Getting started recording e-drums through midi...

db51

db51

New member
I've got a Yamaha DTXpress e-drum kit that I'm trying to record in MIDI to Nuendo through a soundblaster Live soundcard . I asked about this on this BBS a year ago, but I put homerecording aside for a while and I never got started.

So here I am, I just bought today a MIDI-to-joystick cable to go from the Midi connectors on the DTXpress module to the joystick port of the Sb Live card.
I'm a total novice to Midi, so please keep in mind, no matter how dumb these questions sound, they are serious questions :( :

1)this Midi cable has a 15-pin joystick connector on one end and 2 midi connectors on the other end, one labelled "out" and the other "in". The DTXpress module has a Midi out and Midi in plug. How do I connect it? : in/in and out/out or in/out and in/out?

Here's what I'd like to do : for starters, to keep it simple, I'd just like to record through Midi a drum performance played on the DTXpress set, using the e-drums' own samples, with each drum part (snare, bass drum, hi-hat...)on a separate channel/track, so that I can pan/edit them individually afterwards. Here's my second question :

2) I'm really confused about which ports I should choose as a midi in/out. In Nuendo I get several to choose from : it's between "Sb Live! MIDI UART" or "SB Live! MIDI UART [Emulated]" as Midi In, and between these two and "SB Live MIDI Synth" and "Microsoft GS Wavetable SW synth" and others as midi out. Which one to choose respectively as in and out?

3)Anything else I should know? I don't know anything about MIDI, so I know there's lots more I should ask, but I don't know what to ask about. Oh well.

That's it for now, I'm just trying to get a Midi signal to record into Nuendo.

Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks
 
Ok nevermind 1), I managed to work it out by myself...

Now I can record into Nuendo, but when I play back the Midi I recorded it uses piano sounds. What do I have to set the midi out to in order to use the DTXpress's own samples on playback? (I use a Delta 66 for playback)

Also, how do I record the different drum parts (snare, hi-hat, etc..) on separate channels/tracks?

Thanks
 
db51 said:
Ok nevermind 1), I managed to work it out by myself...

Now I can record into Nuendo, but when I play back the Midi I recorded it uses piano sounds. What do I have to set the midi out to in order to use the DTXpress's own samples on playback? (I use a Delta 66 for playback)

Also, how do I record the different drum parts (snare, hi-hat, etc..) on separate channels/tracks?

Thanks
Click to expand...
It is sampling from your SB card. I dont know Nuendo, but you may need a audio instrument plug to use the samples. In other words a virtual instrument.
When you record the drums, de-mix by note pitch to seperate the individual drum hits.
 
Stealthtech said:
When you record the drums, de-mix by note pitch to seperate the individual drum hits.
Click to expand...

Ok, I've used "dissolve part" to split the Midi track according to note pitch, it works, thanks Stealthtech!

I still can't get it to play back properly though...What do I have to set the "Midi out" in Nuendo to? What's the difference between "Sb Live! MIDI UART", "SB Live MIDI Synth", "Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth", and "Sb Live! Wave Device" ???(those are some of the choices offered as "Midi out"..)

Thanks
 
db51 said:
I still can't get it to play back properly though...What do I have to set the "Midi out" in Nuendo to? What's the difference between "Sb Live! MIDI UART", "SB Live MIDI Synth", "Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth", and "Sb Live! Wave Device" ???(those are some of the choices offered as "Midi out"..)
Click to expand...

SB Live! MIDI UART : The port you use to joystick/MIDI port. If you want to use your E-drum module sound, then connect to it, and select this port as your MIDI out port at your sequencer.

SB Live MIDI Synth : The port used to play SB Live! 's internal synth (Soundfont). Usualy comes with two options synth A & B.

Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth : Software based GM/GS MIDI emulation comes with Windows. Usualy, it's a crap. You don't want to use this.

SB Live! Wave Device : It's not MIDI port. It's SB Live! wave device. It works for wave/audio. Not MIDI.

;)
Jaymz
 
Thanks for clearing that up James :)

I set the "Midi out" to MIDI UART so the Midi I recorded now triggers the DTXpress sound module on playback. I can hear it, it works

Next step then : if I want to use other samples (from an other source than the DTXpress module) for playback, what should I set the "Midi out" to? And where do I get these samples from? Is there a good dedicated software for this purpose, with many drumkits to choose from (VSTi or other)?

Thanks
 
I'm still in the dark here...

As I said, I can get the Midi I recorded to trigger the DTXpress module, but how do I get it to trigger VST instruments?

Now I'm trying to get the Midi to trigger a drumkit from the VSTi LM-4.
To do this, I have to select the LM-4 as output for each individual Midi track (I have 1 track for the snare, 1 for the kick, etc..), right?

I've done this, but the Midi tracks don't trigger the right instruments : the snare and hi-hat tracks for example both trigger the floor tom...How do I assign each track to a sample from the LM-4??(I'm doing this in Nuendo)

Thanks
 
It sounds like you have stuff routed properly but the individual sounds in the drum patches are not the same. You may have to transpose the recorded midi tracks so that if snare is recorded as note D2 but your softsynth has the snare on G2 they will line up. If you are lucky they are just off by an octave but you may have to be more precise. There should be a transpose window on the track so that you can globally change all the notes for the channel without having to go in and manually edit them.

One of the advantages of General Midi compliant gear is that they usually map all the drum sounds to the same notes so it is easier to switch drum banks.
 
Thanks for your input Tex, but what I don't get is that the DTXpress drum module is GM compliant, so I should be able to trigger any GM compliant VSTi drumkit without transposing, no?

I'll try to transpose everything in a couple of hours, I have to go out now. If you have any other ideas in the meantime... :)

Thanks
 
I tried transposing the whole Midi track from 1 to 10 semitones both ways, it still doesn't trigger coherently. This is so frustrating!! :mad: :mad:

I just want the first midi track to trigger the LM4 Kick sound, and the second track to trigger the LM4 snare drum, etc... Isn't there a way to assign each track to a specific sample, without transposing to the "trigger-note" used by that sample? (I have no idea what "trigger-notes" the LM4 uses, so how can I transpose into it??)

:mad:
 
I dont know Nuendo, but in logic I can go to the matrix editor and select all notes for that paticular instrument {kick or snare etc..} and when I slide them up or down thru the scale I hear each sound within the VST instrument as Im moving the samples until I find the one I want.
 
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