K.N.A.T

Issue No. 38

Hello to all the wonderful Ketron users and welcome to issue number 38 of Ketron News and Tips (KNAT). This issue is targeted for March 1, 2004.
If you have a question to ask or a tip to submit, please let me know at jay@ketronus.com. Also I love your comments so don't hesitate to let me have a response.

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In this Issue:
Band-In-A-Box: New Version Released
New Web Site: Watch for it
Tips: Volume settings in MIDI files
Quotes: Just for fun
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New Web Site Coming
Within the next few weeks there will be a new web site dedicated to keyboard styles. This site will carry products for most or all arranger keyboards.
Also included will be style associated products for computer.
Keep your eyes peeled.

BAND-IN-A-BOX
The new BIAB 2004 is in stock both in MegaPak and Pro versions. I have been experimenting with it and it is really improved over any previous version. Check for details at: http://www.ketronus.com/biab.html

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TIP
I have recently been seeing in some of the chat rooms and clubs some information on how to get your volume settings to be consistent for all your songs. After years of performing in both quiet settings and noisy settings I have a good feel for what works.
First I would like to discuss just what loud is and the difference between what is loud and what sounds loud.
During a large part of my early life I spent a lot of time in recording studios. It was here that I learned the lessons that have stood me in good stead. In recording studios we had faders and monitor volume controls (calibrated) and VU meters and a lot more tricks for controlling volume. Here is the most important thing.
If you strike a snare drum softly and turn the fader up to where you are getting a +2 db reading on the VU meter it is NOT AT ALL the same sound as hitting the same drum hard and turning the fader down until the VU reading is the same. The majority of musical instruments react the same way. If you hit it hard (drum, piano, acoustic guitar, vibes) or blow hard on a wind instrument it will sound loud even if the volume is turned down.
In MIDI music we have similar controls for volume.
The main one for performing is called Velocity. This is like hitting the drum harder or softer and nearly all MIDI instruments respond to this by changing the sound as well as the volume just like an acoustic instrument will do. The point is that if you use a higher velocity the instrument will sound louder than a lower velocity even if everything else is tweaked to get the same amount of sound to your ears.
The wonderful and difficult thing about velocity is that every note has its own setting. It is part of every MIDI note event.
Remember that each MIDI note delivers several pieces of information. 1) What MIDI channel it is on. 2) What the note number is. (In MIDI each note is numbered) 3) When the note starts to play. 4) What the velocity is 5) How long the note is played for.

A second volume control in MIDI is Control Change 7. CC7 sets the master volume of a given MIDI channel to a particular setting and every instrument on that channel will be controlled by that setting regardless of which instrument it is.
A third volume control in MIDI is Control Change 11. CC11 does essentially the same thing as CC7, but is designed to be used within the Control Change 7 setting.
Here is how that works.
Each one of these Control Changes have 128 possible settings (0-127)
Now lets say that your set the CC7 at 100. Then within that framework you do some string swells that go from softest to loudest. That would be from CC11 0 up to CC11 127. Now 127 will give you the loudest setting in that track or channel up to the limit controlled by CC7.
Confusing isn't it.
Think of it this way. If you were playing a Hammond organ in a recording studio, your volume pedal would be like CC11 and you would have full range of sound. But in the Control Room of the studio the mixing engineer would turn you down until your loudest would be his choice. That would be like CC7.
So here is the best way to use the various settings for the maximum reality.
Use Velocity to vary the apparent intensity of an instrument.
Use Control Change 7 to set the overall volume of a channel at the beginning of the song to set the balance for that track.
Use Control Change 11 to set the volume changes within the track.

Some useful tricks:
Set the velocity high and lower the volume to make an instrument cut through other instrument without being a lot louder than the rest of the track.
Set velocity lower and raise the volume to get the instrument to sound warmer or more intimate.
I have one song that I use to compare all my other songs to so that the bulk of my songs stay consistent with all the others.
It is also useful to have your quiet type songs actually be slightly lower in volume (but not much) than your more rambunctious material.

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As you may know, I put out this newsletter free of charge and I hope to continue to do so. However, I am not independently wealthy and I am forced to derive an income from somewhere. I am a Ketron dealer and I hope to be able to sell to you, my Ketron friends, the products and accessories that you need. I can promise you that no one will beat my price and still maintain the level of service and support that I try to give. To this end you will be my sponsors in what I hope will be a informative and fruitful endeavor for many years to come.
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Visit me at www.ketronus.com. Or email me at jay@ketronus.com

QUOTE SECTION
(Sometimes funny, sometimes thought provoking, but always worth the time)

"The arts are an even better barometer of what is happening in our world than the stock market or the debates in congress." -- Hendrik Willem Van Loon

"Isn't it amazing how exactly the popular definition of 'politically correct' coincides with my definition of 'brain dead'" -- Clerd Farnsworth

"In the space age the most important space is between the ears." -- Thomas J. Barlow

"To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing." -- Elbert Hubbard

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