How to map violin sounds to midi notes

Question

There are some violin sounds available here :

https://philharmonia.co.uk/resources/sound-samples/

For A3 many mp3 files are given:

File Name, duration in seconds

violin_A3_025_forte_arco-normal, 0.8359166666666666

violin_A3_025_fortissimo_arco-normal, 1.2539166666666666

violin_A3_025_mezzo-forte_arco-normal, 1.0971666666666666

violin_A3_025_mezzo-piano_arco-normal, 0.8881666666666667

violin_A3_025_pianissimo_arco-normal, 1.0971666666666666

violin_A3_025_piano_arco-normal, 1.0449166666666667

violin_A3_05_forte_arco-normal, 0.862

violin_A3_05_fortissimo_arco-normal, 1.22775

violin_A3_05_pianissimo_arco-normal, 0.9404166666666667

violin_A3_05_piano_arco-normal, 1.12325

violin_A3_15_forte_arco-normal, 1.1494166666666668

violin_A3_15_fortissimo_arco-normal, 2.272666666666667

violin_A3_1_forte_arco-normal, 1.6195833333333334

violin_A3_1_fortissimo_arco-normal, 1.4628333333333334

violin_A3_1_pianissimo_arco-normal, 1.01875

violin_A3_1_piano_arco-normal, 0.9926666666666667

violin_A3_phrase_forte_arco-spiccato, 0.862

violin_A3_phrase_forte_arco-staccato, 0.8098333333333333

violin_A3_phrase_fortissimo_arco-au-talon, 2.3249166666666667

violin_A3_phrase_fortissimo_arco-martele, 2.0636666666666668

violin_A3_phrase_mezzo-forte_arco-tenuto, 0.9926666666666667

violin_A3_phrase_mezzo-forte_arco-tremolo, 3.2914166666666667

violin_A3_phrase_mezzo-piano_arco-detache, 1.0449166666666667

violin_A3_phrase_mezzo-piano_arco-legato, 0.9665

My question is how to map these mp3 files to Midi notation? Like :

2, 120, Note_on_c, 0, 53, 100

2, 240, Note_on_c, 0, 53, 0

I know some of the name meanings. Like 'piano' means quiet. How to map these files into 0-127 volume scale.

Answer 1

Dynamic, just like time/tempo, is always relative: pp or ff don't mean a specific "loudness".

For audio samples the rule is the same: it depends on the context.

You can decide a basic *ratio", based on the softer and louder samples, and decide the actual velocity to assign to those samples, but keep in mind that the loudness is always based on perception.

The rule of thumb is to consider a 0.0-1.0 range, where 0.0 is the softer sample reference and 1.0 the louder.

For standard dynamics, consider the following ranges:

• pianissimo
• piano
• mezzo piano
• mezzo forte
• forte
• fortissimo

Since there's a 6-span range, the standard result should be:

- pianissimo:   0.0   -   0.166  (  0 - 21)
- piano:        0.166 -   0.33   ( 22 - 42)
- mezzo piano:  0.33  -   0.5    ( 43 - 63)
- mezzo forte:  0.5   -   0.66   ( 64 - 85)
- forte:        0.66  -   0.833  ( 86 - 106)
- fortissimo:   0.833 -   1.0    (107 - 127)

Values in parentheses are MIDI velocity numbers (in 0-127 range).

Obviously it all depends on how the samples were recorded and produced, so the ranges above will probably change: it's up to you to decide how to correct those values.