Hello,
Even though some of this was discussed in a previous thread, I wanted to separate this part of it to its own thread.

5pinDIN indicated
It isn’t just a matter of volume level. If your controller is incapable of hitting velocity levels of near 127, then what you play will likely be missing the dynamics (and perhaps more) the XS can deliver. In many cases, you won’t even get to hear some Elements of a Voice at all, since they aren’t triggered below certain velocity levels.

I did some checking using the MIDIox tool that Stephen Kay recommended and found that my Keystation 88 doesn’t even come close to 127 even if I “slam” the keys.
That explains why some of my orchestral samples libraries that I use in my DAW for non-Motif projects don’t seem to work right as indicated by what 5pinDIN said.

I have resigned that getting one of those MIDI Solutions Velocity Converters is the way to go.

Herein lies my dilemma. My new keyboard has both USB and MIDI connectors.  I have connected the MIDI out to the Rack XS MIDI in. And, that works fine after 5pinDIN sorted me out.  Thank you.

I have the USB port from the keyboard connected directly to my PC and use that port for other DAW stuff mentioned above.

My old keyboard only had MIDI connectors so it was connected to my PC via my audio interface.

I am looking at a few options for connecting everything up with the velocity converter

Option 1) In addition to the MIDI Solutions velocity converter, I purchase MIDI Solutions Thru box, Connect the MIDI out of my keyboard into the velocity converter. Then, connect the output of the converter into the thru box. Connect one output of the thru box to the MIDI in of the Rack XS and the other output of the thru box to the MIDI in of my audio interface.  With this option, I would not use the USB port of my keyboard.

Option 2) Connect the MIDI out of my keyboard to the MIDI in of the Rack XS through the velocity converter and use the USB port of my keyboard to my PC through a USB version of a velocity converter if such a thing exists.

Option 3) Connect the MIDI out of my keyboard to the MIDI in of the Rack XS through the velocity converter and use a software version of a velocity converter such as:
http://www.trombettworks.com/velocity.php
to convert the USB stuff.

What are your opinions on these options and are there more options available?  I would prefer Option 2 if a USB version of a velocity converter actually does exist.  I am not to turned on by option 3 since the creator says CC messages will not pass through it.  Of course, Option 1 would definitely work.... I think

Cheers
Pierre

pblais - 23 March 2015 02:46 PM

[...]What are your opinions on these options and are there more options available?  I would prefer Option 2 if a USB version of a velocity converter actually does exist.  I am not to turned on by option 3 since the creator says CC messages will not pass through it.  Of course, Option 1 would definitely work.... I think

I have some other thoughts, but first I would suggest trying the software you mentioned…
http://www.trombettworks.com/velocity.php
...and see how it works. I looked at the site, and I don’t see anything indicating there would be a problem with CC messages. It does say ”- System exclusive messages will not be passed through.”, but CCs aren’t SysEx. CC messages are only 3 bytes long, while SysEx data can be very large. CC, and presumably other short messages, shouldn’t be a problem.

You might find this MIDI spec information interesting:
https://web.archive.org/web/20080514004709/http://www.borg.com/~jglatt/tech/midispec.htm

Let us know how the velocity curve software works.

OMG.... that was the worst catastrophe.  I downloaded the velocity changer software.  It seemed to work when it wanted to.  It required some virtual MIDI port and recommended MIDI Yoke by the same people that make MIDIox.  SO I downloaded and installed that.  I couldn’t see it anywhere. So I removed and re-installed it two more times. I googled why midi yoke doesn’t show up.  One of the links was right to the MIDIox forum.  There were plenty of people there that had the same issue. These were question that were 5 years old and never answered. Or attempts to answer failed.  One guy said he had too many issues with MIDI yoke on his windows 7 64 bit system and found another similar software that ran on windows 7 64.  I downloaded and installed that.  NOW, the velocity changer stopped working and my mouse pointer was bouncing all over the screen whenever I tried to move it.  Thank God for Revo Uninstaller Pro.  I was able to remove all that crap from my system including any little things it put in the registry.
Unless you have some better ideas, I think this has to be done with hardware and not software.
I would need hardware to go between my MIDI keyboard and the rack…

Any ideas?

Thanks
Pierre

I’d go with Option 1 just because that way the velocity conversion will be the same both to the Rack XS and the DAW.

pblais - 24 March 2015 01:14 AM

OMG.... that was the worst catastrophe.  I downloaded the velocity changer software.  It seemed to work when it wanted to.  It required some virtual MIDI port and recommended MIDI Yoke by the same people that make MIDIox.  SO I downloaded and installed that.  I couldn’t see it anywhere.[...]

You won’t see MIDI Yoke as a standalone. The MIDI Yoke virtual MIDI ports can be accessed via MIDI-OX.

The MIDI Yoke version which functions with Win 7 is:
http://www.midiox.com/zip/MidiYokeSetup.msi
It should work in 64-bit Win 7 when properly set up. There are some posts online which explain the details.

Using MIDI-OX with MIDI Yoke and Velocity Changer (under Win XP) I was able to control MIDI velocity on my XF. At least for my particular setup, it works as expected.

 

pblais -

Unless you have some better ideas, I think this has to be done with hardware and not software.
I would need hardware to go between my MIDI keyboard and the rack…

Since you’re having problems with the software approach, you should probably go the hardware route. You’ll have to decide whether getting MIDI Solutions boxes or trading your current controller for one with decent key velocity control is the better way.

5pinDIN - 24 March 2015 12:25 PM

Since you’re having problems with the software approach, you should probably go the hardware route. You’ll have to decide whether getting MIDI Solutions boxes or trading your current controller for one with decent key velocity control is the better way.

Can you recommend a reasonably priced 88 key keyboard.  I just paid $199 for the Keystation 88 less than a month ago… So I should be able to return it.  If you take the $199 I paid for that and $149 for the velocity curve changer and $39 for the 1 to 2 MIDI thru box… that comes out to $387.  There should be something around for that kind of money

Thanks
Pierre

I’m not finding any controllers which fit both your needs and your budget. It’s looking like the MIDI Solutions devices might indeed be the way to go - their Velocity Converter should provide flexible settings that match what you require.

5pinDIN - 26 March 2015 07:20 AM

I’m not finding any controllers which fit both your needs and your budget. It’s looking like the MIDI Solutions devices might indeed be the way to go - their Velocity Converter should provide flexible settings that match what you require.

Done..... Thanks