But sometimes the e-drum kit may incorporate MIDI control data to differentiate between multiple samples for the same drum or cymbal. If this kind of variation is implemented in both the e-drum kit and the destination drum VI as different notes for each of the different sounds, then it may require a little more effort to re-map those notes to the appropriate samples in the plug-in kit, but it should still be relatively easy to do. Some e-drum kits use positional sensitivity to trigger different samples This is also frequently employed for e-cymbals, with the position the cymbal is hit triggering regular ride, bell ride, or crash samples. And not only might there be different samples triggered at different MIDI Velocities, but sometimes in response to where the drum is hit as well-for example, a thinner sample for strokes near the edge of the drum head-incorporating positional sensitivity.
Depending on how the drum VI handles this, it may have to be accounted for via MIDI programming in the DAW or the VI. In some less sophisticated (read: cheaper) e-drum kits the snare and rim samples may both be triggered from center hits at different MIDI Velocities. For example, it’s common for e-drum kits to trigger different snare sounds for the same drum-a standard center hit for strokes in the center of the drum head a hard rimshot sample for rim hits and even a ballad-style sidestick sound when the rim is struck softly. Both high-end drum plug-ins and the drum brains in many e-drum kits often utilize more complex triggering assignments than one-note-per-drum. Multiple Samples And Expressionīut sometimes drum note re-mapping is not always as straightforward as simply re-assigning one note for each drum or cymbal. Note-by-note pitch transposers or Transform features can usually handle the necessary note re-assignments-for example, Logic includes not only a realtime MIDI Transformer/mapper, but also a MIDI plug-in that can be adapted from its designated Chord Trigger application to be used as an individual note-by-note drum re-mapper. Mapping notes from an e-drum kit to a drum VIĮven if the preferred drum VI doesn’t include a built-in re-mapping feature, many DAWs have MIDI plug-ins or processing options that can handle the job. If the kit in use is a current, popular model-like Roland’s V-Drum kits, for example-some drum Instruments may already have a preset map for that kit already set up and available the most full-featured drum VIs are likely to include such maps for many of the most widely-used e-drum kits. Many drum VIs include the option to re-map the factory default note assignments within the plug-in, usually with the option to save a custom map for use with a particular e-drum kit. If the mapping is to be done in the DAW, again, there are two ways to approach it. Some e-drum kits let the user select which notes are output from the various kitpieces with others those notes may be fixed, but either way a chart in the documentation usually lists the notes to facilitate mapping. When re-mapping is needed, it can be set up in either the source or the destination. If both utilize the official General MIDI drum-note standard, then you’ll be good to go, but the General MIDI drum standard is almost universally considered way too simplistic and too limiting for truly expressive drum instruments, so both e-drum kits and the better drum VIs tend to use their own custom drum maps, to allow for greater nuance and musical expression. Obviously, the main concern when using an electronic drum kit to trigger Virtual Instrument drum sounds is mapping the trigger notes generated by hitting the pads and cymbals of the kit to the correct notes for the matching drums and cymbals in the VI.
Often this can be relatively straightforward to set up, but there are still a number of issues that may frequently crop up between hardware and software. But even with the high-quality sounds of today’s kits, electronic drummers still may choose to use those kits to trigger their favorite virtual drum plug-ins. Today’s electronic drum kits are a far cry from early models-stiff, noisy pads have given way to quiet mesh heads with natural response, and clichéd synthetic beeps and boops have evolved into sophisticated, highly realistic drum and cymbal sounds.