Hi all, I'm just trying to find my way, so sorry if this seems a bit daft. I want to "perform" a very basic drum sequence of 4 or 8 bars using a midi keyboard to play it. It would be just bass drum and snare. Then I want to go into the Step Sequencer to play around with it a bit, but either it is greyed out as an option, or when it loads, it does not display the pattern I have just played, its empty. I appreciate most people would probably use the piano roll or some other method, but I wanted to know if it possible to do what I'm trying, and if it is, what am I doing wrong? I'm typically loading up the Rock kit from the SI Drum Synth menu option, by the way. Thanks.

Hi Angus, once you have played your drums live, right click over the recorded clip, then you should see the option CONVERT MIDI CLIP (S) TO STEP SEQUENCER. Once you have done this I think it will ask of what measure you want it converted to, once you have chosen simply right click over the clip again go to view and you should be able to select step sequencer. One more thing please could you add your system specs to your signature this will help the guys on here figure out any future issues.

  Thanks, that did the trick. It does raise another question though. I can see my drum beat on the Step Sequencer, but the 4 bars that it existed in on the midi track, have seemingly become about 16 on the Sequencer. That is to say, all the beats are there, but they are spread over a lot more erm... bars. Any further clues? I tried experimenting with the resolution number in the requester that appears when you do the conversion, and with the numbers defining the Sequencer, but without success. The guy in the shop where I bought Sonar gave me an excellent demo using the Sequencer, which really sold me on the program, but as always, when you get down to it, it gets complicated.

It really depends on how well your timing was when you played it on the keyboard.

When you convert things to a Step Sequencer clip, it has to move them around a bit and kind of Quantize them to fit in the step points of the Step Sequencer. It should ask you what timing you want to use when you convert it to a Step Sequencer clip, but it's just a guideline, it won't exactly preserve your freehand playing.

If it's a really basic pattern, you may be better off starting it from scratch in the Step Sequencer and then adjusting the Swing for the Snare.

What Bub said!

bang your keyboard parts out with your fingers and then highlight the clip/press Q;to quantize your notes/when this window opens up select 1/8 if they're basic 4/4 beats with no intriquete off beats.press OK./right click the clip and select;step sequencer.

you will over time learn to appreciate the PRV,you can see a bigger picture of whats going on and copying /pasting little parts to make other parts is a little easier in my opinion.

Thanks for your thoughts and help.

I'm coming to the conclusion that I need to temporarily put aside my affection for the Step Sequencer and get to grips with the Piano Roll view. I have tried with it, but I need to know more about how to use it and build up a proper understanding of what I'm doing. At the moment its ending up in frustration. I will bang my head some more against the manual, but I seem to get on better with youtube clips etc. Any recommendations?


Thanks again.

_Angus_


Thanks for your thoughts and help.

I'm coming to the conclusion that I need to temporarily put aside my affection for the Step Sequencer and get to grips with the Piano Roll view. I have tried with it, but I need to know more about how to use it and build up a proper understanding of what I'm doing. At the moment its ending up in frustration. I will bang my head some more against the manual, but I seem to get on better with youtube clips etc. Any recommendations?


Thanks again.

im putting together a video,give me another couple days,i will have have a video that shows how to write drum parts in the prv like a snap.

chuckebaby


im putting together a video,give me another couple days,i will have have a video that shows how to write drum parts in the prv like a snap.

 
 
That would be excellent. I just watched some guy on youtube sketching in a string arrangement in the piano roll view like he was Vivaldi on speed. It was a bit of a shock just seeing it unfold on the fly like that.  Wow! I need to understand this thing.

edit - can't even edit a pesky follow-up, let alone some music! :)

Here you go angus,
check it out tell me what you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruAnAPR6-hQ

this is me doing a tutorial on drum editing in piano roll view.