Good morning!
I suppose I should comment on what previous experience I do have so that there's no more confusion concerning that (as there seems to be a bit of that going on.)
In short, I worked to a small degree with SD2, but never got too in-depth with it, like I am now with SD3. That is to say I never have, until the creation of this thread, worked with SFZ files, or multi-layered samples, things of that nature. I did, however, spend a little bit of time creating GIG files for LinuxSampler, which seems to share some things with SFZ files.
What I do (or did, as I've learned so much in the past few days) know is basic routing and how to set up SD3 to route to different tracks. Another new thing for me is the use of drum maps.
As far as the specifics of how SD3 handles notes, that it can only handle certain notes on certain drum pieces, that I was unaware of. Up until now, that all seemed rather arbitrary to me, but of course, thanks to everyone that commented on that, I know better!
After reading your comments, I went back and decided to check to see if I could get FLAC files to load up, now knowing how things are to be handled. In short, it works!
Apparently I was trying to load up an SFZ with incorrect key bindings for that particular drum piece when I first tried this.
In the past few days, I've learned so much, and again, I have to thank everyone who contributed to this thread!
I feel that my drum creation is finally going in the direction it needs to go to get a smooth and intuitive workflow.
There are still some hurdles to jump over, and things still to learn, however, as is always the case!
Since the starting of this thread, I delved deeper into the step sequencer and discovered it does have some drawbacks, ones that, at least for me, pretty much kill it as an alternative to the piano roll, at least in the sense of one or the other.
The primary one being that it makes triplets a bit difficult to pull off, whereas I know from experience that the piano roll can handle this quite elegantly. Overall, the step sequencer seems to fit into my workflow to make simple snare rolls, things of that nature, that otherwise I can't quite figure out how to pull off in the piano roll view.
As far as I can see right now, I'll be using both to achieve the drum feel and flare I'll need.
With all that being said, as mentioned earlier, I do have some questions still, and these are aimed at the piano roll this time.
Now, I absolutely love how intuitive it is to edit velocity and things of that nature in the step sequencer on a note-by-note, sample per sample basis. What I really need to know is the following: is there a way to solo or otherwise select one sample and all the notes using that sample, and from there only show the velocity of those notes in the piano roll view? I know now that with drum maps, you can solo a sample, and the notes it contains, but I'm not clear on how editable the velocities are, which is something I would really like to start doing to create a more varied and realistic drum sound. The same goes for time offset, swing, and flam, all things I've grown to love about the step sequencer.
In a nutshell, can I achieve the same effects in the piano roll view that I can in the step sequencer, yet still in an intuitive fashion?
I feel like I've gone on long enough, apologies if my walls of text annoy you! I like to make sure that I'm as clear as I possibly can be to avoid any questions regarding what I'm asking. Sometimes it works, sometimes, well, not so much!
In either case, thanks for your time, and have a great day!
-Hypocrita