Sonar Producer/Cakewalk and the Alesis DM6 Electronic Drum Kit

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milo6469
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2011/03/24 23:58:35 (permalink)

Sonar Producer/Cakewalk and the Alesis DM6 Electronic Drum Kit

We are completely new to this but I hope someone can help.
My boyfriend has an Alesis DM6 electronic drum set and he wants to record thru Cakewalk. How do you connect it from the DM6 module into the computer? He has tried connecting thru USB but nothing happens and the drums aren't recognized in Cakewalk.
What are we missing?
 
Thanks,
Lori
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    Rothchild
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    Re:Sonar Producer/Cakewalk and the Alesis DM6 Electronic Drum Kit 2011/03/25 03:54:53 (permalink)
    Hi Lori,

    Are you trying to record the sound from the DM6 or to use it to control a soft synth (session drummer for instance) and just record the performance (not the sounds) or, indeed, both?

    If it's the former you need to record the audio from the audio output on the back of the DM6 'brain' Plug the brain output in t the input of your computer soundcard / interface and record it to an audio track in Sonar.

    If you want to record the performance you can do this using MIDI which is ouputted from the usb on the DM6 brain. You can set up a midi track in Sonar and use the DM6 Midi interface to record the data about which pads are being played. This can be sent back to the DM6 brain to have it make a noise or it can be used to control a software drum machine like session drummer.

    Obviously if you want to capture both you can connect both the USB (for midi) and the audio (for audio) and record both.

    Aside from the 'DM6 MIDI Interface' or whatever it ends up being called in Options / MIDI Sonar will not 'know' to recognise what you've attached to it.

    Hope this helps!

    Child


    Edit: More of the same / similar here: http://forum.cakewalk.com...25&mpage=1#2223151
    post edited by Rothchild - 2011/03/25 03:59:29

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    milo6469
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    Re:Sonar Producer/Cakewalk and the Alesis DM6 Electronic Drum Kit 2011/03/25 12:22:00 (permalink)
    Thanks for your response!
    My boyfriend is just trying to play the drum set and have that directly recorded into Cakewalk as a track.
    His other option (for him and the guys in his band) is to play thru the PA then somehow into Cakewalk.
    Its when we attach the DM6 drums directly to the computer-thru USB-we don't know how to "find" them in Cakewalk to record a drum track directly.
    He probably knows more about the instrument side and I know more about the computer side but I can't seem to figure it out. I'm not sure about the sound card stuff????
    I'll show him the message you sent and maybe he will understand it.
     
    Any other info you have would be greatly appreciated.
     
    -Lori
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    Cactus Music
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    Re:Sonar Producer/Cakewalk and the Alesis DM6 Electronic Drum Kit 2011/03/25 15:27:56 (permalink)
    Possibly you will need to download drivers from the Alesis web site so that Sonar will recognize it as a MIDI device.
    The beauty of recording it as a MIDI track is that you can edit the timing and other events. Not much point recording a digital drum kit otherwise.
    But I guess it saves having mikes involved.

    Johnny V  
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    3 Desktops and 3 Laptops W7 and W10
     http://www.cactusmusic.ca/
     
     
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    Rothchild
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    Re:Sonar Producer/Cakewalk and the Alesis DM6 Electronic Drum Kit 2011/03/27 13:04:58 (permalink)
    Hi Lori,

    I think you guys are gonna need to run through a couple of the tutorials so that you've got your heads around a couple of the basics. We'll then be able to help you better.

    When you say 'record to a track' you need to understand that there are 2 different types of track in Sonar (and practically any recording software of this sort). You have MIDI tracks and Audio Tracks.

    If you can tell us about your computer set up and how you've got the Alesis plugged in to it that might make a start. What are you using to listen to the sounds from the alesis, is it plugged in to the hi fi or something? Do you have the computer plugged in to any speakers? If so how?

    Tell how you're set up and we'll try and get you moving in the right direction.

    Child

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