Phil, I am putting the finishing touches to a SONG and want to add some volume dynamics. I am soloing over 8 tracks recorded in the sequencer. The song concludes repeating the chorus four times. The accompaniment gets louder at the start of each repeat. What is the easiest way to automate this? I was thinking to do CRESCENDO - ALL job then do a DECRESCENDO for only the solo track to cancel out my prior ALL volume increases that affected solo..... If it help to visualize, the song I am mixing is Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol. The dynamics make or break it..... Trying to avoid having to automate track by track and risk disturbing the mix balance I currently have. Appreciate your suggestions.

The CRESCENDO Job works by adjusting Velocity (this can be a good thing or a bad thing)…fading Volume is another option.

Velocity__Determines the intensity of the crescendo or decrescendo. The velocity values of the notes in the specified range are gradually increased or decreased starting at the first note in the range. The velocity of the last note in the range becomes the original velocity of the note plus the Velocity Range value. If the resultant velocity is outside the 1 ~ 127 range, it is set to 1 or 127 accordingly. Settings greater than 0 produce a crescendo, and settings less than 0 produce a decrescendo. A setting of 0 produces no effect.
Settings: -127 ~ +127

It will be trial and error… you will create a decrescendo and if it works, keep it, if not UNDO it, try again. Undo is going to be your friend. If you choose to use Velocity adjustment. If there are held chords/notes, adjusting Velocity has no-effect during the time the notes are held. Say it is one long chord, Velocity only effects the initial output level… no changes occur during the duration.

You have to make a determination about this —Velocity or Volume — it is a music production decision. In real life, bands rarely fade out like we hear on recordings (a strict Volume change). That is something that is so commonplace some people forget that it is not normal. Think about it: a fade out - as in, are we losing our hearing? It doesn’t really sound like the band is walking off in the distance (to pull off that effect you might maintain the reverb signal as the dry signal faded out). But we somehow accept it on recordings… band’s don’t do fade outs like you hear on recordings. But it is the excepted “norm”.

Sorry I don’t know this recording — are they doing some studio magic, or are the musician’s actually playing with less intensity. That the decision YOU will need to make.

You need to determine if playing with the velocities will work, or do you want to play with output levels. There is a difference…Particularly when samples are involved. Changing Velocity can cause some sounds to switch samples, this can cause a major change in the result.

While adjusting Velocity is equivalent to changing how hard each musician is attacking their instrument (which may indeed be what you are going for) you’ll have to determine if all parts are responsive to Velocity (Synth Bass and Synth leads are a notorious outlaws, because they often are not velocity responsive. Adjusting their Note-On Velocity will not result in the desired effect.

Also you’ll want to consider is this automation best left for after you render the project to audio (if that is the final goal).

Master Volume__Another MIDI option is to create a universal MIDI Volume message — this will fade the overall Motif ES Master Volume. One of the Sequencer EVENT Jobs is to “Create Continuous Data”
[F3] EVENT
[SF5] Create Continuous Data
If you select EXC (Exclusive) you can create data that will control the Motif ES Master Volume
See Page 230 of the ES Owner’s Manual for details on how to shape the fade out and fade in values

This will maintain your mix balance as the overall signal dips and returns. And you get the added advantage of held notes will fade out and fade in as you might be expecting to happen.

From a previous post…..
You can use a series of System (Sysex) messages to fade out a SONG.

With the System Exclusive message (Universal Volume) it actually turns the entire Volume of the MIDI device to 0. (It actually affects the main TONE GENERATOR > VOLUME parameter found here:
Press [UTILITY]
Press [F1] GENERAL
Press [SF1] TONE GENERATOR
VOLUME = normally 127

To create a FADE OUT or FADE IN (for that matter):
From SONG mode
Press [JOB]
Press [F3] EVENT]
Select JOB 05: Create Continuous Data
Press [ENTER]
Set the dialog box so that you are covering the range of measures: beats: clocks to start and end the FADE
Set the EVENT TYPE = SYSTEM EXCLUSIVE
Set the DATA RANGE appropriately: that is, 127~0 will create a fade out;
CLOCK - this parameter controls how many clock ticks are in between volume change events. You must take care not to create events too close together if you are inputting cc011 commands across 16 tracks, 60 clock ticks is every 32nd note - all that data on all 16 tracks can be detrimental to playback. Too much data will effect smoothness of playback tempo.
CURVE - this parameter affects whether the fade is linear (+0) or wieghted to the early portion of the measure range or later portion of the measure range
NUMBER OF TIMES = set to x01 to create a single fade event.

You must be careful and realize that you have turned the main Volume to 0. So you must take care to reset the Volume before proceeding to play another Song.

Universal Master Volume inputs the following command:
F0 7F 7F 04 01 00 xx F7 _ where ‘xx’ is the volume setting. “7F” would set the Volume back to 127.

I find it useful to place the message: F0 7F 7F 04 01 00 7F F7
One full measure after the music data has stopped at the end of the song, so that master volume is returned to the normal 127 after any song fades out. This ensures that the next thing I do will play at normal full volume. (If you stop the sequence during the fade out be aware that your overall volume will be affected).

Thank you Phil..... Its just output level vs velocity that I want to increase, so continuous data (page 230) vs crescendo is probably the better automation. I am not rendering to audio but rather just saving the SONG for live play from the Motif. I will just automate to raise master volume and then adjust velocity on the solo part live as I play from the keyboard.