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  4. MIDI volume vs. MIDI expression

  • MIDI volume vs. MIDI expression

    P
    P
    Is there any technical difference between MIDI volume (cc 7) and MIDI expression (cc 11)? Since they appear to do much the same thing, why do they both exist? Is there any particular reason to use one or the other to control volume changes, especially with regard to Vienna Instruments?

    Wondered about this for years,
    Peter
  • N
    N
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    The same question was asked asked two weeks ago. See this thread.

    Nils
  • P
    P
    Thanks - very interesting thread. Wanted to follow up on one post I found there:

    "In some circumstances, none. However, you can think of Expression as a subset of Volume. If the Volume is set at 100%, then Expression is identical. If the Volume is set lower, then Expression will allow you to use much smaller increments of volume change. I tend to use Expression for er, expression and Volume for relative volume to other instruments (mixing).

    Of course, there are some products by other companies where volume doesn't work. In those situations you have to use Expression for both.

    DG"

    Technically, couldn't you also reverse the two (other than for products where volume doesn't work)? I.e., if you set expression at, say, 64, doesn't cc 7 become a fine volume control? I realize this seems pedantic - but I've often found that small points like this end up being useful in unexpected ways.

    PL
  • N
    N
    Hi PL,
    Yes, I think one could reverse them. There's probably not a great technical difference between volume and expression. The difference lies in how they are used.

    Nils
  • G
    G
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    @Another User said:

    Technically, couldn't you also reverse the two?


    Yes, technically.
    But due to historical reasons (early MIDI implementations), volume is very often associated to volume fader in host application mixer. So it could be more obvious to use volume as mixing level and expression as expression variations.

    Luigi.
  • D
    D
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    @Another User said:

    Technically, couldn't you also reverse the two?


    Yes, technically.
    But due to historical reasons (early MIDI implementations), volume is very often associated to volume fader in host application mixer. So it could be more obvious to use volume as mixing level and expression as expression variations.

    Luigi.
    Yes, the MIDI faders usually default to C7 (Volume). In some ways this means that you can think of them the same way as a traditional mixer when juggling relative volumes.

    DG
  • G
    G
    Yes, this is what I mean.

    Luigi.
  • D
    D
    Yeah, I was agreeing with you. [:D]

    DG