I am really enjoying using VDL2.  Everything is going great and I'm even able to record using audacity.  However, I would like to get your suggestions on volume settings, especially for cymbals.  Sometimes the sound gets a little too strong and distorts.  What settings are you all using?  I would appreciate your comments.

Thanks,

Dennis

Glad to hear you're making good strides with VDL Dennis. That's great!

A few things you can do for better control over your volume without having to touch the instrument in VDL. If I remember correctly, you're using Sibelius right?

The volume slider for each track in the Sibelius mixer window controls the instrument's CC 7 (continuous controller 7) setting. This is essentially a ";gain"; setting. You can lower that a little to achieve a lower volume globally.

The other thing that affects volume are the dynamics you're writing into your score. Expression text such as mp, ff, etc, send different velocity values to those midi attacks. Higher velocities trigger higher volume samples, etc. If there's a phrase where  the cymbal volumes are too loud, it's possible you may have (in a previous phrase) been writing for a louder moment, and not established a lower volume by not entering the lower dynamic yet.

You can also read up on the ";live playback velocity"; feature in Sibelius to learn more about how you can gain even more control over individual velocity settings per note if you want to get really detailed with it.

Thanks!