MIDI drum editor

[guitar ed]

Hey, guys. I need to find out from some real MIDI heads, what is THE easiest MIDI drum editor? I know that the piano roll is the popular way to go these days, but I was wondering if there's a better way. I mean, inputting drums with a mouse is a bit tedious. Are there alternatives out there that I just don't know about, or do I need to just shutup and start clicking? Thanks in advance.

ed

BTW, I use Sonar 2.0, and I also have a Yamaha W7 keyboard, but for some reason, I suck at writing drums on it! I was REAL good on my Alesis HR-16, but it took a dive about a month ago, which is why I'm at this point now!

[AlChuck]

Well, SONAR 2 has an entire new set of drum editing features, including a pattern brush that lets you easily copy and paste short or long patterns. Like many such features added on, it's a bit cumbersome to work with, but it's very cool, much easier than the generic piano roll...

[guitar ed]

thanks, Al. I've messed with the drum maps, but when it comes down to it, what are the odds of finding (after God knows how much searching) a pattern that perfectly fits what you're working on? There's no description to speak of. I mean, what can you get from Stacy 7? Don't get me wrong........I absolutely love Sonar, but I'm coming to the conclusion that this drum map is nothing more than a glorified Session Drummer. Lots of trial and error. You paint a kick pattern in, then stick a snare pattern in that doesn't go with the kick, so you undo that and try again. I got frustrated with it after a couple hours. I think it's a neat tool if you sit down with no real idea where you want to go, throw a few patterns together, and possibly become inspired from there. But to actually have an idea in mind and have to go searching thru all those patterns til you find the right one is a real creativity killer. Are you familiar with SoundQuest's Drum Quest? I was thinking about giving that a shot. I'm just really searching for an easy and efficient way to get MIDI drum tracks into my puter. After that, I just import the MIDI files into Fruity Loops and map all the MIDI notes to WAV samples. Pretty tedious, though! Thanks again.

ed

[guitar ed]

I just downloaded and installed the SoundQuest MIDI Tools 1.0 demo. There's a bunch of little MIDI utilities in there like a MIDI Mapper, MIDI Pad for creating sliders and buttons for virtual control surfaces, as well as the Drum Quest, which is actually pretty slick! The interface is a bit on the generic, cartoony side, but it really is easy to input drum data. You pick a preset drum kit, such as GM Standard, Room, etc., or you create your own, and off you go. I'm gonna mess with it tonight and see how I like it.


ed

[AlChuck]

I think that no matter how easy you make the editor, it's still going to be tedious, just like entering pitched notes one by one is always going to be tedious... until we get a brain-to-computer interface.

The best way remains -- develop some basic drum chops and use a MIDI drum controller, or hire a drummer.

[guitar ed]

I used to have one of those brain-to-computer interfaces. I lost the manual for it, though, and so far no one on here will help me get a copy. So, I guess I'll just keep clickin! The Drum Quest program is a bit more straight-forward. You can only go to a 32nd note, but you can always dump it into Sonar for the fine-tuning. By the way, am I pirating this program if I use it to input drum tracks, then record them into my Yamaha sequencer, bypassing the inability to save? Just a thought. Who says you can't get anything out of a demo!??

ed