Midi and drum machine

[cryogenic]

Ok, I will try to explain this as simple as I can because I don't know all the terms so please bare with me.

I am running M-Powered 7.4 with a M-Audio Firewire 410. Have no problems with guitar or bass, drums however are not so fun. I have a Boss DR-880 that has built in EQ and ambience effects (reverb and the like). I would prefer not to use the built in effects of the drum machine, would rather go the plug in path. I don't mind the drum sounds and think they could be workable but would prefer to at least break it down to different groups for easier management of sound. Meaning the reverb I'd like to hear on my snare is not what I want on the cymbals.

I've narrowed it down to these groups - Kick drums on their own track, snare on its own, toms and varios other drums on their own, and finally cymbals on their own. This seems the most logical way (to me anyways) to get some control over my mix.

Here lies the problem, the DR-880 is stereo outs, no matter what output connections I use. My thinking is that I lay down the first track with say just kick drums, then another track with just snare, and so on. To keep everything in time, I am going to go out on a limb and say I need to midi all this up for time purposes in PT. For connecting midi I have an M-Audio Uno Midisport laying around I can use. The sound outputs from the DR-880 would still be plugged into the 410.

So heres my questions to you gurus
1. Will this work the way I want it to?
2. Is there an easier way to do this?
3. Would it be more logical/possible to create beats/songs on the drum machine, then run only the midi info into PT. From there use some program to assign sounds to the midi info.
4. If so, what programs might you recommend?

[JasonD72]

I'm not too sure about your specific machine but I had an inexpensive machine (only had midi in) and was in your same situation. I basically programmed all the patterns in my drum machine for the length of the song. I then synchronized the start time of drum machine to PT Midi. Keep in mind all I care about is starting the drum machine. If it starts and chases PT midi for each pass you are able to record small versions of your drum machine program a piece at a time. You can then do this for several takes muting everything except the relevant parts you are recording (presumably as separate tracks) back into pro tools.

It takes a few passes but as long as the start time is synced, you just keep isolating the drum components a track at a time until you've created discrete audio channels in PT using the program to keep your drum machine in line for each pass.

This is a really simple way of reverse engineering your stereo output on your drum machine!

Hope this helps.


Jason

[pmklein]

Here's how I do it-

Put each part on its own midi track- i.e. Kik, Sn, cymbals, etc.

Mute all midi tracks except those you wish to record.

Set the midi track's output to the midi input of your drum machine via your midi interface.

Route drum machine outputs to inputs of audio track- i.e. Kik, Sn or whatever you are recording.

Run several passes to record your desired configuration. i.e. Kik, Sn, Kit, etc.

Now you have separate tracks for your drums.

Note that Pro Tools MP or LE induces a delay via midi that is equal to your audio card's latency. Therefore, you will find that your tracks will be off the grid equal to this amount. This is true even if you don't print the tracks. I found this to be a PITA working with LE And MP midi. User beware.

Enjoy.