ProTools Drum Magic???

[s0nguy]

All,

Can ProTools do this:

I have a live drum part recoded that I want to make a MIDI "map" out of and use it to trigger BFD. All drums have separate tracks (obviously). For example, I want to take the kick track and wherever there is a transient, make a MIDI note on a separate track. Then send that Midi track into BFD and tell it to trigger the kick..

Has anyone done this?

-S0nguy

[mkosacek]

Pro Tools cannot do it but there are 3rd party apps that can (or at least can try). google for "wav to midi" or something like that. Another way is to run the audtio tracks out to an Alesis DM-5 or ddrum module and capture the midi output to a separate track, then replay to BFD... finally, you could scrap the MIDI idea altogther and use soundreplacer or Drumagog (that's what I use now instead of the DM5) to just replace your recored part with something that sounds better (or just different). Drumagog also allows you to mix the sampled sound wth the original if you want, or you can dupe the track and mix it that way too. so many solutions...

[s0nguy]

Drumagog is a good idea... Ive used it for years. However, the sound options and quality of BFD are second to none and cant be duplicated with Drumagog...

Can ProTools 7 do what Im looking for?

-S0nguy

[Rammelt]

I haven't tried it myself but Drumagog 4 Pro is supposed to be able to send MIDI instead of replacing sounds. BTW, have you tried Toontrack's Drumkit From Hell Superior and/or Custom&Vintage?
When it comes to getting real drum sounds as if you've recorded them with a live drummer, they're just Superior. Been using them myself every day since they entered the market.

[steve at Your Heaven]

I've never used it, but I think the Beat Detective tool does something like what you want. I think it will create a tempo map (or something like it) that will be based on the track(s) you select to analyze. At that point, you can easily line up midi notes where you want (maybe by putting them everywhere and then deleting the ones you don't want). You might have to do it once for each drum track.

Another possibility is to use something like a gate on the tracks to send trigger signals (only passes the peak of the hit on each track) to a midi device. There's likely to be some delay, but track shifteing will fix that easily.

[nikki-k]

Beat detective is one step in the right direction...

With PT7 supporting REX files tho, I would imagine this could be a cool feature to exploit for what you are wanting to do as well. ombined with BD, it could be awesome...

Grab ReCycle, throw a piece in there you like; one of the ones you want to create a MIDI clip from. Recycle will do this, albeit not mapped the way you will eventually want. But it is a start!

The resulting REX file should be able to be imported to PT7, and then you could use Beat Detective to make a Groove file from. I know- not what you are looking for!

So, now you have slices, which you could replace if you want. But, due to how REX works with ReCycle, you would simply need to identify each slice: first slice is a kik, second a snare, etc. Import the MIDI file into PT, and then trigger your sampler with kit with it. With the notes you made, all you do is simply move each MIDI note to the kit piece as it is assigned in your sampler. Or, in your case, even easier, but harder.

OK- I do not know how big the files can be for ReCycle. So, figure it out, and cut 'em up into pieces that ReCycle will handle. Import, and set sensitivity. It will slice the file at transients, and create a MIDI file to trigger each slice. Since you are triggering one percussion instrument with every note, simply make all the note sin the resulting file the same. Walla! ransients mapped to MIDI.

Alternately, you could then use similar style beats via Beat Detective to create grooves, and apply them to the MIDI file; or, simply open Beat Detective once you have all that done, and play with the swing and such.

AN alternate method:
Simple, actually...but time consuming.
Use tab to transients! Start at beginning, and tab to first transient. Select note for the instrument, and then simply insert a note at the scroll line each time you tab. Switch to next percussion instrument, new note, tab away...repeat until done. Maybe there is an easier way...just cant think of one right now. But with al these tips, hopefully it will get you close to what you want.

I dont know of any utility or app that will do exactly what you want. But, with ReCycle and pt 6.9 or higher, you can get very close; hopefully PT7 will make it just a bit easier. Or provide more options!

[s0nguy]

OK all... I succesfully did what I wanted to do today!

I had a badly recorded drum track...the kick sounded HORRIBLE, etc.. I loaded up Drumagog 4.0 on each channel and set it so that every time it sees a transient it fires off a MIDI note.

I then physically took the MIDI out cable and connected it to my MIDI in on the same box (creating a loop).

I set the input of a MIDI track in PT to read the incoming MIDI siganl from my loop and routed the output to BFD. I had to make sure that each MIDI note was triggering the right sound.

I then hit record and VIOLA... the entire pass was rendered on ONE midi track and BFD was happy as a clam. There was a little latency but I quantized to 16ths and all was well.. A little more tweaking and it sounds amazing now.

Has anyone else ever done this?

-S0nguy

[estregan]

I then physically took the MIDI out cable and connected it to my MIDI in on the same box (creating a loop).

I set the input of a MIDI track in PT to read the incoming MIDI siganl from my loop and routed the output to BFD. I had to make sure that each MIDI note was triggering the right sound.

-S0nguy

Can I ask what MIDI box you are using/referring to? I'm using Delta 1010LT with Protools M-powered and I'm trying to do the same thing. Output of Drumagog is set to Internal MIDI, note C3, channel 1. I can't seem to get the input of my MIDI track to be set to that of drumagog's MIDI output or do I really have to use an outboard MIDI box?

Thanks in advance for your help.