It's been awhile since PA9 but I dont remember using the dreaded console view to patch the Session drummer.
As I recall there was a small effects window inside each track.
Clicking the window would open a menu of available effects.
Clicking on the effect would assign it to the track.
Session drummer works on midi tracks only.
Session drummer in PA9 must have an output,such as a keyboard or drum machine.PA9 does not support real time softsynth playing unlike Sonar.
You don't need to set an input on the midi track,as the SD will provide the data required to drive a sound module.(drum machine,keyboard,softsynth)
Clicking on the gear icon in SD will bring you to a menu.From there you pick the output port and channel,these must correspond with the input device..(drum machine,keyboard,softsynth)
When you open session drummer on the left there will be a list of categories,clicking on these will bring up a list of patterns in that categories.
If you highlight a pattern in the right box and push play,you can preview a pattern without assigning it to your current song,provided you have everything hooked up properly.
I'm assuming you know how to set the tempo.?
From there it's important to save each song within SD and a preset for the "settings" menu would'nt hurt as each time you open SD it reverts to it's default settings.
Applying effects
The big advantage to this is you don't have to open SD each time a project is reloaded and reload the song.Plus you can use a split to tracks command and put each drum on it's own track.
The advantage to not applying effects is that it's much easier to change your drum track around from within SD.