Drums in music creator 6

Hi, I am new to this software, how do I create my own drum tracks? Is it possible? It was advertised that I could! Not finding this a very easy software to use, maybe I will get used to it with a little help, Please help!!

Thanks, Phill.

Thanks for your quick reply, I watched the videos and read all the help on drum maps etc but they do not tell you how to create the music using your computer, only on how to drag MC6's own beats into a track. I was after instructions on how to create a drum track ie put your own hit hat, kick drum etc patterns together and then add that to a track! Was wondering if someone has done this and advise me on where to get started. This was the whole reason I bought the software, it was advertised that you could create your own drum tracks and add them to a recorded song etc, but this is not the most user friendly software I have ever used!

Thanks Phill. 

Tell us more about what you do as a musician. 

If you have a midi keyboard (99.9% of all keyboards these days are midi)  you can easily record the midi data into the midi tracks and assign a synth to play it as whatever instrument you wish. Editing is easy in midi. 

Understand there is a learning curve. You will likely spend anywhere from a few days to a few months just getting a handle on the capabilities of MC6...depending on your existing skill level. 

As far as user friendly and making tracks... yes it does make tracks, but you have to learn how it all works.... that's the learning curve part. I probably spent several months just messing around, working on simple tunes and learning how it all worked. 

Do not let the Cakewalk propaganda fool you. While MC6 is classified as a "Beginners package" that is technically correct , however, MC6 is quite advanced and very capable of producing high quality recording output. I used MC4 for more than 3 years with excellent results before cross grading to X1 a few months back. 

Once you get the hang of it, you will not even really need to think about the details.... you just turn it on and start recording your music.

So yes, it can do what you want, you just gotta take the time to learn it......and once you do..... then, it will be a "Cakewalk" to use it.   

Thanks beagle, great video, something to get me started cheers! 

Yes it can be done.
Select a MIDI track. Set it's output to your drum synth. Open the Piano Roll view (PRV). Right-click on the piano keys if that is what is on the left and change it to GM Drums to show the drum names. Click the drum names to hear what samples are played when they're clicked. Some notes won't make any sound since they're not mapped for the particular synth you're using.
Set the note duration. Click the Draw tool. Click notes in the grid. Once you have a measure with hat, kick, snare, go back to the Track view and right-click the clip. Select Groove Clip Looping. The corners of the clip will become bevelled to show it's now a groove clip.
Drag out the clip and it will repeat for as far as you drag it. Maybe 4 measures. go back to PRV and mouse in some hits for the break, a measure or two. Right-click the first clip and select Copy. Go to the end of the break clip and paste in the groove clip you just copied. It will only be the original 1 measure, so drag it out again as far as you want. Repeat as necessary for a song-length drum track.
That's just the basics. Note durations play an important part in this as do the Snap-to settings. If the groove clip isn't a precise length, it won't always start/end at the right place. The first note in the clip should start exactly on the beat and the last note should end exactly on the beat for the groove clip to always be in time.
Of course, you can always mouse in every drum hit in the song, a long, tedious process which I have done a few times. Copy/paste/groove-clip looping makes it much easier.

57 gregy, thanks for the reply, I tried your suggestion and ran into probs:-

1) Opened a new project with normal template, inserted midi track and selected it, selected output from list of drum maps, opened piano view and nothing was listed.

2) opened new project using medium tempo template and used the 'drums track', selected output from list etc and got list of drum pieces in prv, click on them and the graphic eq. goes up and down when i select each one but get no sound! (tried loads of kits as you said some may not work)

3) did the same with a midi template and same results, ive selected a number of output drum maps but they are all greyed out in prv and no sound as above.

4) how do you set the draw tool(not that its any use at this stage), tried all tabs in prv and cant find draw option!

I really appreciate your help and others, basically I play drums (not great but an ok standard) and my friend writes songs and plays guitar. He wrote a song recently and sent it to me as mp3. I bought this software hoping to import the mp3 add my OWN CREATED drum track using MC6, give it a little tweek, burn it off, me and friend drink beer with smile on faces! (while listening to the track!) lol! Am I being too optimistic or is this a nice simple rewarding task once you know how?  

Ps. Is it me or is this just the most awkward way to create simple drum patterns! Why can you not just insert synth, select si drums, and then open a nice tab that says 'create drum loop' Then select 1 bar or 2 bar etc and select each drum piece to fit where you want it in a bar! save the loop and just drag it into a track! Too easy I guess!!

Cheers, frustrated Phill.

actually, IMO, there's an easier way to do it than this:

But there is more to it than that. in 1 for example.... open new project, insert 2 tracks.... one audio and one midi..... drag midi into midi track.... insert synth for drums in audio track, direct midi track output to drum synth from available synth list..... now.... you can get sound. No need for DRUM MAPS.... Doing it the way you mentioned....of course you get nothing in the PRV... nothing was ever put in the midi track to show up in PRV or STAFF view. You could click in it to add some notes though.

in MC6, click on the plugins tab on the browser, find the SI Drums, double click on it. a dialog box pops up.  if you want BOTH MIDI and OUTPUT tracks, then select MIDI SOURCE and FIRST OUTPUT SYNTH TRACK.  select FOLDER if you want them to both be in a folder in the project.


in the PRV to select the draw tool, click on the MIDDLE MOUSE BUTTON (the scroll wheel but click it down) and the HUD will appear.  then choose the PENCIL TOOL.

Thanks guys, am going to give it another try today with a little more patience! Thanks for all your time, im not overly impressed with MC6 so far but the forum help makes up for it!

Hey Phill.... read this thread if you haven't yet done so.....

http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=2446799&mpage=1#msgNum28

 post #28 is the one you really want to read. 

Hey Phill, 

My website has a tutorial on how to make a drum track. Have a look at it. Here> change staff view to PRV

How to enter a drum track in MC4/5

open MC4/5 choose new project...call it midi drums. choose a normal project... this gives you an audio & midi track. MC5 only shows one track when you insert a synth.

click on the midi track & select VIEW >STAFF to get the staff view. click on the draw tool and insert a few notes in a few measures...it doesn't matterwhat notes...we just want something to be triggering the midi.


NOW.. highlight the audio track by clicking on it. Right click in the FX bin select soft synths and select Cakewalk-TTS..minimize the synth window.

SO FAR>>>SO GOOD>

Just one more step and you should have sound!!!!!

Now...double click in the midi track control area....and the track properties window will open.

Select INPUT=none..... OUTPUT= Cakewalk-TTS.....CHANNEL =10


Hit Play...you should now hear sound.

If you don't hear anything at this point...double check to be sure the rig is working properly



I used to use this method a lot when I was getting started. The trick is to do 2 measures.... then cop and paste it to 4 total..... make a few edits in the last measure....copy and paste it double and edit again.... by doing that you end up with a relatively cool and usable track in short order.

THe real breakthrough for me was when I found Jamstix. it did all the heavy lifting for me when building a drum track.   www.rayzoon.com   have a look and DL the demo. 

phillmaxx, you are getting the best advise one can get on this forum, these guys are generous with their time and thorough with their answers.  My point is that I am as novice as they come, and this MC6 software is incredibly flexible.  Any thought my brain could come up with, Cakewalk has already inserted that function into the software.  And when it is not immediatly apparent how to harness that function, these fellows are there to help point you in the correct direction.  So, I'm just interjection as a live testimony that hang in there, this software will pay off in spades.  Nothing is necessarily difficult to accomplish in this software.  But sometimes finding the function can be a bit challenging.  But that is only because Cakewalk has packed so much into this $49 gem.

Directly above the track inspector... are 2 buttons. one has one square in ti the other has 4. click on the 4 button. 

THis puts the midi stuff in the track inspector.  

In, Out, CHANNEL, bank and Patch ...... in that order top to bottom

click in the C for channel...select 10 and you should have drum sounds rather than piano.

Welcome to the forum, KandL.
phillmaxx hasn't been back since Dec. 2011, so he probably can't help.
If you have more questions, start up a new thread and we'll try to help.