Drum Maps - How to get Sonar X1/X2 to use drum maps for Kontakt drum kits?

I have Komplete 8, and mostly use Kontakt for drums. There are kits for Studio Drummer, Abbey Road, and also the general Kontakt library. Mostly I use Abbey Road and Studio Drummer, since those sound the most realistic.

I have downloaded the Abbey Road drum maps and copied them to my drum maps folder. I then created a project with an Abbey Road kit loaded into Kontakt. However, when I open the piano roll, I see the piano keys rather than the drum maps. So, Sonar doesn't automatically know that Kontakt has a kit loaded.

In order to get Sonar to use the drum map, I have to:

1) click on the MIDI track's output control 2) select "New Drum Map" 3) scroll down through the long list of drum maps until I find the correct Abbey Road kit

This process is tedious (do to the scrolling) and error-prone (because I might select the wrong kit). I can eliminate some of the tedium by deleting all the drum maps I am unlikely to use, but the process remains error-prone.

It's even worse if I am using a simple instrument track, since in order to access the MIDI output I need to first "Split Instrument Track", then assign the MIDI output, then "Make Instrument Track".

And it's also bad if I have multiple MIDI tracks assigned to my drum kit, since each MIDI track needs to have its output assigned to the drum map. Smart group control-clicking helps a little, but the whole process feels clunky.

Of course, once I setup the drum maps, I could save my setup as a template for new songs. However, that results in lots of templates to manage, and encourages a "cookie cutter" approach to making songs, something I'm trying to avoid.

So here's my question:

What is the easiest (fastest and least error-prone) way to get Sonar to load the correct drum map for a Kontakt-based kit, for either:

a) simple instrument track, or
b) multiple MIDI tracks

This is not described anywhere that I know of, but IS a general Windows convention that works in Sonar.

To avoid having to do crazy amounts of scrolling through the whole list of drum maps, once the list opens up just type on the keyboard the first letter of the drum map you are after, and it will re-position the list to start at the first drum map with that letter.

Do these steps, as an example, and you will see what I mean.  It's a HUGE time saver:

1.  Create a new project, using the Normal template
2.  Insert Battery 3 x64 into the synth rack - do NOT create any tracks for it, just have the property page open up
3.  Once the Battery 3 property page opens, load a kit - let's use the General Midi kit under Acoustic Kits
4.  Close Battery 3 once the kit loads
5.  Insert an audio track
6.  Insert a midi track
7.  Click on the Output button for the midi track, and click on New Drum Map.  This opens the list
8.  Now, hover your mouse anywhere IN THE LIST, and type on your keyboard the letter 'G'.
9.  You will see that Sonar automatically re-positions the displayed drum maps to the first one starting with the letter 'G'.
10.  Now you have WAY less to scroll down through to find the one you are looking for - General Midi.


I use this all the time, and it works GREAT!

Please let me know if my example steps work for you, or if I need to explain better.  The key is that it will not re-position the display unless your mouse is actually somewhere hovering within the list.  If your mouse is anywhere else - you get nothing.

Hope this is a time saver for you - it certainly is for me, 

Bob Bone

I created a custom kit in Battery 3 that has the cells that I want, and also sets the outputs of the drums within the kit to use the multiple audio channel outputs - there are 32 output channels available as 16 pairs of stereo.

Then, I built a custom drum map to match what I had created.

Then, I created a new project in X2 and inserted Battery 3 - and checked the options to create a midi source, track folder, and tracks for each available output.

Then, I loaded up my custom kit and assigned each appropriate track input to the correct kit stereo output channel, and set up reasonable levels.

Then, I saved the whole thing as a Project template, and specify it when I want a new project that uses that kit.

I can then tweak whatever I need to, but at least I have a pretty good starting place.

Hope that helps - there are probably several other ways to do things - this is just something I came up that works for my little bitty brain.

Bob Bone