[Answered] Battery 4 - How to automate slider?

It depends where the Battery audio is going. If you're sending out each Battery drum to its own audio output, then you can simply automate the volume on the ride's audio track. If as I suspect you have all of the Battery drums sounding through one audio track then you'll have to set up an automation parameter within Battery itself: 
 
1) Select the drum you want to automate in Battery
2) Make sure you're on the "Main" tab which has the drum's level slider
3) Go to the left hand panel and click the "Automation" tab
4) Click "Add new..." - an automation instance will appear 
5) Drag the automation handle (the little icon to the right of where it says "drag to any knob or slider") to the control you want to automate, in this case the drum's level slider. You'll see that automation mapping appear in the automation panel. 
6) You can control the range of the automation mapping with the little handles on the grey bar. I would just set this to full (extreme left and extreme right). 
7) Now open an automation lane on your Battery synth track (not the MIDI track, the audio output track)
8) Click the edit filter (where it says "Volume") and select Battery 4. You should see the volume parameter that you mapped at the top of the parameter list
9) Draw the automation envelope you need. 
 
Voila!
 
Let me know if I didn't explain that well enough. I'm fallin' asleep here....
 

I'm paying for it now....

Tripecac

If as I suspect you have all of the Battery drums sounding through one audio track then you'll have to set up an automation parameter within Battery itself:

Yes, I am taking the simple approach of having all Battery drums outing to one audio track.
The instructions worked perfectly!  Thanks a bunch!
 
However, I have one follow-up question:
Can we name automation lanes?  It would be nice to label it something like "Ride Volume".

Unfortunately not. This is something I've asked for before. Can't remember whether I submitted a feature request though...perhaps it's worth doing again. It's a nightmare when you've got 10 or more automation lanes on a track and the labels don't identify them properly. 
 

For some reason, when I was working on my project today, the "Volume" automation stopped controlling the ride's volume slider, and instead controller the entire drum track's volume.  This is not what I want.
 
I think the problem is in this step:
 
> 8) Click the edit filter (where it says "Volume") and select Battery 4. You should see the volume parameter that you mapped
I did not see "Battery 4" listed in the envelope selection for the track.  Instead, I just saw "Volume", "Pan", and some effects.  I didn't see any mention of Battery 4. 
The track on which I added an automation envelope was the Synth track (the one which outputs to the master bus), not a MIDI track.  I usually think of this as the "audio" track, but maybe there is a difference?
 
 
Note: I understand the audio routing, and know that's probably the most robust way to handle drums.  However, I prefer keeping all the drums on one output, which is simpler (for me).  I use NI synths a lot, so learning how to automate NI synth parameters is useful for other contexts, not just drums.
 

I *thought* it worked the first time, except I remember not seeing "Battery 4" in the automation menu.  I did, however, see "Volume", which is what is slider was labelled.  Strange.
 
When you see "Battery 4" listed, what are the other options in that menu?

I have a dozen or so MIDI tracks.  Their output is Battery 4.
 
I also have one non-MIDI track for the drums as well; its input is Battery 4.  This is the track to which I apply audio effects, volume changes (usually just a fade out at the end), etc.  It's the one I tried to use to automate the volume slider on the ride.
 
I'm not sure if the "audio" track is actually a synth track or an audio track.  Is there a difference between the two?  How can I tell what type of track it is?