Hi folks,
I’ve been fiddling around with note expression on a string patch in Halion Sonic SE.
I’m just a bit confused about the volume (VST3 Volume) parameter. It seems to me like you can only decrease the volume (i.e. the value 100 in the range 0-100 is the base volume of these notes). Is this right?
J
If you open up the Key Editor on an Instrument Track, select the Note Expression “tab”, click on VST3 controller (Volume, in your case) and then hover over the settings (that’s the second group or middle section under the NE tab) and specifically the number range that can be seen there. This will tell you the value range of the selected (NE Volume in your case) parameter.
This is covered on the pages surrounding page 567 in the Operation Manual (PDF) of Cubase 7.
Thanks for the reply.
The range is indeed 0-100 (no negative values), with 100 being the current volume of the note. So I guess I really can’t increase the volume then (unless I use a standard MIDI CC). 
Seems a bit odd really.
J
I guess a workaround is to select all the notes in the part and add a horizontal NE line at 50, preserving the relative dynamics between notes but allowing for bipolar NE volume changes. Cool. 
It’s just that I was expecting it to be something like -50 to +50 in the first place.
Remember that it is a VST parameter, not MIDI. Whether it’s NE Volume 0 to 100 or like MIDI Volume (0 to 127) it really does not matter, it’s the “full” volume range of the instrument either way, just on a different scale. If you look at other VST parameters you’ll see that they have values that range nicely, e.g. Pan range from -100 to 100 and Tuning from -12 to 12.
For volume?
Rather than -50 to +50 I should have said a range of 0-100 but with the current, effective base volume being at 50.
The main issue IMO is that you cannot increase the volume of the note relative to it’s current state. E.g. if you had two consecutive identical notes and wanted to create a crescendo on the second note it would have to start at a lesser volume that the first note (unless this first note also had NE data to reduce it’s volume).
J
If you can increase the volume with MIDI, your initial MIDI volume is likely less than 127.
Most instruments works with MIDI in this way.