Adding movement to your sounds?

[NinjaEdit]

Velocity is how hard you hit the keys. It is usually set to influence the volume.

[Hircine]

Velocity is how hard you hit the keys. It is usually set to influence the volume.

set it to sample start, decay & release and a lp/bp filter cutoff to create some organic percussion.

[hasezwei]

since it's a basic midi parameter you can assign velocity to pretty much everything, it's such a great way to get variations of a sound and much easier to type in than fiddling around with the modwheel

[bassinine]

yeah, can set velocity to control filter depth or sample selection (have 1 snare sample 0-15, a different one 15-30, etc to 127).

velocity all by itself is meaningless. just like any other midi parameter.

[Ptah]

resample.

[Praxisaxis]

I've read bits and pieces of this thread... all good advice.

Here's my 2 cents (may already be in here).

* Dynamics... if you like to smash your limiter that's fine, but then try to put some elements of space in your arrangement, so that it's not loud loud loud all the time, because that is essentially equivalent to same same same all the time.

* Organics... try to find an element in the mix which is organic. It could be anything - percussive sounds in the drums or the bass or a synth... whatever. There are any number of ways... just to name a few: Record from real environments and chop up into samples in the DAW, use samples that have an organic, unpredictable or lumpy aspect to them, don't be afraid to move off the grid, if possible involve an analogue synth (a real one) because it will add unpredictability and organism to the mix.

* Even a great sound palette will sound static if you are constantly relying on the same sample. Pre-plan your tune so that you know in advance you'll be using some organic material (see above). Needn't be in every track - maybe just one.