Point of Order...

It was explained that the drums use 26 velocity layers

Not quite right... that would not necessarily be special - take a look at most people’s MIDI data (or your own) likely you hit the Kick and Snare at a very consistent 127 (lol) - having all those velocity layers would be unused. I’m not at all sure how many velocity layers the drums are...in the Revo Drums... but I doubt it is 26.

The Magic of the Revo Drums is not so much a Velocity function...
In many of the Drum Kits in MONTAGE, you find 4 and 5 velocity switching layers on many of the principal drum sounds (kicks, snares, hihats)... but most keyboard players, not being drummers, don’t use the dynamics much like a drummer would. (After a point the number of velocity layers becomes not the thing to do... when you have a product like the CP1, (Spectral Component Modeling) where the timbre of the response to each velocity 1-127 is calculated by the physical modeling engine.
Storing 127 velocity layers as sampled audio becomes unwieldy and a memory hog (like you would not believe).

The Magic of the Revo Drums is how they behave when played...
That said, the Revo Drums will change even if all your key strikes are at the same velocity... Revo (I’m assuming is referencing the term: revolve) — to better understand the concept, a simplified version can be found in your MONTAGE (XA CONTROL) where the Elements can be made to ‘cycle’ or be alternated randomly, I think you’ll be closer to what goes on in the Revo Drums. In the MONTAGE this can be applied to Normal instruments... Revo Drums is random/cycle of drum sounds — the main point is the variation in sound when playing the same key multiple times! The Genos and the CVP-809 are the two products (that I know of that currently have this feature.

In these (rather expensive) products, programming the advanced instrument sounds is a programmer’s dream... they can, in the advanced Articulation sounds, access as many Elements as they deem necessary... and because the is feature is not programmable by the user (in the same way as found in the synthesizers) you’ll find these multiple Element programs that are really at the cutting edge of the sampled based in technology.

Each of the advance Super Articulation 2, and Revo Drum Voices are custom designed (not limited to any specific fixed number of elements, necessarily... it depends on what the program is being designed to accomplish... the number of Elements in Super Articulation 2 “Tenor Sax”, for example, is custom for what that particular sound is designed to do. For example, it might have over 100 Elements (not the kind of thing you build into a user programmable device). It’s to be played (not programmed) by the user.

User programmability is the strong point of the Synthesizers, like MODX/MONTAGE... where the AWM2 Normal programs have 8 Elements, and the AWM2 Drum Kits have 73 Elements. You can, if you are inclined— create a normal AWM2 program with 64 Elements!!!

I’m not sure it’s published anywhere, talking about the number of Elements in the Revo Drums but when you play one of these, it senses when you are repeating notes and is ‘clever’ enough to vary the sound ever so slightly.

Could it be added...
Sure it could be added to the synths (just bring more money) lol.

Products currently featuring Revo Drums: as far as I know...
Yamaha Clavinova CVP 809

Yamaha Genos

Thanks for the question.