MIDI mixing question

[jman1986]

hey i have some drums recorded in pro tools that are midi. i am not sure if i should post this in the midi or pro tools thread, so heres the question.

Is there a way to like select all the bass drum notes or even the snare notes in pro tools to make the velocity the same, is there a setting i can make or something? also is there a way to just like make the snare drum or bass drum notes play by them selves (while the other notes are muted). cuz i just wanna hear the snare "track" alone to make and changes to it.

-Jesse

[Gandalf]

I haven't ever used PrTools, but I can tell you how to do this in Cubase. I'm sure there are similar functions in ProTools, and this may help you find them (or not)...


In order to only hear or apply functions to kick or snare or whatever I usually record them to seperate tracks. If I haven't then I copy/paste the whole drum track multiple times and then delete all but the kicks from one, all but the snares from the next etc. You can then apply individual fucntions or solo etc. I send the midi output from all the drum tracks to the same midi channel (unless I want to use the kick from one kit but the snare from another etc).

As far as making all the kicks the same velocity.... are you sure you want to do that? It will make the drums sound more synthetic which is fine if you are making dance music but if you're not.....

Anyway, if you want to do this in Cubase then it has velocity functions under midi/functions/velocity. You can limmit between 2 values, compress by a % or set all velocities the same via the fixed volicity menu.
I'm sure if you look in the ProTools help under velocity then you will find something similar.

[killthepixelnow]

Yes, you can (Ha, I'm not Obama) Well, there's an easy way to individualize your MIDI. Here's what I usually do:

1. Create an Instrument track
2. Create 4 MIDI channels
3. Put your DRUM instrument (Reason, BFD2, DKFH) on the Instrument track.
4. All the MIDI channels go to the Instrument track.

Now, you already have your MIDI so you must select all the notes (CTRL+ Clic on the Piano roll) of a same piece and copy them to one of the MIDI channels:

4. MIDI channel#1: Cymbals
MIDI channel#2: Toms
MIDI channel#1: Snare
MIDI channel#1: Kick

In that way you can Mute/Solo any piece individually. You can also bounce just the kick or maybe kick and snare. It's up to you.

To even all the note use the same method for selecting all the notes and go to MIDI Change velocity (I'm not in my computer so maybe it's in another Menu) In that window you can put the same velocity to all notes which I don't recommed 'cause it will sound like a damn robot. Randomize some notes to get a more natural feeling.

Hope this info will help you.

[killthepixelnow]

Here you can see how I separate a drumkit in different channels:



Good Luck!