When I load, say, a side stick sound from a wave file by right clicking on the snare, the snare only plays that sound, even though it's only the one note (37, I think). I want to be able to play note 37 and 38, but Session Drummer assigns my wave file to ALL the notes. I've tried selecting note 37 and loading a side stick, then 38 and loading a center hit, but it doesn't respect the various notes as the prefab kits do! I've even tried modifying a prefab kit by loading my own snare sound, but the problem remains. I can't play a song that has side stick AND center hits, because whatever the last sound I load, that's the one that sticks for all the notes. Any ideas? Thanks.

To play more than one sample per pad requires creating sfz files. Session Drummer comes with quite a few examples of sfz files. They are plain text files. Sfz files are stored in folders by pad. The default location for the folders is C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\Vstplugins\Session Drummer 3\Content. Take a look at a few of the files. Find a simple one that has one sample per note, copy it to a new name and add your samples to it. If you have questions, feel free to ask.

Thanks. I created this SFZ:
//  sfz definition file
//  (c) Zyler Vega Seth Perlstein Cakewalk, Inc 2009
//  Drums on Demand Custom Kit

//========================rimshot
<group>
key=37
group=37
polyphony=1
rt_decay=6.500
ampeg_release=2

<region>
sample=C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\Vstplugins\Session Drummer 3\Contents\Kits\2 - Snares\DoD Snares\Blonde Rim.WAV

//========================snare medium
<group>
key=38
group=38
polyphony=1
rt_decay=6.500
ampeg_release=2

<region>
sample=C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\Vstplugins\Session Drummer 3\Contents\Kits\2 - Snares\DoD Snares\Blonde Med.WAV

//========================snare soft
<group>
key=40
group=40
polyphony=1
rt_decay=6.500
ampeg_release=2

<region>
sample=C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\Vstplugins\Session Drummer 3\Contents\Kits\2 - Snares\DoD Snares\Blond Soft.WAV

//========================snare loud
<group>
key=39
group=39
polyphony=1
rt_decay=6.500
ampeg_release=2

<region>
sample=C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\Vstplugins\Session Drummer 3\Contents\Kits\2 - Snares\DoD Snares\Blond Loud.WAV
 
but when I try to load it as a snare I get this error:
 
File c:\program files\cakewalk\vstplugins\session drummer 3\contents\kits\2 - snares\dod snares\blonde med.wav not found or couldn't be loaded.
File c:\program files\cakewalk\vstplugins\session drummer 3\contents\kits\2 - snares\dod snares\blond soft.wav not found or couldn't be loaded.
File c:\program files\cakewalk\vstplugins\session drummer 3\contents\kits\2 - snares\dod snares\blond loud.wav not found or couldn't be loaded.


--- End of log for c:\program files\cakewalk\vstplugins\session drummer 3\contents\kits\2 - snares\dod snares\dod snares.sfz

Nevermind. Got it working. Took the spaces out of the wav filenames, or maybe some typos. Thanks.

Assuming the sfz file is with the rest of the snare sfz files, make the paths relative like this

//  sfz definition file
//  (c) Zyler Vega Seth Perlstein Cakewalk, Inc 2009
//  Drums on Demand Custom Kit

//========================rimshot
<group>
key=37
group=37
polyphony=1
rt_decay=6.500
ampeg_release=2

<region>
sample=DoD Snares\Blonde Rim.WAV

//========================snare medium
<group>
key=38
group=38
polyphony=1
rt_decay=6.500
ampeg_release=2

<region>
sample=DoD Snares\Blonde Med.WAV

//========================snare soft
<group>
key=40
group=40
polyphony=1
rt_decay=6.500
ampeg_release=2

<region>
sample=DoD Snares\Blond Soft.WAV

//========================snare loud
<group>
key=39
group=39
polyphony=1
rt_decay=6.500
ampeg_release=2

<region>
sample=DoD Snares\Blond Loud.WAV

 
While this file should work, normally the snare samples would be triggered by the same note 38 at different velocities. Here is an example file. I implied the file considerably and equally divided the velocities. An equal split is not necessary and may not be desirable. Adjust the lovel/hivel values accordingly.

//  sfz definition file
//  simplified using Drums on Demand sample

//========================rimshot
<region>
key=37
sample=DoD Snares\Blonde Rim.wav

//========================snare
<region>
key=38
lovel=0
hivel=42
sample=DoD Snares\Blonde Soft.wav

<region>
key=38
lovel=43
hivel=84
sample=DoD Snares\Blonde Med.wav

<region>
key=38
lovel=85
hivel=127
sample=DoD Snares\Blonde Loud.wav

 

Great info! Thanks.