redefining my MIDI percussion question

[Rock Star 87]

first off, i want to play drums on other channels other than 10. i don't even want to involve soundfonts unless i have to. every time i try to assign the percussion tracks to the channels i want, it plays it as some f-ed up instrument and it sounds like sh*t. i tryed assigning it to the General MIDI Drums patch, it does the same thing. the only reason i care is because i want to adjust the volumes of the individual percussion elements seperately. I am using a SB32 soundcard and no external MIDI instruments. this is really bugging me, and i'm sure i'm not the only one. pleeeeze help!! thank u.

[DEKAmusic]

Run the split to notes CAL routine to seperate all your drum sounds onto different tracks. They will still be on channel 10 but you will have individual control over volume, pan, velocity etc.

[Rock Star 87]

nice thought, to run that CAL test, and its a lot easier, but they're still on the same channel, so the same problem arises. thanks for the help though. if u think i screwed up (which is a good possibility) let me know. thanks.

[moskus]

It sounds like your MIDI source only can handle drums on Channel 10. That means you're out of luck...


The sollution is: Soundfonts!

[Rock Star 87]

Originally Posted by moskus

The sollution is: Soundfonts!

ok, i'll try soundfonts. first off, i don't have SB Live, which i read i'll need, but i'm not sure. what are they, how do they work, and how can they be implemented into my current cakewalk pro audio 9 arrangement w/out a whole lot of trouble.

[DEKAmusic]

Originally Posted by Rock Star 87

nice thought, to run that CAL test, and its a lot easier, but they're still on the same channel, so the same problem arises. thanks for the help though. if u think i screwed up (which is a good possibility) let me know. thanks.

I don't understand why you can't adjust settings individually. Each drum is on it's own track and each track has it's own settings. You can even open up the individual tracks in the piano roll and adjust things like velocity on each individual hit.

The only time that all controls are grouped together is when you are using some sort of external controller which sends info according to which channel it is programmed for.

[James Argo]

Originally Posted by DEKAmusic

I don't understand why you can't adjust settings individually. Each drum is on it's own track and each track has it's own settings. You can even open up the individual tracks in the piano roll and adjust things like velocity on each individual hit.

He couldn't adjust settings individualy, because he routed all tracks to use channel 10. In GM compatible set, you cannot use channel 10 for other instruments but drums/percussion. And the only way to get the drum sound in GM set, you must use channel 10. IOW, no matter how many tracks you got, you'll route them to channel 10 if you wanted them to be drum track. And if you route those tracks into same channel, one will interfere another.

Originally Posted by DEKAmusic

The only time that all controls are grouped together is when you are using some sort of external controller which sends info according to which channel it is programmed for.

Nope. You can controll several tracks at once using your mouse by grouping 'em. Right click on desired parameter, select "group". But I don't think this is what he meant to do...


Jaymz

[DEKAmusic]

I understand he has to use Channel 10 for the GM Drums but if he runs the Split to note CAL routine it will seperate his drums onto different tracks but still on channel 10. He will then be able to edit each drum part individually with the mouse and keyboard.

This is standard on any channel is it not? If you create two piano parts on seperate tracks but allocate them both to Channel 1, adjusting the volume on one track does not effect the volume on the other.

[James Argo]

Originally Posted by DEKAmusic

I understand he has to use Channel 10 for the GM Drums but if he runs the Split to note CAL routine it will seperate his drums onto different tracks but still on channel 10. He will then be able to edit each drum part individually with the mouse and keyboard.

This way, he could only edit independent channel events (eg. velocity of each notes on track, etc) separately. But not CC such volume (CC07), Pan (CC10), etc.

Originally Posted by DEKAmusic

This is standard on any channel is it not? If you create two piano parts on seperate tracks but allocate them both to Channel 1, adjusting the volume on one track does not effect the volume on the other.

It does affect the other track using same channel. Events like volume, pan, effect sends, sustain pedal, etc. will affect every track using same channel. Velocity of each note will affect only mentioned note.


Jaymz

[Qwerty]

Originally Posted by James Argo

It does affect the other track using same channel. Events like volume, pan, effect sends, sustain pedal, etc. will affect every track using same channel. Velocity of each note will affect only mentioned note.


Jaymz

Jaymz is right - things get 'stuck'. Even if you just have two parts, one panned left and the other to the right, when you hit play, the first part will be read as having a pan control of 0 which will then be held as the default for the right channel also. Same thing applies to every other midi parameter.

Q.

[Rock Star 87]

anything played on the same channel uses the same MIDI parameters. thats why there's 16 channels.

[moskus]

Originally Posted by DEKAmusic

I understand he has to use Channel 10 for the GM Drums but if he runs the Split to note CAL routine it will seperate his drums onto different tracks but still on channel 10. He will then be able to edit each drum part individually with the mouse and keyboard.

No, that's not possible. Say he changes the pan on one track on Ch 10. Then the rest of the tracks using Ch 10 would have the same pan-setting...