I can understand frustration if you bought midi loops/fills and they don't start on the 1.
But yeah, switch Maschine to controller mode and play stuff, if you want to. Probably quicker to get you near where you want to, then fix any issues in PRV.
If you'd rather record the fill as a loop in Maschine first (e.g. so you can use the note repeat button) that works too, afterwards drag the midi loop out (assuming you've set it to midi loop and not audio) and put it on the Session Drummer track. You may have to move some notes up or down but it'll still be quicker and more "you" than browsing a library of unlogical fills.

chuckebaby
I made this Video, its called editing drums in the PRV.
check I out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruAnAPR6-hQ
 
not time consuming at all.
build a routine, if your not using the piano roll in sonar, then you are missing out on one of sonars best tools in my opinion.

Definitely check out that video!
 
I agree that constructing loops is a lot simpler than you are thinking. Even something simple like making 4 bars and "Groove Clip Looping" it, you can stretch is to desired length, then "Bounce to Clips" to edit in the PRV. Even constructing with MIDI input is quick for a baseline "version," which can be easily edited. And then there is also the Step Sequencer which has quick routes to input patterns, etc. So many (quick) options out there.
 
For perspective... as I gained more and more "samples" I had an epiphany... even with only 100,000 samples at 5 seconds each, it would take over 4 work-years just to listen to them (not even use them). I actually have more samples than this for various synths, etc. The reality is that at some point in time, the ability to make/edit them quickly will always win out over trying to find the needle in the haystack.

hire a real drummer! I'm tired of all these software doohickeys putting my drumming brothers out of work!
 
 

If you put in a pattern and it doesn't cover the whole measure don't sweat it. Most patterns in session drummer are still on the beat. Sometimes it's those slightly irregular patterns that sound better for fills anyways. I have been known to chop up fills and do some splice work until I got something I liked as a fill,or use the PRV, maybe add a few extra hits or a crash right where you want it to be. Not difficult to do with a cheap midi controller.If you have a Roland drum set man you have it made.You can use a 120bpm fill in an 80bpm track it will simply be slightly slower.
 
 
I have heard the work from some others done with only Session Drummer and if you hadn't told me it wasn't something else I would never have known. You can make killer tracks in it. I have a project I'm working on where I used some of the midi in Session drummer and then I used a second well known drum program to compliment it. Like having two drummers that play well together. 
 
I think a lot of the material in Session Drummer is pretty decent, especially for a program that came as part of X3 and to top it off, how many DAWs offer two pretty nice drum programs with their DAWs as part of the deal?
 
I'm just trying to find out a way to switch my drum soft synth after I load one of those nice free templates for Session Drummer ;)  
 
 

If you want to use Maschine as a MIDI controller: On Maschine press <Shift> and the upper left hand corner button. I think it is labeled Control but I've heard it described differently. This will turn the pads into a MIDI source.
 
Then in your Session Drummer MIDI track select Maschine as your source.
 
You can program the Maschine Pads to represent any notes you wish using the NI Controller Editor. There is a separate Help file for it and is relatively straight forward to learn.
 
Regards, 

Thank you for your replies. I wanted to point out that I am a woman, so there are certain limitations in the abilities. Lol. There many issues to consider for female musicians, such as household and parenting responsibilities. Our brain is not made the same. J
CakeAlex, you can forget everything you learned about maschine software because 2.0.5 version is nothing like 1.8. Things that used to be there are not there anymore- it is totally different workflow. Same idea but different location. My problem with maschine is- well- I guess I did not test it thoroughly yet. When it is in Plugin mode, it is hard to play in real time. I usually open Maschine software free standing, do what I need and then save and open in Sonar. So if I want to just play a fill using pads, it would probably get recorded in to Sonar but would not trigger Maschine drum set. If it triggers maschine sounds, it would not record in Sonar- you would have to create and insert a pattern. Also there is a lot of issues with the patterns. I also have native Instruments DrumLab. This is interesting software- it acts as if you had live-recorded drums- you get different mic positions and several tracks playing at the same time with sound bleeding between the tracks. I just have no time and brain space to comprehend everything. And then Session Drummer comes in, where I think- it would be simple solution, but it lacking “Next” button, so you have to manually load patterns every time- that is in 2014?
 

rail's platinum samples are top notch stuff.
we received a complimentary sample pack with the content club last year with the purchase of sonar x2 and I love them.

How come I did not receive it? I thought- I was keeping up with content club. Is it still there? I know I bought Session Drummer package on cakewalk site long while ago. I also know that Cakewalk likes to sale products to customers, and then turn around and give the same product to everybody else for free.
 
I have no problems using somebody else’s drums. In fact- if I could hire somebody to do it for me, I would be ok with it too. I am a keyboard player, not a drummer. My art and originality is not in my drums. My drumming is not that grate- so I was told. (May be it was not my drumming but Sessional Drummer loops?)

You can preview MID grooves from the Browser window in Sonar... Where you can easily switch between files to preview.

I remember being able to preview midi loops in the past, but that night- they would not play. I see audio settings, but I do not see settings to what plug in to send it. There was no sound, so I had to open each loop individually, and then when I on “M” already, every new loop opens with “A” again- it is frustrating.

If you'd rather record the fill as a loop in Maschine first (e.g. so you can use the note repeat button) that works too, afterwards drag the midi loop out (assuming you've set it to midi loop and not audio) and put it on the Session Drummer track.

I was wondering about it. Maschine has MIDI patterns library, so as every expansion that I own, and I have all of them. But wouldn’t the mapping be different? I have no idea what note the pads in Maschine are assigned, also I don’t know what note Session Drummer or Addictive Drums or DrumLab assign their drums. Also- do you mean- I can copy between sequencers? I don’t see how I can drag anything from Maschine in to Sonar- it would be nice. I did not try the NI Controller Editor. It is all so time consuming. I have couple hours in the evening after my child goes to bed, and then it is 2 am and time to go to sleep and get up for work the next day… I wish I could do music full.

hire a real drummer! I'm tired of all these software doohickeys putting my drumming brothers out of work!

As I pointed out in my earlier post- I do hire real drummers. I have top shelf electronic drum set for them here and it outputs Audio and MIDI at the same time. I even pay them out of my pocket, from my day job’s paycheck. Lol. I am just busy right now, and I don’t like strangers in the studio. By the time background check comes back… Just kidding, but you get the point. If any of you great folks would like to be hired long distance, please, let me know.
 
 

I'm not posting any more until you post here and kick these guys arses..... (esp me probably)...
Moving on ... sorry ... but I'm still gonna treat you like one of the lads...
 

Ok, I opened Controller Editor and I assigned Maschine Pads to the SD drums. Now- practical question: when assigning individual instruments in SD, for example Hats have 4 notes options for 1 hat, and 3 different sounds assigned to 3 different keys. I have 3 different pads assigned to it and it first it played open and closed HH, but when I attempted to change 1 HH sound, all 3 of them changed. Now all 3 sound the same. How do you assign different sounds to the same HH? Thank you.

There are two ways to assign samples to Session Drummer pads. Dropping samples on the pads assigns the sample to all notes played by the pad. To assign multiple samples to a pad requires an sfz file. Look in the Session Drummer content for examples of sfz files. sfz files are plain text files.

Dragging and dropping from Maschine is simple, but a little hard to explain via text. If you YouTube "Maschine drag and drop midi" it lists about ten options. Look at one about dragging midi out of Maschine into a DAW.

Yes, the mapping will generally be different, but if it's just for a fill it should be easy to adapt those notes to the right places. You'll still have the same fill/rhythm.
Alternatively, if you like Maschine's sounds too, you can also drag and drop the audio out of Maschine. I refer to YouTube again...