOBAL Menu (pages 41 and 42):

PRESSURE CAL
When this is highlighted, pressing the CURSOR button takes you into the PRESSURE CALIBRATION SUB MENU which allows you to set values for the precise tracking of aftertouch.

SENSOR
This is a real-time readout of the aftertouch sensor’s current value. You can press any or no keys to observe the typical minimum value (no pressure) and maximum value (a lot of pressure). Some keys may have higher values than others.

MINIMUM
To achieve the full range of response to aftertouch you will want to set this value to the lowest SENSOR value while not touching any keys. (If you want aftertouch to work only when you press the keys significantly harder, you can set this value higher than the lowest SENSOR value.)

Press CURSOR to highlight the numeric value for MINIMUM. While this value is highlighted, press the SAVE button to capture the current SENSOR value as the Minimum value.

MAXIMUM
To achieve the full range of response to aftertouch you will want to set this value to the highest SENSOR value while applying full pressure to multiple keys simultaneously.

Press CURSOR to highlight the numeric value for MAXIMUM. While this value is highlighted, press the SAVE button to capture the current SENSOR value as the MAXIMUM value.

SLEW
This parameter adds a glide time between aftertouch amounts. Increasing the number will give you a smoother aftertouch response. Lower values will give you a more precise response. Experiment to find the setting that’s right for you. The default value is 200.

Greg, if you follow the above steps, you’ll get the best possible resolution of Aftertouch while preventing unwanted Aftertouch. The SLEW will allow you to either have a very tight, responsive Aftertouch (such that you could almost do manual Aftertouch Vibrato) or a very loose, lazy Aftertouch response that helps make huge Filter Cutoff sweeps sound even smoother than you could normally do by hand.

{One of my wishful feature requests would be to also have SLEW as a per-preset parameter, because there really isn’t a single perfect value for all performance types.}

[GregVDS]

Thanks a lot for the in-depth explanations, it helps a lot.

I’ll play with these tonight.

Greg