Are there any videos that dive deep(er) into the step sequencer? Every video I've seen uses Session Drummer and nothing else. I'd like to know more on how to use it with other applications. Do I have to use it with a plug in/instrument only? Can I use it with, say the "One Shot" audio clips that come with Sonar? I could make some amazing beats if that was the case (but it doesn't seem possible). If there is a way and somebody could show me that would be great. Or, is it possible to output multiple sounds from multiple sources? Say I like a kick on a Motif patch 1, but a snare on Motif patch 22, and Congos on my Motif Rack ES patch 5, and some thundering drums from Stormdrum. Is it possible to bring all of these sounds together? Or am I dreaming? Thanks guys.

Hi Spanky
 
I think the X2 Webinar may help you with this:
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3eeSD9uPqw
 
Start watching at 37:17 and you will see Brandon open up an empty Session Drummer, load a sound file onto the crash cymbal, open the step sequencer, locate the crash cymbal and put it on the first beat.
 
So what I'm saying is, if you have an empty Session Drummer, you could drop all of your samples (as long as you can locate them all) onto the various drums and cymbals, then play them via step sequencer.
 
Hope I've understood correctly.
 
Simon

Session Drummer would work.

I am pretty sure if you do some research in making SFZ files you could map multiple samples and play them back using SFZ, Dim Pro, (or even Rapture which would add some wild processing capabilities!) Upside - you could assign more samples to a single "instrument", one downside is you would lose the multi channel output of session drummer 3

If I was going to do it I would probaly use Kontakt, but that would require you buying another program

Spanky - first of all, I cannot help but giggle every time I see that dancing cat profile pic.   Thank you for enriching my life.

I am intrigued by how to accomplish what you are pondering in this post, and will give some thought to that today, while I wait for the big bad wolf to blow down my house (I am in Maryland waiting for the storm),

If I can think of a way to do this I will post back,

Bob Bone

SGodfrey, that was a good video, but I noticed he used the Session Drummer library files(.sfz files?) to load the crash. I wonder if it will work with the One Shot files (.wav files?) included with X2, too? It's not necessary but it would be cool to be able to choose whatever sound I want (no matter where it comes from--VST, MIDI instrument, Wave file, etc.) to load into the step sequencer. I guess I'll have to experiment with it more. Also the Session Drummer. Also thanks Glyn, I will keep that in mind. And stay safe Bob!

Hi Spanky,
 
Glad you found the video of interest, Seth & Brandon have been doing a brilliant job with them over the past few months.
 
I had a quick bit of experimentation with Session Drummer; my sound card wasn't connected so I wasn't able to listen to the result however I was able to drag and drop a .wav file onto session drummer in the mixer view - it seemed to accept it quite happily.  I also had a look at the standard Session Drummer library and they are .flac files - whatever they are!?
 
Not sure this approach is going to give you everything you need, it might, but definitely worth a bit of experimentation IMHO.
 
All the best.

One shots will work in Session Drummer but you can only load one sample per pad. The matrix view might be a better solution for playing one shots or as others have said, spend a little more time and build up some sfz files to load in DimPro, Rapture or Session Drummer. Simple sfz files are easy to construct in a text editor and you have a lot of examples included with those three synths. Here is a little documentation about the sfz format http://www.cakewalk.com/D...e/article.aspx?aid=108

One shot wave files will work. sfz files are just pointers to a collection of wave files which are usually samples at different velocities.

They will give much more realistic sounds. For example a crash cymbal that is hit hard has a different character and sound to one that is hit softly. Therefore playing a hard hit crash softly doesn't sound very realistic.

The good news is if you have a collection of wave files at different velocities you can write your own sfz file. The best thing to do if you want to go that route is to have a look at this and then open a sfz file in a text editor. That'll give you a good idea on how to write them.

FLAC files are a lossless compression format (Free Lossless Audio Codec)

HTH

Thanks for all your help guys. Sure enough, I tried it out last night and the one shots do work. I just didn't realize you had to do it through Session Drummer (so much to learn). Hey scook and Karl, I don't know if I have the constitution to start diving in that deep lol! ;) Maybe I will though...

Hey Spanky
 
Very glad to have been able to contribute, I'm not so experienced in all this myself and have had plenty of help from the guys on the forum.  It's great to be able to help in return.
 
Cheers!