Bouncing each kit piece of a MIDI drum track to its own audio track?

Beep, the best, quickest and easiest way is just freeze your drum vsti,
 
Don't confuse this with bouncing the track, which has a different set of options/parameters and gives a different result.
 
Just freeze the synth. If you system complains or you get dropouts, do a real time freeze.
 
Are you using BFD2? If so, on the BFD interface there's what looks like a little panel at the bottom of the GUI called offline. Click it so it turns red BEFORE you start your freeze.

Hi Beepster. There is a Cal that will separate notes to individual tracks, that is all the C4s will be in one new track, all the D4s in another new track and so on. Unfortunately I am not at my music computer and I can’t remember the name of that Cal but I think it is something like split notes to track.
 
Good luck.

If you have not already done so, add an audio track for each BFD Eco output (setting the track input to the appropriate BFD output) and set the output selected in BFD Eco to their direct out settings (it's the drop down at the bottom of each slider). Then freeze the synth. No need to split the MIDI track.

scook
If you have not already done so, add an audio track for each BFD Eco output (setting the track input to the appropriate BFD output) and set the output selected in BFD Eco to their direct out settings (it's the drop down at the bottom of each slider). Then freeze the synth. No need to split the MIDI track.

Okay... that's two votes for Freeze. I'm firing up the DAW and will test this way out first. Thanks.

Hi Beeps,
 
I used to do the Freeze thing like Jonesey mentioned but these days when I have to bounce a drum track that uses a synth, this is what I do.
 
Go to "tracks" tab, select "bounce to tracks"
 
Then while in that menu of options, source category "tracks", make sure you have the right things checked in the boxes, click ok and it quickly creates individual wave files of your drums.
 
I feel this works much better than freeze and is faster to process. This of course is not to take away from what Jonesey has mentioned, I just feel that in my personal use, bounce works so much better and faster for me, I don't freeze anything anymore. And....I still have my original files in tact that I can always mute and archive.
 
The other thing you can do if you really want to is split the midi up into individual tracks. Hi-lite the midi, choose process, then look for the arrow and choose "run CAL".
 
Select "split notes to tracks" and the original midi will be stripped out and transferred to individual midi tracks. This is really good for hybriddin multiple drum modules. Like if you wanted the kick drum from Session Drummer, the snare from BFD and the hats from EzDrummer or whatever....you would now have individual midi outputs to send things to the module of your choice.
 
The only down side to it for me is...the stock split notes to track cal file names the tracks by midi note number instead of kick, snare, hats etc. You can edit the CAL file via notepad to make it say kick, snare etc but you'll need to experiment a bit and get your mapping down for that. I have several custom cal files that I've created that work off of my mappings, so when I have to use one, it literally says kick, snare, snare rim, snare edge, tom 1, tom 1 rim and so forth.
 
So one of the above methods may be what you're looking for....but all of them should work and get you where you need to be. :)
 
-Danny

For splitting up a complete kit midi drum file. CAL works great, it's pretty easy. Use "Split notes to tracks.cal" You can check out CAL in the manual and Scott's Sonar Power books all the way back to Sonar (1) Power. What Dani said about it is spot on.
 
Rocky

Hey Beepster - rather than using the old split to tracks CAL, why not take a look at Drum Maps.  This gives the flexibility of multiple tracks since you can mute and solo individual kit pieces, but keeps them all on the same midi track for ease of editing and being able to tell referentially which things are which - not to mention that you will often want to have groups of things together so they make any sense, like all the toms for example - spit to tracks is rather literal, so each note goes to its own track, which gets a little weird when you are trying to look at the bigger picture.
 
I did a tutorial on how to setup and use drum maps for both external or vsti drum instruments.  I think it's worth the few minutes of time investment to learn to do this.  You can check it out on this page: http://blades85.com/music/sonar/88-specific-topics/79-sonar-drum-maps
 
Hope that helps.

+1 on Drum maps - it really is the way to go.

A couple points I would add regarding drum maps and CALS and why I no longer use them.
 
It's hard to believe now but there was a time when all my drums in sonar were sound fonts played in livesynth.
Back then if I wanted to render my drums as separate audio tracks to add effects too then CALs were essential and so much quicker.
But with the dawn of VSTi's with multiple outs they became redundant as so the only one I ever use these days is a very useful one called, "UNDUPE" which will go through your midi track and remove any duplicate notes you might have inadvertently created when copy & pasting. Something I used to do a lot of
 
Since I started using BFD2 I stopped using drums maps. They do have their uses but the fact that sonar's prv shows all the drum notes associated with BFD Eco, BFD2 & now BFD3 it's not really needed and creating midi maps in BFD3 now is really very very quick and intuitive and I'd thought BFD2 was pretty good so I'm pretty happy and have no real use for drum maps any more
 
I'd go with Danny's method myself
 
Steve

Hi Beepster
There's so much to learn with computer music production I try and keep it to a, "need to know" basis but obviously there are methods you might not be aware of that are much quicker and easier than the ones you'd adopted.
As I said, sonar's prv automatically displays all the drum notes for all fxpansions drums which is really useful and it also updates when you add or remove new kit pieces, I prefer to have my kit pieces in a certain order and mapping them in BFD2 & 3 (and Eco) is a lot quicker than creating drum maps but I must say I prefer to look of drum maps and the fact that I can edit the names when they're too long but I can get by without them. One of BFD3's new midi mapping features I really like is the ability to control/select each articulation and then drag those artics on to the keyboard and it adds them in the order you clicked them. Really useful when mapping hi-hats with 13 articulations.
 
I hate to be the harbinger of doom but I'm quite sure you won't get an upgrade to BFD2 from fxpansion as they are no longer selling BFD2 on their site but I guess there's no harm in contacting sales to see if they still have any boxed upgrade versions, however I just did a google search and found people selling BFD2 Upgrade for £84 ($135) which is well worth it and probably cheaper than you would have got through FXpansion anyway. The link I posted is in the UK but they do say it's an upgrade for BFD Eco users too.
 
I know you're saying you can't afford to go straight to BFD3 but I would have advised you to go via BFD2 anyway as you'll be getting 10 very well recorded kits for $135 which is pretty cheap. I'm not a V-drummer but I'm sure I read that you are, or did I ?
Anyway, a lot of improvements have been made for V-drummers and I read some very positive posts from very happy users.
The cost of getting to BFD3 via a BFD2 upgrade may well be about the same as getting BFD3 direct with no upgrade but the difference is you get the 10 extra kits from BFD2.
 
Christmas is coming so I'd suggest treating your self and breaking the bank for the BFD2 upgrade and then you can think about BFD3 further down the line. Did you try the BFD2 demo when it was available ? There will be a BFD3 demo available within the next week or so. It's very different from BFD2 and in some ways is more like Eco in the way it's laid out which should please you
 
 
Here's a list of FXpansion Dealers from around the world, I'd suggest contacting your nearest one and using all your powers of charm and persuasion but I don't wont to get your hopes up
 
 
Steve

Just one further thought on Bouncing v Freezing.
 
If you're like me, and you "mix as you go", freezing your vsti's makes much more sense.
 
Why?
 
When you bounce to audio, you get a completely brand new track, leaving all your midi data intact (which then has to be muted/archived/hidden) but this audio track will then need to be panned/EQ'd/Compressed/Sends setup/Routing setup/Automation written etc.
Multiply by as many audio tracks as you're bouncing.
For a complete drum folders worth of tracks, this can easily run to a couple of dozen. And you now also have duplicate audio tracks which have to be muted/archived/hidden.
 
Not great for a streamlined workflow.
 
On the other hand, when you freeze your vsti, all of your previous mixing plugs & parameters remain in place - all you've done is removed the vsti from memory. And there's no need to hide/mute/archive anything.
 
You want to tweak some part of your Midi performance?
 
Unfreeze > make your edits > Re-freeze. It's that simple.
 
 
I don't recall the last time I felt the need to bounce to audio.

Yes, indeed. Although all these ideas will be tried and likely used, particularly the Freeze option, for now Danny's method of bouncing down to pure audio waves is exactly what I want. This is because this will be a practice mixing session to solidify some ideas and concepts I've learned for mixing recorded audio. The goal is to be able to work with a full band with a fully mic'd drum kit because I have to mix an old album I've had on the backburner for far too long. There is absolutely no MIDI involved BUT I may do some extraction of the kick/snare and maybe toms to MIDI so I can double things up with samples.
 
For my own in house creations though Freeze may be a better option but I'll have to see how it fits in my workflow and/or whether it'll cause my computer to glitch out.
 
Also it's a good excuse to clean up the Beepster Creep because I basically just twisted knobs until I thought it wasn't too embarrassing. I think I could make it much better now.
 
Cheers and thanks for all the ideas guys.

You definitely know where I'm going with this Danny. Another thing for me is once I get my drum part I just want it done. Yanno? No going back and screwing around and moving notes around or cramming in a new fill here or there just... "this is the performance... work with it". Otherwise I'd be constantly going back fiddling with things when I know damned well if I was happy with a track at a certain point it's a good track. Then there is the aspect of having the slight variations of having the synth performing the track every time, especially with anti machine gun settings in place or whatever. It may not be a HUGE difference in how the effects respond to the part but I'm the kind of freak that would notice it especially if I'm going OCD and automating a specific hit or something so it pops just right at the right time ("Why does the compression sound different on this ONE HIT THAT I THINK IS SUPER IMPORTANT BLAAARGH!!!"). Just seems to take a whole pile of weirdness out of the mixing process. I may be totally wrong but I'm used to working with audio and new to MIDI so it would just make me feel more comfortable have a printed track.
 
Am I crazy? Definitely... but I think at least some of my reasoning for wanting to do things this way are sound and you seem to be confirming my assumptions.
 
Anyway, thanks again. I've actually been contemplating sending you some more of my wacky charts to round out what I've already sent you but haven't had much time. Just a couple tweaks to unlock the alternate modes that you may find interesting. I'll let you know. Cheers.

When you freeze, by default it literally freezes everything...the track fx bin and any plugs VSTi's, pro channel (though it really doesn't freeze it, it just globally shuts the track down at the top, but if you turned it back on you'd be double processing) and to me it's just the long way around really.

 
Sorry Danny.
 
I have to disagree with you on this one.
 
Let's just clear the decks, I'm talking about freezing the synth as opposed to freezing the track
 
There is a world of difference between the 2 and you do get completely different results.
 
But, on your Midi track, if you right click the freeze button, Sonar lets you choose what it is you want to be frozen - including Track Fx. I never include any Fx to be included in a freeze, I just pop in & out of freeze whenever I need to make Midi adjustments.
All my Fx bins and Pro Channel are live constantly, whether the track is frozen or not.

twaddle
Hi Beepster
There's so much to learn with computer music production I try and keep it to a, "need to know" basis but obviously there are methods you might not be aware of that are much quicker and easier than the ones you'd adopted.
As I said, sonar's prv automatically displays all the drum notes for all fxpansions drums which is really useful and it also updates when you add or remove new kit pieces, I prefer to have my kit pieces in a certain order and mapping them in BFD2 & 3 (and Eco) is a lot quicker than creating drum maps but I must say I prefer to look of drum maps and the fact that I can edit the names when they're too long but I can get by without them. One of BFD3's new midi mapping features I really like is the ability to control/select each articulation and then drag those artics on to the keyboard and it adds them in the order you clicked them. Really useful when mapping hi-hats with 13 articulations.
 
I hate to be the harbinger of doom but I'm quite sure you won't get an upgrade to BFD2 from fxpansion as they are no longer selling BFD2 on their site but I guess there's no harm in contacting sales to see if they still have any boxed upgrade versions, however I just did a google search and found people selling BFD2 Upgrade for £84 ($135) which is well worth it and probably cheaper than you would have got through FXpansion anyway. The link I posted is in the UK but they do say it's an upgrade for BFD Eco users too.
 
I know you're saying you can't afford to go straight to BFD3 but I would have advised you to go via BFD2 anyway as you'll be getting 10 very well recorded kits for $135 which is pretty cheap. I'm not a V-drummer but I'm sure I read that you are, or did I ?
Anyway, a lot of improvements have been made for V-drummers and I read some very positive posts from very happy users.
The cost of getting to BFD3 via a BFD2 upgrade may well be about the same as getting BFD3 direct with no upgrade but the difference is you get the 10 extra kits from BFD2.
 
Christmas is coming so I'd suggest treating your self and breaking the bank for the BFD2 upgrade and then you can think about BFD3 further down the line. Did you try the BFD2 demo when it was available ? There will be a BFD3 demo available within the next week or so. It's very different from BFD2 and in some ways is more like Eco in the way it's laid out which should please you
 
 
Here's a list of FXpansion Dealers from around the world, I'd suggest contacting your nearest one and using all your powers of charm and persuasion but I don't wont to get your hopes up
 
 
Steve

Thanks, Steve. If there are indeed boxed upgrades for eco floating around out there I'm sure I can scrounge one up. It's odd that they didn't include those BFD2 kits in BFD3. You'd think since they are already recorded and ready to go they just toss them in. Weird. Cheers.