Recording TD-6V drums

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Hi, i'm buying some gear to start recording at home. I record guitar bass drums and vocal. My main concern is the drums. I decided to record drums using my Roland TD-6V electronic drums kit with real acoustic cymbals. In other words i'll only be using the toms, snare and kick from the electric drum. I have a couple of questions. First off, I want to record to my laptop so i want to use something like an M-audio fast track ultra usb interface which has 4 xlr mic imputs and a MIDI input. Probably be using 2 overhead mics and running the toms and snare and kick MIDI through the interface. what do you think of this setup. Second, i know nothing about MIDI, if i record my drums MIDI will i have to put drum samples on the track or will it use directly the sample from the TD6 module?? And do i simply plug my two overheads and MIDI cable into the interface and start recording on a recording software like cubase LE or do i have to configure a whole bunch of stuff on my computer? Last thing. If i record MIDI, can i record all my toms, snare and kick on individual tracks?

any help would be greatly apreciated!:)
thanks!
 
Recording MIDI is simply capturing the note data from the drum module - the note you played, how hard, etc. MIDI is not transmitting any of the audio from the TD-6v to your DAW.

You have a couple of options. The first, and easiest, would be to simply run the stereo output of the Roland to two inputs on the M-Audio. Pair that with your two overhead mics for cymbals, and record live.

The other option would be to run MIDI from the Roland, plus the two overheads. Record one MIDI track, plus stereo audio tracks. During playback, run MIDI out of your DAW back to the Roland, and you'll be triggering the same samples that you originally played. This option would allow you to tweak the samples in the kit and give you a bit more control - in theory.

Use caution on the second option, however. In the past, when recording my TD-8, the MIDI output of the Roland unit is different from what you might actually be playing. The V-Drum pads are great for playing live, and the positional sensitivity is great, but it can't be easily transmitted as MIDI data. If you're just thrashing or playing something very simple; no problem. But don't expect all those ghost notes to be captured perfectly in the MIDI data. For that type of playing, stick with the audio outputs to your DAW and forget about recording MIDI altogether.

EDIT: P.S. When you're recording MIDI, the drums are all on one MIDI "Track" (Channel 10), but that track can be broken down into individual drums, if needed. All the snare hits will be the same note (or couple of notes, if you have different samples for rimshots), high tom - all same note, kick drum - same note, etc.
 
So basically, i'm better stiking to recording the audio? Cuz, ive tested recording the audio once just trhough a mixer to my computer on the original soundcard just to see how it would sound... the results weren't really good..the sounds were half as loud as they were in my headphones when recording and would clip easlly. Will it sound better with a good soundcard?
 
With a proper soundcard/interface, the audio quality will greatly improve. However, you still need to follow good practice and set proper levels on the way in.

I'm sure Glen won't mind me giving a plug for his site: http://www.independentrecording.net/irn/. Click on the "resources" link - he's got some great information posted there on how to set proper levels and maximize the quality going in.
 
I'd be looking at something like superior 2.0 or BFD or something the same and going ALL MIDI.

The pad thump from the overheads will give you nightmares
 
I agree with LemonTree here. You don't want to have to hear the thump from the pads in the overs. Just go all midi. You can adjust the midi data to taste after the fact.

I actually do it a little differently. Since I record rock and metal most of the time, I use samples on nearly everything. I don't have an ekit but when the drums are played, I have them on seperate tracks. Then, I use that audio as a midi impulse on Drumagog and make it record the notes to my midi track. It sounds more complicated than it really is. I usually program all the cymbals by hand based off of the original audio. Once you get used to it, it's pretty easy.
 
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