Controlling a drum machine with a MIDI track

[j20056]

I'm trying to use the MIDI functionality of PTLE to program drums. I use a Boss DR-770 drum unit. So far, I've been able to:
1. Select and play a drum pattern on the 770 and send the MIDI signals to be recorded on a PTLE midi track.
2. Play back the MIDI track by sending the MIDI data to the 770 and have it play the patterns.
3. Mess around the MIDI track to edit and modify the patterns, and change tempos.

*Here is what I don't know how to do*:
I would like to be able to send a MIDI signal from PTLE so that the 770 switches to the correct drum kit before starting to play the track. I would also like to be able to change the drum kit anywhere in the song.
So is there a way to send a message from the PTLE sequencer to instruct the 770 to do that?
I guess when I become more fluent with the 770, I'll probably be able to do other things, but this is my question for the moment.
Help appreciated.

[B.Ray]

Originally posted by j20056:
I would like to be able to send a MIDI signal from PTLE so that the 770 switches to the
correct drum kit before starting to play the track. I would also like to be able to change the drum kit anywhere in the song.
So is there a way to send a message from the PTLE sequencer to instruct the 770 to do that?
I guess when I become more fluent with the 770, I'll probably be able to do other things, but this is my question for the moment.
Help appreciated.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Yes. Its called sending "Program Changes" for patch names. Page 208 of the Pro Tools Reference Guide gives a clear description of how you insert them. Also, attached are some previous posts covering Program Changes and Bank Selection for certain synths. If you did a search you may find instructions for your specific machine. Your manual for your machine should have a chart showing the patch names that relate to the Program Change numbers

Tech Supt MJ posted September 15, 2000 08:51 AM
At this time with Pro Tools on the windows platform, it is not possible to create patch names for specific keyboards. You must use the generic 0-127 and the controller 0, controller 32. Most keyboards come with a description in the manual for what controller numbers must be entered to access the extended banks past the first 0-127. For one keyboard it might be Controller 0 would be 4 and Controller 32 may be 1, patch set to 50 would equal extended bank 4 level 1 patch 50. Most keyboards are different on how they access anything beyond general MIDI.

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...In PTLE I set the first midi track to "A: SB Live Midi Synth- Channel 1" then the second midi track to channel 2 and so on. Then press the "p" button next to the "record" on the midi tracks and configure the bank and voice. If I use the default "-" in the controller, I will get SF bank "0", which is general SB Synth midi sounds. Using "1" in the controller space will give me SF bank "1", and so on. You need to also select the desired sound or voice in each controller from 1-127. Anyway, that's what I did and it worked for me.

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MIDI Bank Selection (Proteus 2000)
mjteix Member # 27667 posted April 24, 2002 09:57 AM
You can select banks/presets in the "Program Change " window. Click on the "Program" button in the Edit window or the "p" button in the Mix Window for the midi track you want to modify. Then use Controller 0 and Controller 32 boxes to select banks. You can find the midi bank select options on page 82 of the proteus 2000 manual.
But as long as I am here :
USER banks: set Controller O to 00, and controller 32 to 00 or 01 or 02 or 03 to select banks 0 to 3.
CMPSR banks: set Controller O to 04, and controller 32 to 00 ... 07 to select banks 0 to 7.

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[j20056]

Thanks. The MIDI Implementation documentation for my drum machine does not say anything about Controller 0 or Controller 32. Here's what it says:
------------------------------------------------
Status Second
CnH ppH
n=MIDI Channel No. 0H-FH(ch.1-ch.16)
pp=Program Number 00H-7FH(prog.1-prog.128)
------------------------------------------------
I would like to use program number 09 at the beginning of the song, and change it to 25 in the middle.
Does anyone understand how to relate this info to the Program and bank Change of PTLE (i.e. Controller 0 and Controller 32, and whatever else?)

Thanks for the help

[Datus]

According to that I would say program 10 and 26...

[j20056]

OK. Got it to work. As it turns out, the DR-770 does not use banks. Sending a Program Change number directly does the change of drum kit that I wanted.
My next issue was to record and playback SysEx events. I tried dumping all the drum patterns from the drum machine into PT, following the instructions on p153 of the manual. Unfortunately, as soon as the dump begins (and PT correctly starts recording after the first note received as sson as I initiate the dump from the 770) no data actually gets recorded into PT, despite the fact that I can see on my Midiman LEDs that a lot of data is being sent. I set the MIDI filter to accept SysEx messages, but nothing gets recorded.
Any ideas?
Also, I find it pretty lame that PTLE does not allow to edit SysEx events, only record and playback. Is there a plugin that allows that?
I'm starting to understand why people complain about the poor MIDI implementation of PT, although I'm new to this MIDI game.

[B.Ray]

Here's an interesting post I found by doing a Search on "sysex" in the Mac section:

DigiTechSupt
Administrator
Member # 7660

posted January 29, 2002 11:38 AM

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">

Originally posted by petter:
Yes...I disabled my Yamaha UX256 Midi Interface completely. I reconfigured OMS, and using just the 001's Midi I/O, I was able to transfer SYS!

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">With the exception of not having to reconfigure OMS, I have reproduced this behavior on my system as well...I can transfer SysEx into PT LE 5.1.1 via the Digi001 interface but the same data is not recorded/recognized when going through a third party box (in my case, I am using a MOTU MIDI Express XT).

In the meantime, it appears that using the Digi001 interface is the only means by which SysEx can get into Pro Tools. I will go ahead and report this behavior.

Brent <hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The Thread can be found here: DUC Sysex Thread

I believe you may find valuable info by doing other searches of the DUC. See top of page for Search function.