Problem with VST sounds when using piano roll

[Callum_Flanagan]

I'm running Pro Tools 12 Express, with Toontrack's EZDrummer 2 software as a VST plug-in for my drum sounds.

Due to the track I'm working on containing a section that requires changing time signatures, I've had to use the piano roll to manually draw the MIDI information in to the instrument track, as time signature changes are not supported in the EZDrummer 2 program.

The problem I'm having is that any drum section I've created in the EZDrummer software sounds fine when dragged on to the instrument channel in the edit window; the way it should. When using the piano roll to draw in the events however, the drum sounds are significantly quieter and the tone of the drums and cymbals sounds muffled.

For example, I have an introduction which is 4/4 throughout, created in the EZDrummer plug-in, which I've dragged to the edit window with no problem. As the main riff enters I require a single bar of 15/16 to play and transition back in to 4/4 (this is a feature not directly supported by EZDrummer 2). To solve this I have added the time change as an event in Pro Tools and typed the drum track I want for that particular bar in to the piano roll, however when I play it all back together the section that has been created with the piano roll sounds quiet and muffled as mentioned before.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreicated as this has essentially halted my workflow completely.

[ronwasserman]

It has to be a midi velocity issue. You may be drawing in the notes at a low velocity which would cause this problem. Be sure to show the velocity in the midi editor window and see where things are at.

[Callum_Flanagan]

Hi, thanks for the reply. Unfortunately I had the same thought at first, I made sure the velocity was pushed all the way up on the new section, and even tried pulling the velocity of the rest of the track down, and it doesn't seem to have made any real difference to the sound of the piano roll sections.