Help With Roland Drums Connection

[cp2]

Hi Everyone,

I'm trying to get my Roland TDK-17 to work in PT 2020.

When I record to an audio track, my playback engine must be set to 'TDK17.' If I want to hear it back (or anything else on the session) I have to set the playback engine back to my Universal Audio Interface. This closes and re-opens the session. I know there's a better way, what am I missing here?

Also recording on an 'Instrument' or 'Midi' track doesn't work. I see the information is there, I just can't hear it.

Thanks in advance!

[junkgear]

There are two ways you can record your drums into Pro Tools.

If you want to record the audio output from the roland sound module, you would take both the left and right audio outputs and run them into separate line inputs on the UA interface. Then you would add a stereo track to PT and assign the inputs to wherever the Roland is connected to the UA interface. This will allow you to keep the UA as the playback engine interface and you wouldn’t have to switch.

If you want to record the MIDI data in PT, then you would add a MIDI track. Since this only records the MIDI information, you would need to insert a virtual instrument on the MIDI track that has drum sounds. When you play that track back, it will trigger the sounds in the VI.

[albee1952]

I think 2 ways is not enough Here is how I would try(based on previous experience with a TD-10 setup).
1-keep the "audio engine" as your usual audio interface
2-set your Midi>Midi Studio so the Roland kit appears as a midi device
3-connect the L/R outputs of the Roland brain to a pair of inputs on your interface
4-create a stereo instrument track and set the audio input to match #3
5-put the track into record-ready and you should hear the Roland sounds. Recording while you play the kit should record midi onto the piano roll(set track view to Notes). Once notes are recorded, playing the track should give you the sound of the Roland kit(but feel free to edit and/or quantize notes to make the performance "perfect")

Option: skip the L/R connections and insert a drum VI(Virtual Instrument) plugin on the instrument track. In this case, playing the Roland kit(or playing back the midi notes) will give you the sound of the plugin drums(I had great results with EZDrummer, Superior Drummer and Addictive Drums)

[cp2]

Originally Posted by junkgear

There are two ways you can record your drums into Pro Tools.

If you want to record the audio output from the roland sound module, you would take both the left and right audio outputs and run them into separate line inputs on the UA interface. Then you would add a stereo track to PT and assign the inputs to wherever the Roland is connected to the UA interface. This will allow you to keep the UA as the playback engine interface and you wouldn’t have to switch.

If you want to record the MIDI data in PT, then you would add a MIDI track. Since this only records the MIDI information, you would need to insert a virtual instrument on the MIDI track that has drum sounds. When you play that track back, it will trigger the sounds in the VI.

So I ran from the audio outs on the brain of the Roland, but my UA interface only has 2 outs for monitors and one more L/R out. Is this the problem? I don't know how else to get the sound into the interface. If I want to record the Roland sounds to an audio track I still have to switch back and forth in my playback engine. Is the lack of audio inputs on my interface the issue? It's a new Apollo Twin X, I can't imagine not being able to do something this basic.

Thanks!

[cp2]

Originally Posted by albee1952

I think 2 ways is not enough Here is how I would try(based on previous experience with a TD-10 setup).
1-keep the "audio engine" as your usual audio interface
2-set your Midi>Midi Studio so the Roland kit appears as a midi device
3-connect the L/R outputs of the Roland brain to a pair of inputs on your interface
4-create a stereo instrument track and set the audio input to match #3
5-put the track into record-ready and you should hear the Roland sounds. Recording while you play the kit should record midi onto the piano roll(set track view to Notes). Once notes are recorded, playing the track should give you the sound of the Roland kit(but feel free to edit and/or quantize notes to make the performance "perfect")

Option: skip the L/R connections and insert a drum VI(Virtual Instrument) plugin on the instrument track. In this case, playing the Roland kit(or playing back the midi notes) will give you the sound of the plugin drums(I had great results with EZDrummer, Superior Drummer and Addictive Drums)

1) good
2) good
3) My interface only has 2 outputs, besides the monitors.
4) Nothing appears to match in the input drop-down menu.
5) I can never hear the Roland sounds in a midi or instrument track, only in an audio track when I switch back and forth in the playback engine.

I don't have any of the programs you mentioned above but I have a few others from the EW Soundcloud VI's. When I put that on an instrument track, I can only hear the Roland sounds in my headphones when I'm playing, and the plugin drum sounds during playback... Shouldn't I hear the plugin sounds through my headset while I'm triggering them?

Thanks!

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by cp2

1) good
2) good
3) My interface only has 2 outputs, besides the monitors.

A typo? You mean inputs? Outputs on the interface don't matter, nobody was talking about them.

What *exact* UAD interface do you have?

4) Nothing appears to match in the input drop-down menu.

You are talking about the track input menu? If so and the names just don't look right... well that's not uncommon just wrong settings in Setup>IO>{input, output, bus}. Try deleting all paths there on each of those pages (select them and press the delete button) and then press default.

But "nothing appears to match"--match what? is not how to get help here. What *exactly* do you see? Post a screenshot if needed. What *exactly* were you expecting? What *exact* interface do you have? What output(s) are connected to *exactly* what inputs on the interface.

5) I can never hear the Roland sounds in a midi or instrument track, only in an audio track when I switch back and forth in the playback engine.

I don't have any of the programs you mentioned above but I have a few others from the EW Soundcloud VI's. When I put that on an instrument track, I can only hear the Roland sounds in my headphones when I'm playing, and the plugin drum sounds during playback... Shouldn't I hear the plugin sounds through my headset while I'm triggering them?

Yes but you have to set up Pro Tools properly to monitor what you want to hear when tracking. Are you seeing MIDI notes coming into that instrument track? Can you play notes by clicking with the mouse through the VI GUI? And since you mentioned UAD... again what interface do you have? Are you using Apollo console to Monitor Audio? Spend time to understand the Console, how to handle DAW audio returns or know how to disable it.

I suspect you are trying to do too many things at once without a lot of experience. That just gets frustrating, and DUC is not the place to get basic tutorials.

Start doing one thing well. Like recording analog out from the Roland into your interface, getting comfortable how to record that, how to monitor through headphones connected to the interface etc., you are Ok with monitoring with a small IO buffer or using hardware monitoring (i.e. Apollo Console?) in the interface etc. All basic audio recording stuff and covered in many tutorials on YouTube. But while all basic when you add it all together, especially when working with Apollo Console it's not trivial.

Once you have that working well then worry about MIDI. And VIs. And break stuff down to simple things. Get a VI on a instrument (not MIDI) track and start by checking it is working playing notes you enter with the mouse into the VI GUI/on screen keyboard/MIDI piano roll and that you can hear those notes though the VI. Start stupidly simple, one track sessions to play around in. Then get it working so the drum kit is sending the MIDI notes into that track. Lots of other example tutorials on YouTube etc. cover this stuff, you might even find one with your exact Roland kit. Start simple if needed on the VI side, maybe find a YouTube tutorial showing you how to use Mini Grand (handy to play with that anyhow, it is the simple VI that everybody uses to test stuff is working).

It's also unclear what you really want to do. Do you want to record MIDI to play through VIs or just the audio out of the box? Pick the one you want to do (most) and start with that.