What is aftertouch? I'm confused.

[Scoot]

Metro manual definition - After Touch is the effect of holding down a key after it has been played. After Touch is sometimes referred to as pressure.

I would have thought pressure would be volume and volume is velocity? no?

What I don't understand is what is aftertouch doing?
Are soundfonts and quicktime instruments aftertouch aware?

I drew a few long notes and then went into the aftertouch display and drew lines/curves at maximum and minimum values.....before, during and at the end of notes. All the notes still sounds the same.
Pitchbend definitely works to change the note........how drastically does aftertouch affect the tone of the note?

Is my ear not picking the difference or is the tool not being used right?



scoot

[Jerm]

Aftertouch (or channel pressure) is common on many synthesizers. It is a way to, for example, add vibrato to a note by continuing to press down after pressing down a note.

I do not think DLS supports it but many plug-ins and just about every hardware synth does. This means if the keyboard does not have it, it will be hard to get the most of some synths factory sounds.

[lesag002]

"by continuing to press down after pressing down a note" ...

In my experience, aftertouch involves varying the pressure with which you hold down the key. Varying the pressure then varies a specified parameter, such as vibrato rate (press down harder to increase the vibrato rate, lighten the pressure to slow the rate down). It's not just for volume swells.