A request from a performer to receive MP3 rather than MIDI has triggered an
excursion into soundfont design and led me to question Lilypond’s default
instrument-equalizer settings.
("flute" . (0 . 0.7))
("oboe" . (0 . 0.7))
("clarinet" . (0 . 0.7))
("bassoon" . (0 . 0.6))
("french horn" . (0.1 . 0.7))
("trumpet" . (0.1 . 0.8))
("timpani" . (0.2 . 0.9))
("violin" . (0.2 . 1.0))
("viola" . (0.1 . 0.7))
("cello" . (0.2 . 0.8))
("contrabass" . (0.2 . 0.8))
I think I grasp the technical function of the equalizer (squeeze the musical
dynamic range into a smaller range of MIDI velocity values than the full
1-127), but I don’t understand the choice of default values. For example, why
should a cello at forte use less velocity than a violin at forte? Were these
chosen based on the perceived effect when rendered by a specific synthesizer?
If so, which one? Were they implemented with the belief that they would be
appropriate for use with most synthesizers? Are they?
These definitely complicate the design of my soundfont. (I would like velocity
to control more than just volume, and having a different velocity range for
different viol instruments requires more work.) At the moment, I am inclined
to defeat the equalizer in my Lilypond scores so that all instruments use the
same mapping of dynamic to velocity, and account for the relative volume of
instruments in the soundfont itself. Any thoughts?
Thanks and regards,
—
Dan
_______________________________________________
lilypond-devel mailing list
lilypond-devel@gnu.org
https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/lilypond-devel
