Velocity: reshape note emphasis before the instrument plays
When some notes disappear and others dominate, changing the instrument’s volume moves both together. Velocity changes the instructions each note sends, so you can reshape their emphasis before sound is generated.
Keep the phrase; change how strongly it speaks
This original eight-second MIDI phrase contains eight notes whose velocities rise from 28 to 105. It also has pitch gestures, but Velocity leaves those alone. The chain is Velocity followed by the real Synth instrument: the effect changes note data, and the instrument makes the sound. It is not turning down an existing waveform or measuring audio peaks.
Start in Clip mode with Out Low 48, Out Hi 104, Lowest 0 and Range 127. Drive, Comp. and Random are all zero so the first comparison isolates the output range. In the before/after note details, the quietest input, 28, becomes about 60.35; the strongest, 105, becomes about 94.30. The note count, pitches, timings and durations stay the same.
Bring quiet notes forward without flattening every accent
Interactive MIDI example
Play the complete phrase, then bypass Velocity. The instrument remains active, allowing you to compare the transformed and original performance. Listen to the first quiet notes in relation to the last accents. If the beginning becomes clearer but the ending loses too much emphasis, move Out Low toward 30 or Out Hi toward 115 rather than increasing the instrument’s overall volume.
A smaller output range is not a compressor threshold
With the neutral curves used here, the input velocity is placed proportionally between Out Low and Out Hi. Those are MIDI velocity values, not decibels. Lowest and Range describe the input window; they are not pitch limits. Leave that window fully open for this lesson so an output-range change is not confused with a different input remapping.
To hear velocity selection rather than just reshaping, switch to Gate, set Lowest to 39 and Range to 44, then replay the first example. Only the four input velocities 50, 61, 72 and 83 pass. Gate blocks values at or below Lowest and above Lowest plus Range; the lower boundary itself is excluded. The remaining notes also map through the narrowed input window into your output range. Listen for the new gaps, then restore Clip, Lowest 0 and Range 127 before continuing. Bypass restores all eight source notes.
How the remapped values sound depends on the instrument. They may affect loudness, articulation or which sample layer plays. This example does not promise the same acoustic result from every instrument, and equal velocities do not guarantee equal audio peaks. An audio compressor, by contrast, responds to the produced signal rather than to these note instructions.
Use the curve when endpoints are not enough
Try Drive 0.40, then return it to zero before trying Comp. −0.40. Watch the curve and the transformed velocities while listening for how the middle-strength notes change relative to the ends. Drive here reshapes velocity; it does not add distortion. Comp. is another curve-shaping control, not a compressor with attack and release. Back either toward zero if a useful difference between neighbouring accents disappears.
Random adds a bounded variation to outgoing velocities, rather than moving notes in time. Start around 5, not the maximum 64. It uses stable note identities, so repeating an unchanged phrase is not a request for a fresh human performance. If variations obscure the deliberate rising pattern, return Random to zero.
Equal triggers reveal what belongs to the drum samples
The second example sends every event out at velocity 90 by setting Out Low and Out Hi to the same value. Its Drum Rack plays original synthesized kick, snare and hat samples, not a factory recording. Bypass Velocity and compare the quieter hats with the stronger drums. Equalizing trigger values can expose the pattern, but may also make the hats too insistent.
Hear a drum pattern with equal trigger velocities
Interactive MIDI example
The different samples still have different envelopes and energy. To restore some emphasis, try Out Low 50 and Out Hi 110, then judge a full bar. Avoid changing Drum Rack’s velocity response during that comparison. Reset restores the whole example chain, including instrument settings; bypass only removes the target MIDI effect. Use the moving playhead and before/after values to distinguish a changed instruction from a merely louder listening level.