NOTION Music Forum

Is there any way (via rules file, list file, or anything else) set Notion to activate notes which are crescendo-ed at the final dynamic, rather than the initial?

In other words, say I have a note that starts at mp and has a crescendo take it to ff, like this:

O
mp < ff

Currently (as far as I understand it), Notion triggers the note with the mp velocity set in the rules file- so around 75. Then, it changes whatever MIDI controller it needs to (CC01 for Garritan, CC11 for EWQL, etc.) from the mp value to the ff value, say 105. In some libraries, this works. For example, GPO controls the volume exclusively with the mod wheel, so everything sounds right.

In others (most, really), it doesn't. For example, EWQL is like most libraries in that it uses velocity to control the volume. What this means is that when CC11 reaches 105, it's still only playing the note that started sounding at a velocity of 75. This results in a final volume that sounds more like 65 or so than the 105 you were going for.

An easy solution would seem to be to have noted connected with crescendos, hairpins, etc., be played at the velocity of the final velocity. This way, when CC11 reaches 105, its playing a note that has a velocity of 105. It wouldn't be perfect, but it would be close. A note supposed to sound 105 would sound, maybe 95 - which is a heck of a lot better than 65. In fact, this is close enough to probably enable a person to create a second dynamic map to link to the hairpin setting which would get you almost all the way there.

is this possible now? I don't believe it is, but some of you know more of the the ins and outs than I!

Aha! Found a solution. Go into sequencer mode and double click on the bar after the note, and enter the velocity you want the note to end up as. This will play the note at that level, but the hairpin will still follow your dynamic marking.

For some reason, this doesn't work perfectly. Notion doesn't seem to directly translate your hairpin map into control change numbers. So, if ppp is set to 25 in your hairpin map, Notion isn't sending the hairpin controller at the 25 level. It's coming across louder than that. I found that the solution was to edit the dynamic marking to play a different level than it show by setting it to ppp-3 or mp-6. Oddly enough, I usually have to tell it to subtract more dynamic levels than actually exist, for instance taking 3 levels off of ppp. That would be pppppp, which doesn't exist, but it works for some reason to get the volume level to where it should be.