freeware RMS compressor ??

[greendoor]

Seems to me that velocity splits would quite obviously be the biggest factor for realism, with either method of determining level.

Sorry if this is a bit off topic. I personally don't like velocity layered drums. Unless a lot of samples are used, they are a bit uncontrollable for live playing, because the transitions can sound fake. If I have to manually edit velocity values to trigger the right sample at the right time, I would prefer to map the samples to other notes and just play the sample I want, when I want.

You can get a lot of expression from a single sample if you use velocity to change a filter, and/or the sample start position, and pitch envelope. You can make a sample go from dark to bright, from a soft attack to a sharp stick attack, with the pitch increasing slightly as you hit it hard (like the real thing). This find to be more 'realistic' than a bunch of multisamples that come stonking in at unexpected moments. Each to their own I suppose.

[aciddose]

hm, i could write an application that calculates the rms value of a sample, and then scales the sample while applying hard limiting compression (not clipping, though.) but i assume that method is what most audio editors already use. i think what you want is simply something that isnt possible :)
perhaps you could try working with some phase shifters to get the peaks down? i could code that too, but it would be extremely complex to automate. you'd need to work each sample manually.

[sinkmusic]

I know that "natrual" volume is better than artifical hardcore normalization, but i had to make some samples just sound at the same average level.
It is not about having the whole at nearly 0db, but making them on a better comparison level.
thank you all for your advices.
That's right SoundFOrge has a normalise tool. I did not think about it because when i tried i had not the good settings and it made an awfull work (some kind of huge compression).