Velocity Layers¶

A velocity layer is a separate recording of the same note played at a different dynamic — soft, medium, loud. Layering them lets your exported instrument respond to how hard a key is played, instead of just changing volume on a single sample. It's the single biggest step up in realism for most instruments.

Set the number of layers¶

The Velocities slider sets how many layers to record per note, from 1 to 9 (default 1). Every layer multiplies your total sample count:

total samples = notes × velocities × round robins

So three velocity layers means three times as many recordings as a single layer. Glance at the ESTIMATED TIME and ESTIMATED SIZE in the summary box before a big run.

Edit individual layer values¶

Click the expand triangle next to the slider to reveal one editor per layer (Layer 1, Layer 2, …). Each layer has a target MIDI velocity from 1 to 127. These are the velocities Sampling Assistant actually plays when recording each layer.

Presets¶

Three buttons fill in the layer values for you:

Preset	What it does
Linear	Spreads velocities evenly across the range.
Exp	Weights layers toward the quieter end (an exponential curve), giving more resolution where dynamics change most.
Fixed	Fills layers from a preset spread of fixed velocity values.

Linear is the safe default — it distributes the layers evenly. Exp is useful for instruments whose tone changes a lot at low velocities.

How velocity ranges are split¶

You set the target velocity for each layer; Sampling Assistant works out the range each layer covers automatically, so the whole 1–127 span is divided up with no gaps. Splits land at the midpoint between neighbouring layer values:

The lowest layer covers from 1 up to the midpoint with the next layer.
Middle layers run from just above the previous midpoint to the next midpoint.
The highest layer runs from just above the last midpoint up to 127.

With a single layer, that one sample simply covers the full 1–127 range.