Strike - how do I record the audio?

[nickpell]

I'm new to Strike and Pro Tools running an m-audio pre usb and mpowered on a macbook pro. I can create my drum sequence and export the midi tracks and see and hear them - I also see signal on the audio track were I'm running strike. I arm the record and still see signal but when I start recording the signal on the audio track disapears on the meter and I have no sound recorded on the track. How can I record the drum sounds to an audio track?
Are there any links to tutorials that would help me?
Thanks in advance for any advise.

[randyT]

Sounds like you have Strike inserted on an instrument track. That's fine....

-create an Audio track...
-set the output of the instrument track that Stike is inserted on to an internal stereo bus. Just use bus 3&4 for instance.
-set the input of the new Audio track you created to the same bus that you set the Stike instrument track output to.
- hit record on the new Audio track and this will record the audio output of Strike.

same procedure with any instrument plugin....

randy

[torglenn]

Randy - Any chance you can help my w/my problem? I just got STRIKE a couple of days ago -- I am used to working with drum machines, sound modules, etc, never quite got BFD going with my system at the time (BFD was brand new and still had a lot of bugs in it), but I really would like to give
STRIKE a try.

Anyway -- HOW IN THE WORLD DO YOU GET THIS THING TO PLAY IN SYNC? -- I can play it on it's own or
have a midi note(s) trigger it but I am under the impression that this is supposed to just lock up with the session and play right along in perfect sync and all I have to do is program exactly what I want it to play. I've been looking at this thing for a couple of days now -- I just can't seem to figure out how to sync it to the song I'm working on. The manual seems to imply that it will
sync up and play automatically but that's definitely not happening (for me).

(I believe I've considered all of the obvious culprits including making sure that BEAT SYNC is set to BEAT or BAR in the Configuation window).

Help ASAP would be greatly appreciated.

[randyT]

I haven't done much production with Strike yet but what I do for recording is set a trigger note that corresponds to the pattern I want to play at the very beginning of the measure where I want the pattern to play at. To switch patterns use a new trigger note that corresponds to the pattern you want to play and place it at the exact begining of the measure you want it to start at. ect... Since Strike sets it's BPM to the same as the session all you have to do is get the pattern to start at the beginning of a measure and it will maintain the timing with the session.
Perhaps other folks have some more ellaborate ways to use Strike..


randy

[nickpell]

Perfect - thank you so much.....hopefully I'll figure the sync thing out as well. I'm currently just editing the drum track audio in Acid. I saw some links on the DUC to a two part strike tutorial on another site but the video had been removed. Anyway you've added years to my life.

[quantise]

Torglenn,

Syncing Strike with PT's tempo is easy. Just click the spanner (wrench) icon above the pattern list and set the Beat Sync to bar or beat. This should do the trick. You can also set when you want a pattern to trigger by setting the Pattern Change Grid to bar, quarter or half notes from this tools menu.

Regards,

John

[CME]

I believe bar is the mode most people will want instead of beat. If I remember right bar keeps the bd hits on 1&3 and snare on 2&4. Beat puts starts the beat wherever the playback starts. This isn't a problem if you always start at the beginning of a measure, but if you're editing and start in the middle of a bar it gets weird.

[harryk]

as this was originally about recording the audio from Strike... I have a question. Is there a way to record each instrument to a separate audio track directly from Strike? It appears that all of the mixing has to be done in Strike and then you can record a stereo track in ProTools. Exporting midi to midi tracks doesn't help in this situation since the plugin is on an stereo instrument track and outputs from that instrument track could only go to a stereo audio track. What if I want to have mixing control in ProTools for each instrument on a separate track?

[randyT]

Each track in strike has an output selector with 8 outputs you cans select instead of the Master stereo track. These 8 individual outputs can be routed to PT tracks..

randy

[harryk]

Randy, thanks. I just found the following on digizine:

Tip Two: Print a Multitrack Using Strike’s Output Assignments
At some point you’ll want to print a multitrack drum performance to discrete audio tracks. Even if you do your drum kit mixing within Strike all the way to final mixdown, printing to tracks is good practice, if for no other reason than to archive your session. Another possible scenario is when you want to bypass Strike’s internal effects and print the raw audio files, then process them later with your favorite EQs, compression, and ‘verb plug-ins or outboard processors.

Assuming you’ve got a performance recorded to a MIDI or Instrument track, first set each instrument in your kit to its own output. (Strike supports up to eight total outputs.) This is done in Strike’s Mix section. The kick can go to output 1, snare to 2, and so on. Next, create an equal number of stereo audio tracks for each corresponding Strike output, and name each track according to its kit instrument (for example, “kick”). Strike outputs only work as stereo pairs, or L/R mono signals, so make sure you’re using stereo tracks.

Beginning with Pro Tools 7, you can set Pro Tools inputs to correspond to plug-in instruments that support this feature. On the Pro Tools mixer, set your kick drum track’s channel strip input to Plug-in > Strike Inst 1 > Out 1 (see figure 2). Repeat the process for all other instruments in your kit. Record-enable all the new tracks in your mixer, and hit Control-spacebar (Win) or Command-spacebar (Mac) to record individual Strike instruments to separate tracks in Pro Tools.

Keep in mind that because of the realism in Strike, there may be mic bleed that creeps into other tracks. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is something to adjust according to taste. Incidentally, if you only want to mix outside of Strike and not print to disk, you can use Aux returns instead of audio tracks, and follow the same instructions above (without recording, of course).