Midi Data Dump

[Andy Sneap]

Just got a D Drum 4, which I can down load samples via midi off the clavia site. I can (apparently) use my S3000 to do a midi data dump into the unit, any ideas how I can do this straight from the mac???
Thanks

[dancheung]

You can just load the MIDI File up(sysex) into your computer's sequencer and set the output of the sysex MIDI track to the D Drum4 and hit play. I am assuming that you have OMS setup properly. Make sure to slow the tempo down from the default 120 to around 80 bpm to make sure that the sysex data has enough time to stream to the D Drum.

Dan

[CCash]

Right. Just drag the imported midi regions onto a midi track, and hit play showing sysex view. I did one region at a time to make sure I had enough room in the ddrum.

Later, you can load your own custom samples from sound files with a shareware program called d-soundpro. It will convert the audio file into a Midi Sample Dump readable by the ddrum4... go figure, audio samples over a MIDI line.

[Andy Sneap]

Hey guys, I didn't explain things properley. I know how to do the sounds off the site, pretty mad playing midi files into it. I want to put my own sounds into it, basically turn audio files into a midi file same as they've done on the site. Like I said, the akai will do it, and I could load them into peak, scsi them out into the sampler and then drop them into the d drum, but I'm wondering if there is an easier way.

[Andy Sneap]

Ccash, sorry, just read your post, is that program available for mac???

[CCash]

Andy,

Yeah, for the Mac only. It's really the only one I could find. As you know the PC guys have alot more options. It's a pretty cool little app., looks like it's mainly designed for Roland users.

Just import the file (I know it does AIFF, and I think SD2 - I'd need to look at it.) You can do more processing with d-soundpro if you need to, but I made my samples in ProTools ready to go. Select Network> Transmit> MIDI Sample Dump. About the only thing you need to do is assign the ddrum as the OMS output device, and give it a sample number (1-127). If you don't, the ddrum4 will see it as sample #666. Then "Transmit" data. It'll end up in the user bank of the ddrum4. Unfortunately we can't designate the type of instrument, nor can we do multisamples (that's a very proprietary Clavia thing that they won't give up), so one layer only.

One thing to note is that the samples lose some high-end on the transfer. I'm not sure if it's the process of turning the audio into the SDS format, or if it's compression scheme that the ddrum4 uses for data. Probably the latter. I had to prep the samples by adding more highs, about 4dB with a shelf around 6k. When I compared these to the originals, they were much closer.

Last thing. At first d-soundpro worked great, but now it keeps crashing when I try to preview sounds. Or if I import sounds, it won't output sound. Tried all the trashing prefs, etc. Seems to be an OMS thing. So this little rain dance works: Lauch d-sound. Let it crash. Force quit, lauch again. This time I get an OMS dialog telling me I can't have two programs using OMS at once (or something like that). Click "Proceed" and everything's good from there. Good luck. It's tons of fun playing piano on the drums!

[Andy Sneap]

CCash, thanks for that, found their website so I'll check it out next week. Does the D Drum still change the sample with different velocity?? Or is that a clavia thing also?? Whats the latest version of this program, 3.5.1 was the latest I could find but that dates back to 98 so....
Anyway, thanks again

[CCash]

If you mean, "Will a sample trigger with different velocities?", then yes. But it is always the same sample... you can only assign 1 custom sample to a trigger input, whereas clavia has a proprietary way of making mapped multisamples in a single .MID file.

As far as know that is the latest version, but the documentation says he's working on a new one. Come to think of it, I need to send that guy $30!

[Andy Sneap]

Yeah I couldn't figure that out, does he just trust people to pay him after they've downloaded it???!!! That's the reason I bought the D Drum, I used to use the old AT unit and really liked the bend facility where the pitch would change the harder the toms were hit. Have you tried these mesh heads out yet?, pearl do them also alot cheaper than D Drum, good for recording demos in the house etc.

[CCash]

I got a mesh ddrum kit (the one that has hollow shells) because of noise. I also thought it felt better -- closer to the vdrums feel. The regular pads felt like a Remo practice-pad kit to me.

I haven't had this set long, but I think I've checked out all of the tricks it can do, and I haven't seen any pitch-bend-with-velocity setup. But that would be cool, especially for personal samples. I made samples from 8 tracks of a soundcheck of my acoustic kit, and I'm pretty happy with the results, even if they aren't multisamples. Still sounds realistic with different dynamics. The next thing I need to do is start printing the MIDI data while I record, so I can try different kits from the brain on playback.

By the way, there's an "unofficial" ddrum forum at www.ddrums.com . Not nearly as active as these forums, but good info and some knowledgeable people there.

Curt