Matching drum machine and PT tempo/beats

[Jay_Mora]

I am using an Alesis SR16 drum machine. What do I need to do so that the bars and beats in Pro Tools match up with my rythm patterns coming from the SR 16? I now how to change those settings in Pro tools so I guess my question is how do I start them both (SR 16 and PT) at the same time?

A little off the subject, is there a way to route the different drum sounds to different midi or audio channels so I can apply different effects to individual samples like more reverb on the snare without the effect being on the kick or cymbals?

Thanks in adavance- J

[Digi9000000]

Well, the problem with the SR16 is that you can't trigger Patterns or Songs with MIDI. however, you can trigger individual sounds in a drum kit. So my suggestion would be to start doing your drum programming in Pro Tools. Yeah, it's not as easy as loop programming on the SR16, but it's a lot easier than Step record mode [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] . I don't remember, it's been about 5 years since I used an SR16, but I also think it only has stereo outs, or it might have 4 direct outs, and you can route a drum to each direct out, my memory is hazy about this. In the stereo case, you could pan your snare and kick separately and record them to separate audio tracks... and you could do the same with all the other instruments, muting 2 tracks then recording 2 tracks at a time. In the "4 direct outs" case, you could do the same thing, but with 4 drums at a time. This would only really work if you made a separate MIDI track in PT for each drum or drum group (a separate MIDI track for snare, kick, cymbals, toms, etc.) Hey, I know it's a pain in the *ss. But you have to realize, that drum machine has been around since the late 80's, and it's really not designed to work with a DAW.

A good alternative would be to make your patterns in a drum editor like FruityLoops, or cross your fingers for the day when Pro Tools LE will support a sampler plugin.

[Jay_Mora]

Thanks 900000, I'll give your suggestions a shot.

J