In VSTi - midi communication, velocity is the way to connect how hard you play on a controler to mimic how hard the instrument is played.
It's entirely up to you to record at lower velocity values or not depending on your taste.
Most DAWs let you easily change the velocity of an entire track after it was recorded so you could record your midi track at normal levels and lower the velocity before bouncing to wave.

Let your guide be the sound you want. Adjust the levels later.

crystaldrone, post: 446073, member: 50274 wrote: What is the relation between note velocity and levels? What is the difference between recording at lower velocities and increasing the levels and recording at high velocities and decreasing the levels?

Boswell pcrecord
The hotter the velocity, the more the instrument will reflect that kind of "power"... if it's a sample/synth that accepts that kind of dynamic velocity response.

Sampled Pianos, Organs, Drums - and most synths - will respond to velocity changes and variations. There are some synths ( mostly monophonic synth patches) that are preset for a certain velocity, no matter how soft or hard you attack them, but most modern sample sets will allow for a velocity variations from 00 - 127.

For example, you can "tap" a snare drum, which will give you one kind of sound, or, you can really "smack" the snare with the stick, and it will sound completely different.
You've heard ( I'm assuming) the differences in sound and tone between a piano being played softly, and one that is really being played powerfully.
The sounds between the two are completely different, due to the level of physical power that they are being played.

Recording at lower velocities will give you one particular sound, regardless of its output volume. Recording at hotter velocities ( max is 127), means that the sound will be much more "aggressive", and even turning down the volume won't change the sound of that instrument.

Recording with a mix, using various velocities, will give you a more "human" feel to the sound of the instrument, with more expression and dynamics.
And, Gain Reduction processors ( compressors, limiters) can also greatly effect the tone of an instrument as well.

There is no "right" or "wrong", there's just what sounds best to you.
As Boswell mentioned, let your ears be the guide.

FWIW
-d.

Good comment here - it also depends on your keyboard. I prefer an 88 note weighted keyboard, but I'm not a 'proper' pianist, so find it easier to play quietly, and then adjust up the velocity in Cubase until my preferred samples have the attack I would like, but cannot play at! - So I play quiet, but add velocity as if I didn't!

"Expressive" playing is best served by having various velocities throughout the performance. If you have just one velocity setting, it tends to be, for lack of a better term, too "even", and is also one of the most noticeable signs that indicate that the track is midi-based.
That may or may not matter to you, but it's the human element that makes performances more exciting, more dynamic, with more feeling.
Precisely edited velocities are... well... pretty boring.

DonnyThompson A lot to be kept in mind from your first reply. And what you said in your last comment is also very true. I play the vst instruments with my keyboard to have a range of velocities for a dynamic performance. Infact it helps me get a good verse to chorus to verse dynamic relationship. Then I pull up the velocities of all the notes together, maintaining the dynamics. Although there are a couple of tracks where pads don't require a lot of dynamics and sound good at lower velocity, but i just cant hear it with the other tracks.

DonnyThompson, post: 446099, member: 46114 wrote: For example, you can "tap" a snare drum, which will give you one kind of sound, or, you can really "smack" the snare with the stick, and it will sound completely different.

I am going to read up on why does that happen. But would love to know how to get that 'tap' heard with the other tracks and at what stage should I give it gain, or what should be tried first?

Thanks a lot for the responses everyone!

crystaldrone, post: 446107, member: 50274 wrote: DonnyThompson A lot to be kept in mind from your first reply. And what you said in your last comment is also very true. I play the vst instruments with my keyboard to have a range of velocities for a dynamic performance. Infact it helps me get a good verse to chorus to verse dynamic relationship. Then I pull up the velocities of all the notes together, maintaining the dynamics. Although there are a couple of tracks where pads don't require a lot of dynamics and sound good at lower velocity, but i just cant hear it with the other tracks.

I am going to read up on why does that happen. But would love to know how to get that 'tap' heard with the other tracks and at what stage should I give it gain, or what should be tried first?

Thanks a lot for the responses everyone!

pcrecord Boswell and DonnyThompson pretty much answered everything. Think of velocity as more like attack, not volume. You should be able to just add volume either with automation, a gain pi or perhaps just the track gain is enough. I know that in PT, I can have low velocities, and then with automation, raise the volume of them. So it's the same soft attack, but at normal volume.

crystaldrone, post: 446107, member: 50274 wrote: But would love to know how to get that 'tap' heard with the other tracks and at what stage should I give it gain, or what should be tried first?

If you mean the figurative "tap" he mentioned with the snare drum, you are simply making it harder than it is. Boswell explained it perfectly. You just need to use the velocities you want and add volume/gain after. Which depending on your daw, you should be able to do easily with automation. In most daws I've used, volume and velocity are two separate adjustments. You simply want low velocity with higher volume that it would produce naturally. So, like Bos said, get your velocities where you want them, and then raise or lower the volume as needed.

Do something like this and people will be able to help you much faster. The people here are mostly pro's, donating their time to help because the love the field. But the less back and forth you make them go through to help you, the better. With a sig like this, they often don't need to ask as many questions.

It's not showing up automatically when I post though. Maybe it takes a few minutes to upload etc. But here is a cut and paste.

2008 Mac Pro/osx Mavericks/Dual Xeon 2.8ghz/Ddr2-800 16gb/Pro Tools 10/11/Logic 10
Avid Mbox Pro/Novation Impulse 61/Roland TD-11's/Bluebird Mic/Yamaha HS8's
2009-ish Windows machine /WIndows 7/i7 at 3.2ghz/Ddr2-800 16gb/PT10/11/Logic x/FL Studio

crystaldrone, post: 446073, member: 50274 wrote: I have been recording some of my own music and noticed that most of the vst instruments have sound so much better at lower midi velocities. And have a tone and attack at higher velocities that I don't prefer for some tracks. (especially pads and sustained instruments)

To add my insight towards possible solutions:

Could this be? > all to do with how each VSTi was arranged by the designer. Some VSTi have layers that are triggered by velocitiy (threshold attack or volume burst etc).

crystaldrone, post: 446073, member: 50274 wrote: The issue is when I play at lower velocities, I cannot get much level. Unless I turn the volume knob on the vst instrument and the DAW mixer fader all the way up, leaving no room for any level adjustments for mixing.

I make it a habit to find good volume balance between VST instruments/samples and microphone levels so my mixing fader levels are all close to zero unity by the time I am in mixdown/ mastering stage.
VSTi and samples are already tracked (sampled) ITB ready to use> which means: preamps and AD conversion was done, which, in your case, has nothing to do with how they will sound in a mix.
Again.... Your problem sounds like you need to manually adjust volumes and thresholds triggering other layers in a particular "patch".
That's the beauty of VSTi. They are pre made, done, tracked, sampled, ITB, digital.... ready to play with.
Edit :(If you are re-tracking VSTi or samples: In your case, this still shouldn't matter because you can adjust the gains via VSTi control panel or in the DAW gain staging to fit the organic tracks of a session).

Again. If your VSTi is too low in volume in comparison to your preamp gains I suspect looking into adjusting the VSTi layers and thresholds controlling the layers you don't want triggered in the patch, quit tracking so hot and find a compromise between organic tracks made by you and the samples or VSTi you are using. If that doesn't work... you may need to find better VSTi sources.

Maybe this will help:
https://www.steinberg.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8913
https://www.steinberg.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8666
http://www.soundonsound.com/sound-advice/q-how-do-i-adjust-velocity-values-drum-sounds-cubase

Its about your layers, imho.Study up on how to adjust that to fit your needs.

Another example: this is not Cubase but maybe related.
http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=31586

audiokid @Brother Junk thank you so much for the advice and the links! Thinking of velocities as attack makes sense. Much clear now. First get the music part (velocities) right, then the levels.

Thanks everyone. You guys make this forum a great place.