Velocity sensitivity in VSTi's

Been wondering about and fighting with this for a while.
It's kinda hard to explain though.

Old school synths play with a velocity sesitiveness that seems natural and normal and smooth. How hard you hit your controller defines how loud the sound. Modern day vsti's don't accurately. Some are closer than others. 


The problem here I think, is that the vsti's use a recorded 'soft' sample for lower velocities and a 'louder/harder' sample for higher velocities. Makes sense I guess till you try to play it with any kind of nuance. Then, it doesn't make sense. As it would seem that the sample programming of soft to loud is fighting the keyboard's/finger's soft to loud.

A vsti with only one sample layer seems to respond more accurately to velocity from my controllers than one with multiple sample voicings. Multiple sample voicings may "sound" better due to more variations. But, I think the whole mapping concept is skewed.

It would seem to make more sense to have the sample pool of a particular vsti sound normalized. No? 
That way the playing field is kind of leveled back to the keyboard/player.

Or, maybe I'm missing the point of multilayered vsti's in that they are not meant to be played but are meant to be programmed.

What do you think?

Well, not all old-school hardware synths have the same velocity response, and many of them allow(ed) the user to select one of several different velocity response curves (e.g., linear, concave, convex).  Most keyboard MIDI controllers these days have assignable response curves as well, as do many soft synths.  By default, these are usually set to linear, which is probably not the best match for your particular playing style.  Depending on whether you're accustomed to playing weighted (e.g., piano) keys or semi-weighted (e.g., synth) keys, you'll probably find one of the concave or convex response curves a better match and more expressive for your playing style.  Start with your keyboard, since that is the common demoninator.  Then, change the response curve in your synths (if allowable and as necessary).  The DCAM Synth Squad synths, for example, allow you to save a custom velocity response curve for each patch.

Also, keep in mind that the velocity controls a lot more than just amplitude.  It's often used as a modulator for other parameters (e.g., filter cutoff, LFO rate), so the differences that you are hearing, or differences in expression that you are experiencing while playing may be attributable to much more than just volume.

Thanks guys.

I have a Roland A-30 keyboard controller (ancient) and a Korg padkontrol.
I get just as frustrated on both.

The A-30 does have 3 velocity curves. I always thought they were 'light medium high' or something. But yes, they could be different shapes. The A-30 acts exactly how I would expect/want it to act with something like my JV-1080 synth but not with stuff like Kontact.

Bit, Yea, I guess I'm talking more about sample playback engine vsti's. 

Still though, doesn't it seem a little odd that say a Kontact drum or piano patch with say 20 layers per hit is programmed the way it is? Being that, the layers ARE at the volumes at which they are recorded, NO?
So, it's like a double negative or something when you play them with a velocity sens keyboard??

I mean you play lightly which triggers a sample that is lighter in volume already.
Ahh. SO, With no velocity curve on the keyboard maybe the samples would respond correctly??

Hope that makes sense.