MIDI Volume Trouble when Importing from Dorico

[Pwagne15]

I am a beginner with Logic Pro X and am experiencing a particularly frustrating problem. I have searched all over the Internet for a solution and have found nothing that works. I exported the Dorico score for a string quartet as four MIDI files and imported them into Logic. I am using Audiobro Modern Scoring Strings. When I play the MIDI back, the volume for the strings changes seemingly at random. I do not know what is causing this. I have attached a video to demonstrate my issue.

 

[Jordi Torres]

Hi @Pwagne15,

Maybe it's because it's not my music, but I did not notice any "random" volume changes in that video.

In any case, unwanted behavior like the one you describe is most likely due to Control Change data in your MIDI regions, most probably CC7 (Volume) and CC11 (Expression). 

One way to deal with this is to just remove all Controller data you have in your regions from the Event List editor in Logic (select a region and press D on your computer keyboard). Once you see the events in a particular region being displayed in the Event List editor, you can use the buttons on top of the Event List editor to only show Controller events so that you can then select them all and delete them. As you can see here, I've disabled the Notes button as to not show any note events:

If for whatever reason you don't want to delete the events, you can also "mute" them or disable them. This you can do using the corresponding On/Off button shown in the track header when shown Region automation (press A to show automation, then switch to region automation). You can then cycle though all available controller data with the Automation: Cycle Through Used Parameters command Cmd + Y and click the On/Off button to disable each:

J.

 

[Pwagne15]

8 hours ago, Jordi Torres said:

Hi @Pwagne15,

Maybe it's because it's not my music, but I did not notice any "random" volume changes in that video.

In any case, unwanted behavior like the one you describe is most likely due to Control Change data in your MIDI regions, most probably CC7 (Volume) and CC11 (Expression). 

One way to deal with this is to just remove all Controller data you have in your regions from the Event List editor in Logic (select a region and press D on your computer keyboard). Once you see the events in a particular region being displayed in the Event List editor, you can use the buttons on top of the Event List editor to only show Controller events so that you can then select them all and delete them. As you can see here, I've disabled the Notes button as to not show any note events:

If for whatever reason you don't want to delete the events, you can also "mute" them or disable them. This you can do using the corresponding On/Off button shown in the track header when shown Region automation (press A to show automation, then switch to region automation). You can then cycle though all available controller data with the Automation: Cycle Through Used Parameters command Cmd + Y and click the On/Off button to disable each:

J.

Hello Jordi. Thank you for your speedy reply. I probably should have explained myself better because your suggestions failed to work. I want all the notes in my MIDI to be the same volume so I can add expression later. However, I cannot find a way to do this. For example, the cello and viola at the 1:21 mark are substantially louder than the notes that came before. The viola and cello at the 0:35 mark also fade out slowly instead of remaining at a consistent volume. I apologize if this is hard to hear in my recording but it is very obvious in my DAW. Could the problem with my instrument plugin? Also, I did have some expression markings in my original Dorico score before I exported it to MIDI, but they do not match up with the volume fluctuations I am hearing in Logic. Thanks.

[Jordi Torres]

Hi @Pwagne15,

OK, so you are referring to the velocity of your notes. If you want to set them all to the same value, you can select them all in one of Logic MIDI editors and adjust them. 
 

In the Piano Roll editor, for example, you can click and drag on on of the selected notes and drag up or down while you hold down the Shift and Option (Alt) keys.

J.

[Pwagne15]

4 hours ago, Jordi Torres said:

Hi @Pwagne15,

OK, so you are referring to the velocity of your notes. If you want to set them all to the same value, you can select them all in one of Logic MIDI editors and adjust them. 
 

In the Piano Roll editor, for example, you can click and drag on on of the selected notes and drag up or down while you hold down the Shift and Option (Alt) keys.

J.

Thank you for the response. I had already tried setting the velocity of the notes to the same value and it made no difference (I just tried it again, still no difference.) I previously had no problems in Logic with the MIDI files I exported from Dorico 5, but after updating Dorico to a newer version I started having these volume issues. The older version of Dorico produced junk notes in the lower register when exporting to MIDI but the newer version does not do this. That's terrific, but now I'm wondering if this update created a new problem with the volume. Do you know anything about this?

[JakobP]

Did you check the event list as Jordi advised ?

[Jordi Torres]

10 hours ago, Pwagne15 said:

Thank you for the response. I had already tried setting the velocity of the notes to the same value and it made no difference (I just tried it again, still no difference.)

Can you please post a screenshot showing all events in your regions in the Event List after you did what I suggested in my first response in this topic?

I seriously doubt that the Modern Scoring String instrument will play back your MIDI notes at different volumes if there are no controller events in your regions and your note velocities are the set to the same value.

J.

[Pwagne15]

14 hours ago, Jordi Torres said:

Can you please post a screenshot showing all events in your regions in the Event List after you did what I suggested in my first response in this topic?

I seriously doubt that the Modern Scoring String instrument will play back your MIDI notes at different volumes if there are no controller events in your regions and your note velocities are the set to the same value.

J.

Hello Jordi. Here is a screenshot showing my Event List after I did what you suggested in your first response. There were originally three events in the list (volume, pan, and one simply called "Cello.") I deleted all of them but it made no difference. After some experimenting, I discovered that Modern Scoring Strings plays different pitches at different volumes. For example, two adjacent G's at the same octave and velocity will play at the same volume whereas a G and a D at the same velocity will play at different volumes. Watch the attached video for a demonstration of this.

Also, I learned that although Dorico has many playback templates available for various sample libraries, Audiobro Modern Scoring Strings is not one of them. Could this also be a factor?

 

[Jordi Torres]

Hi @Pwagne15,

3 hours ago, Pwagne15 said:

Hello Jordi. Here is a screenshot showing my Event List after I did what you suggested in your first response. There were originally three events in the list (volume, pan, and one simply called "Cello.") I deleted all of them but it made no difference.

 

Ok, thanks for that.

3 hours ago, Pwagne15 said:

After some experimenting, I discovered that Modern Scoring Strings plays different pitches at different volumes. For example, two adjacent G's at the same octave and velocity will play at the same volume whereas a G and a D at the same velocity will play at different volumes.

Unfortunately I do not have this Modern Scoring Strings library, and Audiobro does not seem to make the manual available to the general public. But based on what you write here, the issue is something that you need to deal with this Modern Scoring Strings library.

3 hours ago, Pwagne15 said:

Also, I learned that although Dorico has many playback templates available for various sample libraries, Audiobro Modern Scoring Strings is not one of them. Could this also be a factor?

Please keep in mind that once you export whatever you did in Dorico and import it in Logic, your dealing with just MIDI data, so whatever playback templates are available while working in Dorico become irrelevant at that point.

J.