Hi Andreas,
I've been trying to get my head around the same topic this past week. If we're talking about sustaining instruments, this is what I think:
In the case of mod wheel controlled progressions through different dynamic layers, I dont think key velocity has any meaning. A good library provides different samples for say pp through to ff and the mod wheel is used to seemlessly cross fade between those samples.
I think the confusion arises from the fact that not all libraries have these multiple samples and I think GPO and hence Finale uses key velocity to simulate the effect. If you look at the options in Finale to control dynamics, you can choose vol, cc1 or cc11 - but each adds key velocity. Key velocity does not change over time and is therefore unsuitable for sustaining instruments. I think it's only used as a baseline or start point in the case of Finale and GPO.
I'm not sure whether you're using Finale but if you do, you will need to delve deeper into Finale's HP to get some of the more advanced libraries working to best effect. In Finale, you can use 'instrument techniques' to select say just mod wheel cc1 with NO reference to key velocity for a specific library or instrument. This works for me and is what has led me to the conclusion that key velocity is not relevant in the case of libraries that cross fade through different dynamic layers.
By way of example, I've been using a high end string library for the past year that uses mod wheel to change the volume and timbre as the strings get louder. Or rather, that's what should have been happening! My global settings in Finale for dynamics were set up for cc11 (expression) plus key velocity. So yes, the strings got louder and quieter but with no change of tone. I changed the settings to mod wheel (no key vel) for dynamics and I'm now making full use of the samples with greatly improved results. Key vel has been omitted from the technique and also from the expressions as it isn't relevant. It's even more important for brass where you might want to cresc from a mellow pp up to a brassy ff.
I hope this helps - although I may not have got all this entirely correct
Regards,
Graham
www.soundclick.com/grahamkeitch
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