No midi maping??? Karamba!

[heavyduty]

Hello, everyone!

Just got m-box with PT8. And I'm completely shocked with this thing - there's no Drumm Maps! How can it be - it is always so simple in Cubase to make beats for external drumm module.

Am I wrong? Did I miss something? How can I perform this simple operation in PT?

Please, help me....:con fused:

[Ludia]

Hi heavyduty,

You need to define your instrument in the midi studio. Add your created instrument to a instrument track, click on the patch names icon in this track. Then it should open up a screen where you can select patches. By default it will be empty but you can import common patch name tables easly. You can find them back in the folder 'C:\Program Files\Common Files\Digidesign\MIDI Patch Names\Digidesign'. These patch names are files with the extention midnam. I hope you can find your manufact. and model in there.

I say most common, because I have a Roland G-800 and there is no midnam to be found anywhere unfortunatly.

[braddthemighty]

So roland can't make these available to Digidesign? I need them for my TD5 so I can use it as a controler! DRAT, Foiled again!

[braddthemighty]

Ya maps for the roland td 5 or the alesis dm pro have no support either from the respective comanies or digidesign. WTF! I am feeling drummer amd midi discrimination here although, it seems digi doesn't do much for midi period.

[miek07]

For devices without .midnam or drum map, I made a printout in a small blue folder for patch/mapping reference. For example, you could, and should, print your patch/drum maps from your pdf manual.
As far as drum programming goes, I would suggest creating a new MIDI track per drum instrument.

For Roland Drums (in my experience) For example, sometimes I like to use B2/C2 for a Hard kick and B3/C3 for a soft kick. Those are on two different tracks on the same MIDI channel grouped together. For example v=input for Hard hits Equal C2 v110 while my Soft hits equal C3 v70
Likewise with snare, D2 E2 and D3E3
Hi Hats CH F#2/F#3 PH G#2/G#3 OH A#2/A#3
Crashe/Cymbals C#4/D#4 C#5/D#5
Toms G3/G4 F3/F4 G3/G4 A3/A4 B3/B4
Misc C5+
So in other worlds your Tracks/MAP is
Master Drum Track (for Level/CC Automation and Recording) Midi CH10
Kick Hard Midi Track (Note B2 or C2 only) Ch10
Kick Soft Midi Track (note B3 or C3 only) Ch10
Snare Hard Midi Track (note D2 or E2 only) Ch10
Snare Soft Midi Track (note D3 or E3 only) Ch10
Toms Midi Track (Tom Note Range *white keys) Ch10
HH Midi Track (HH note Range *sharp keys) Ch10
Crash/Cym Midi Track (Crash/Cym Note Range) Ch10
Misc/Perc Midi Track (Misc Notes) Ch10
After you do that you can Group them to (Level/Solo/Mute)
This gives you the flexibility to freely ‘Mix’ your drum instruments via track velocity offset without compromising your global MIDI drum channel (Master Drum Track).
When your satisfied with your results you can consolidate each midi drum part and merge it with your Master Midi Drum Track and delete the temporary drum part tracks.
When real-time recording to Master Drum Track, you can use the STRIP NOTES into your clipboard and reference each note (instrument) and copy it into to each respective drum part.
You can also do X0X style programming with your pencil tool with a grid value set to Absolute 16th/32nd notes or any other interval resolution appropriate for your time signature. (I usually stick with 32nd) and Looping 1,2 or 4 bars.

You can also do slip mode pencil input to approximate to your grid for more ‘human’ feel. Then you can apply Quantize/Swing to taste.
One thing I like to apply to drum parts when doing step, slip, or real-time recording is random velocity offset (by +/-6 or so) for more dynamic from an otherwise ‘robotic’ feel.
One more tip:
Create a New SESSION and save it in a ‘template’ folder and call it for example, “Midi Drum Pro Tools Template”
Make only Midi Drum type tracks applicable to a common session/song setup.
When your done SAVE your file.

After you save it Set your Midi Drum Track Template.ptf file to READ only.
This way when you work on projects in the future you can IMPORT your drum tracks directly into your new Session with ease.
One Step Furthur:
I created a Template (readonly) drum.ptf with only MIDI tracks.
For example, My First Track is
Called Rock Beats Midi Ch 10
Track 02 is called Hip Hop Beats
Track 3 Jazz Beats and so on. For Techno,Blues,soundtrack and etc…
I recorded at least 40+ 2,4,8 bar loops with 1 bar fills on each track
Doing this allows me to instantly import a MIDI drum loop with relative ease for the appropriate application.

Prolly more than you asked for but hey, I hope that helps!

Michae
myspace.com/miekwavesoundlab

[bpert]

Great response! Never thought of this workflow before. Thanks alot for the post.