Drum Map Manager UI Update/Refurb

scook
 
position the cursor on the top output port (or where ever the port change needs to start in the map), while holding CTRL and SHIFT scroll down to the last output port (or where ever the port change needs to stop in the map) then click on the output port drop down and select a new assignment.

I will give this a try. I thought I tried every combo there was. Will let you know if I have difficulty. : )

I am not good at UI. I have worked with some beta programs in the past and what I thought was good, others thought... differently! : )
 
But I'll look at it and give what opinions I can. Hopefully others wil join in and see what we can come up with.

Or make it like the drum maps editing in Addictive drums, maybe that is better. It is extremely user friendly. Ta.

Drum maps could also be developed as a way to integrate "articulations" for sampling libraries. 

When editing mappings manually, instead of entering numbers to show that, for example, In-note 36 is mapped to Out-note 48, I would prefer to see 2 virtual keyboards where can click-drag from C3 on one of them to C4 on the other. It would be even better if it could automatically detect and enter the note that you have triggered from a MIDI keyboard or softsynth GUI.
 

Beagle

scook
For me, the biggest issue with the current UI is the map settings table. The map settings table would be easier to maintain if it worked more like a spreadsheet with functions like column sort, row and column lasso/copy/paste/delete. Storing the maps in delimited or tagged plain text would be a plus.

YES!  I am 100% with this!!!

Yes +2!

Grem

scook
 
position the cursor on the top output port (or where ever the port change needs to start in the map), while holding CTRL and SHIFT scroll down to the last output port (or where ever the port change needs to stop in the map) then click on the output port drop down and select a new assignment.

I will give this a try. I thought I tried every combo there was. Will let you know if I have difficulty. : )

This definitely works - I've been doing this since 2007

I think there is two use cases:
1) just show me the names of the available drum/kit pieces in the PRV
2) I need full-on remapping of notes, intput channels, etc
 
The problem, for me, is that it is quite daunting to set up (1) because of all the extra UI configuring stuff to support (2).

I realize this thread has been dead for a while but, one idea that occurred to me would be to add a "group" column in the drum map for kit piece. A lot of the highly detailed drum samplers (e.g. BFD, Superior Drummer, Addictive Drums) have multiple articulations/hit types for each kit piece. When you then try and use the drum editor pane in the PRV, you have this extremely long list of different articulations to search through.
 
I think it would be really great if you could assign different notes to a group. Then in the drum editor they would be organized together and could be collapsed or expanded similar to folders for plugins in the browser. You could even allow the drum editor to assign one note to be the default note selection for the kit piece when collapsed (e.g. closed hi-hat or side stick, etc.).
 
This way you could collapse everything and program a simple skeleton beat (e.g. steady eight notes on a hi-hat). Then when you focus on the snare or high hat, you expand the group and can select the different artriculations to add variation or make it sound more real (e.g. add the odd hit on the bell or rim). It's less tedious this way because everything is grouped together and you aren't bombarded with every single possible articulation in the view.
 
Just a humble suggestion.
 
Personally, I'm not sure why the drum editor is a separate editor from the step sequencer. It seems to me that you could combine the features of both in one view that would make for an ideal drum programming evironment but, that's a separate discussion...

Sorry if I used the wrong terminology. I meant to say that I'm not sure why the drum grid pane and the step sequencer are distinct.

I like editing in the drum grid pane of the prv. Mostly because there is more freedom. You can add quarter notes and then add a triplet fill by just changing the snap. I'm not aware of how to do that in the step sequencer. I also like how you can see the velocity for each note in the drum grid pane without expanding a row like you do in the step sequencer.

However, I do like some of the features of the step sequencer such as being able to add small delays and different swing amounts for each row. These things can allow a beat programmed to the grid to sound less mechanical.

I know that some people like to use drum maps to show articulation switch keys for orchestral libraries. Not sure how having the ability to group and expand/collapse items in a drum would impact that negatively. I do think it would be helpful for drum programming.

Regardless, my main suggestion was the ability to add groups to drum maps and expand/collapse those groups in the drum grid pane.

I'd like to see a few pre-built maps.  Like EZDrummer to AD2, or vice versa.  And, AD2 to Sonar Platinum for multi-piece individual audio outputs.  I think these should come included in a Sonar Platinum install.
 
 

Another "feature" in Drum Map Mgr that needs fixing BAD!
1.) When I pull up the DM Mgr don't make me have to scroll thru all of the maps just to get back to the one I was just working on.  I mean, if the freakin' correct map is picked in Track View, why on earth can't the same map show up in the DM mgr.  
2.) When I want to see the DM in Piano Roll view, PLEASE keep the view the same instead of making me expand the window so I can see the entire name of the drum note name.
3.) PLEASE let me preview the sounds that I'm mapping to before I have to save them, only to have to change them again, if they're wrong; which more often than not, they are, because I can't preview them.

Hey guys,
 
There's been talk previously about the lackluster state which the Drum Map manager interface has been stuck in for so long.
Others have made suggestions. Here are mine.
 
BeforeI start, I think the Drum Map Manager could drop the "Drum Map" reference and just be called the Midi Note Map Manager or something. Drum Maps are in fact Midi Note Maps and are not reserved to drums, right?
 
Ok now let's get down to business. The Manager tools to actually "manage" Maps and Map Templates ("presets", actually) has lots of room for improvement :
 
1- The saving operations are IMHO not intuitive at all in the current interface, as you need to select a preset first before hitting save; modifying/overwriting an existing Map is even clunkier.
I would like to be able to load and save Note Maps Templates and individual Note Maps from and to file, straight from the Manager. By "to file", I mean being able to browse to a directory of my choosing and save a file just like I can export a Track Tremplate.
 
2- How about managing Notes and Ports by groups, rather than by individual note? You would create Notes groups and Port groups though the manager GUI. That way one could manage which note goes to which VSTi, matrix style, very easily. I made little diagrams to explain what I mean, see below.
- you need at the minimum 1 Note group with 1 input Note in it, and 1 Port group with 1 Port "slot" in it.
- you can create as many groups of Notes and groups of Ports as you want.
- the GUI would group notes and ports under their respective groups by default; however the user would be abe to sort all entries at once by In Note, Out Note, note Name, etc. on demand when doing a mass edit or creating a map from scratch (for example when copying notes numbers from the midi implementation chart in a user manual).
 
3- I would like to save Note Map Templates that do not point to any specific output port. See the example below.
Hower, when I DO set specific ports in a Map file that I save, I would like the port "names" to STICK when I load that file into a project. That way if I load a previously saved map on a new project that has 2 instances of the same VSTi plugin, all I have to do is make sure I name the instances correctly in the Synth pane of the Browser and I'll be all set ! No more Sonar messing up the map by re-routing notes to a piano VSTi because it can't find the original drum VSTi the map once pointed to.
 
Example of a Note Map Template file:

 
Example of a Note Map file :

Yes, not sure how I missed the previous thread. I see mods have merged my new thread with the older one, so all is well now.