Toontrack drums and MIDI

I contacted Toontrack (EZDrummer) about some of their grooves - how I wanted to change a couple of things. 
 
They replied:
"After you have dragged the groove into a MIDI/Instrument track in your host, you need to access the host's MIDI editor and there you can locate which note that triggers the crash hit and simply delete it. As I said before, this goes for all MIDI notes. You can remove them, move them, add more notes and change their velocity (hit hardness)."  
 
I never knew I could do this.   Could someone please explain to me exactly how to do it?   I would really appreciate it.
 
Thanks!
Greg

Kalle Rantaaho


??? Have you never used Piano Roll??
After dragging the MIDI groove in the MIDI track, go to Piano Roll and do what you want with it. The grooves are no different from the MIDI beats and grooves you record yourself with mouse or keyboard.

I've never used Piano Roll, so this is all foreign to me.
 
Thanks.
Greg

Mod Bod


Tutorials are a wonderful thing.

Yeah, I hear ya'.....except that manuals just go over my head.   I learn from watching - or it being explained in detail.  Pictures are good   :)


Greg

I actually bought Sonar so I could start using MIDI and just started goofing around in piano roll.  You'll figure it out soon, especially when you start adding drum hits accidentily!...   Remember typical keyboard shortcuts, like dragging etc apply as well.
 
Just start messing around.  spend a couple hours and you'll get the hang quick.  I never looked a the manual or even worry about drum maps.  Neither are needed in some cases.

Open 'er up and play around! Man, just finding the piano roll is going to open up a lot of doors in your brain! Get ready!! :)))

Piano Roll v Staff is always an emotional topic, but I like Staff view for MIDI editing.

1-You can use the pencil tool to click a note and hear it. 
2-While you are holding down the mouse button with the pencil tool, you can hit delete to get rid of the note.  Or you can highlight it with the arrow tool and hit delete.
3-By hitting notes on your keyboard and listening, you can figure out which note is which drum if you are not already familiar with the MIDI note map.  You can also it record, bang some notes and see what does what.  Crtl+Z will undo whatever mess you created experimenting.
4-You can use Select | By Filter to pick all the notes you don't want and then hit Delete one time.  Example: Maybe all you want from the groove is the kick and snare.  So, you highlight the whole range (all the bars or measures).  Then go to Select | By Filter and type in the notes you don't want OR click the EXClude box and type in only the notes you do want—then hit delete.  For most maps, Kick and Snare are probably C2 and D2 (in Sonar logic).

I don't use MIDI grooves often, but they can be helpful.  They give you a headstart on programming.  My only complaint with most grooves is that they are too busy, but maybe the Toontrack ones are cool.
 
In the past, if I were doing a straight-ahead demo, I would sometimes use MIDI grooves or even a style from an arranger keyboard to get a basic feel.  Then I would delete everything but the most basic instruments so I have a solid foundation without all the over-the-top stuff some programmers throw in.  Haven't done that lately, but if you are trying to knock something out to capture an idea, it can really help.

konradh


Piano Roll v Staff is always an emotional topic, but I like Staff view for MIDI editing.

1-You can use the pencil tool to click a note and hear it. 
2-While you are holding down the mouse button with the pencil tool, you can hit delete to get rid of the note.  Or you can highlight it with the arrow tool and hit delete.
3-By hitting notes on your keyboard and listening, you can figure out which note is which drum if you are not already familiar with the MIDI note map.  You can also it record, bang some notes and see what does what.  Crtl+Z will undo whatever mess you created experimenting.
4-You can use Select | By Filter to pick all the notes you don't want and then hit Delete one time.  Example: Maybe all you want from the groove is the kick and snare.  So, you highlight the whole range (all the bars or measures).  Then go to Select | By Filter and type in the notes you don't want OR click the EXClude box and type in only the notes you do want—then hit delete.  For most maps, Kick and Snare are probably C2 and D2 (in Sonar logic).

I don't use MIDI grooves often, but they can be helpful.  They give you a headstart on programming.  My only complaint with most grooves is that they are too busy, but maybe the Toontrack ones are cool.
 
In the past, if I were doing a straight-ahead demo, I would sometimes use MIDI grooves or even a style from an arranger keyboard to get a basic feel.  Then I would delete everything but the most basic instruments so I have a solid foundation without all the over-the-top stuff some programmers throw in.  Haven't done that lately, but if you are trying to knock something out to capture an idea, it can really help.

Thanks for all the info!  
 
I tried editing a couple of things with the kick drums, then went out of Piano Roll - and there were no kicks in my MIDI playback.    I even saved it, and the kicks weren't in there.   How do you save your work when editing in Piano Roll?
 
Toontrack grooves are pretty good.   If you don't use MIDI drums, what do you use?
 
Thanks!
Greg

Couple of ways come to mind: Control up/down arrow,  +/- magnifiers in the right hand corner of the screen...

How do you save your edits in Piano Roll?   I edited and saved the kick drum, but when I played it back, the kick drums were not playing.

Greg

musicroom


The edits you make in Piano Roll are real-time. So they should be there immediately. Maybe look at your track settings to make sure you are sending the midi to the correct drum vsti... 

Do you hear the edits as you add/click etc.?

Yes, I hear the kick when I edit/add.   But when I'm done, I play it and the kick drums are absent.   Not sure why.


Greg

chuckebaby


it helps to know a little about midi before jumping into x1's midi in sonar.
but not a must..
how about the step sequencer?..that is a little more user friendly.
just take those clips from ez drummer and right click on them in the track view..
choose "conver to step sequencer"
after your done simply right click and then "bounce to clips"
this will turn it back into midi again like the piano roll ready midi.

the step sequencer is a little more like a drum machine in my eyes and easier for newbiews to adjust.

but in my case there is no other powerful tool in sonar then the piano roll,not only will it fix all timing issues but you can basically re-write any drum,piano,synth part out there.

ive taken one drum beat and made a whole song just by changint it around in the P-roll.

hold down ALT and click to add notes.
right click on a note to erase it.

its all about the smart tool.

Thanks for your help!


Greg

Kalle Rantaaho


Make sure when you're in Piano Roll View, that the right track is in use. The PRV can show several tracks on top of each other, but you're editing only one of them. It's possible you drop the kicks on a track that is not routed to the soft synth.

I'm sure it's something I'm doing wrong.  I just haven't figured it out yet.  
 
Thanks!
Greg

Storm


Slightly off-topic tangent..... I bought EZ Player Pro from Toontrack and it lets you take all the existing EZ MIDI grooves that you have an remap them to GM, BFD, SD, Reason Drum Kits, etc. It was well worth it for me. I could use the EZ MIDI with RDK2 and Session Drummer as I wanted instead of tweaking everything.

Good to know.  Thanks!


Greg