Iconica Sketch Trumpet - can't get it to change dynamics with Sustain or Sustain Vibrato selected

Cubase
1

Hi - No matter how hard or soft I press my MIDI keyboard, the loudness doesn’t seem to change on Iconica Sketch Trumpet (accessed through Halion Sonic 7 in C14 Pro) for anything except stacatto or marcato.

I listen while recording MIDI:

  • All the notes sound like they have the same loudness when Sustain, Sustain Vibrato, or Legato are selected, no matter how hard I press the keys. Additionally, the loudness display in Iconica Sketch (e.g., “ppp”, etc.) does not change.

  • When I select Stacatto or Marcato, I do hear loudness changes, and the loudness display does change.

I play back what I recorded:

  • Even though the MIDI notes in the Key Editor have different velocities, all the notes sound the same if Sustain, Sustain Vibrato, or Legato are selected, and as above the loudness display doesn’t change.

  • With Stacatto or Marcato chosen: The trumpet loudness seems to be following the Key Editor velocity changes, and as above, loudness display also changes.

I don’t know anything about trumpets, except I know I’ve heard a live trumpet get softer and louder with sustained notes, so I wonder why I can’t replicate that here.

Any help would be much appreciated - thank you!

C14 Pro W10

2

I don’t own or use Iconica Sketch but typically dynamics for sustained notes are controlled with a MIDI CC rather than velocity to allow changes for the duration of the note. Try using Modulation.

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3

Try moving the mod wheel on your controller

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4

Will do @Mrhehon @mlib , thank you, and I think that will work because i found a YouTube where a guy used a controller for “cc1 and 11”.

I have to wonder why pizzicato and markato don’t require that (their loudness is controlled by how hard you press on the keys), but those others do. Is there a “musical reason”?

5

Yes. Those are both short notes. Changing the dynamics within the note duration by using CC is therefor not really feasible.
Some libraries allow you to setup what type of input, such as velocity or CC, to control the dynamics on both short and sustained notes. I would refer to the user manual to see in Iconica Sketch allows this.

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