EZDrummer and midi controller?

[Pete Cleary]

Can you recommend an inexpensive and easy to use midi usb keyboard/drum pad that I can use (compatible) with EZDrummer2? I want to create my own patterns and using the mouse to “hit” the drums is not very easy. Not sure if I am using the correct terminology. I’m not very “midi literate” so I don’t know what I should look for. Trying to keep it under $100 if possible. Will the Korg nanoPAD2 work with it? Do I need to “re-map” anything?
Help.

Topic

[spyder]

I just got the Korg nanoPad2 for $60 from Sweetwater for your exact reason. Even though I properly downloaded, before install, the driver, I couldn’t get any sound out of the EZ Drummer application. (thinking this was all ‘plug and play’)

#1) Under the ‘Menu’ drop down(upper right corner) I selected ‘Settings’, then the ‘E-Drums’ tab, then Midi Mapping from ‘None’ to ‘Other’.

#2) Go to Settings(between File and Help)(upper left corner) , select ‘Audio/Midi Setup, then “MIDI Device’. You should see your nanoPad listed there, but you MUST check the box to enable it, by default it’s UNCHECKED. Closed and reopened EZ and now I get drum sounds(Latin Percussion in my case).

My next challenge is to properly ‘MAP’ the touch pads to all the percussion instruments, in order of use, from left to right on the touch pads. There are sixteen(16) pads so I will need to MAP the most used(Congas, Bongos, Cymbals) to the least used(shakers, bells, etc) with Scene 1 being the most used, then tap the Scene 2 button for the least used so I can use all the percussion instruments in the Latin Percussion add on.

If anyone reading this has done this, it would be helpful to know how it’s done in a simply, easy procedure. I’ve done a search on the topic here, but didn’t find anything. But if you have a link to the process, that would be great.

Thanks~!

[Olof Westman]

#1) You should not do that. You don’t have an E-drum kit.
And even if you had an E-kit you still wouldn’t use this feature
since it deals with drum kits and you are going to use
Latin Percussion.

#2) Yes, you have to choose what MIDI controller to use, once.
Makes more sense when you have more than one controller.

>My next challenge is to properly ‘MAP’ the touch pads…

Yes, this is the real challenge. Be sure to open up the MIDI Layout
document for Latin Percussion. You will find it in the top right hand
corner Menu: About Sound Libraries>Latin Percussion>MIDI Layout.

Olof Westman - Toontrack
Coder

[spyder]

Thank you very much for the quick response Olof~!

I’ve gone back and corrected #1 and printed out the MIDI Layout chart and the nanoPAD Editor manual.

The nanoPAD has four(4) scenes of sixteen(16 pads) each meaning the maximum assignments to the Latin Percussion Drums would be Sixty-Four(64), yes?

I’ve searched for any step by step documented process for this and haven’t found anything at all. But if I can figure out how to do one, then I’ll be able to do all the others. I’ve also posted on the Korg Forum, but no response at this time. Could it be that I’m the only one that has tried to MAP Latin Percussion instruments to a nanoPAD? Which I find very unlikely but possible, yes?

We will continue the experiment and update this thread as we try to work this configuration.

Ciao’

[spyder]

Reply to myself:

I just found this on the Korg Site:

nanoPAD/Template Data for Toontrack EZX LATIN PERCUSSION

http://www.korg.com/us/support/download/software/1/253/1367/

[spyder]

Reply to myself:

Korg Editor v1.7.0.11; EZ Drummer 2.1.1 64 Bit. with Latin Percussion pack.

***Settings–>, Midi Events–>MIDI Program Change–>Checked ‘Allow MIDI Program Change’, Click ‘OK’. Closed and Reopened.

Attached is a screen shot of both the Editor and the LP GUI. As you can see, I have selected an ‘Empty Set’, opened the Tambourine, the ‘key=C0’; ‘note=24′(as downloaded and printed out for my reference, the keyboard layout) assigned to PAD #1, scene #1. Now when I tap that PAD, the Tambourine doesn’t sound, the UDU does. You can visually see ‘the trigger'(as you press the pad) on the UDU. So I know the nanoPAD is passing the commands to the application. I should be able to simply assign one PAD to one Drum, using either the “key” or ‘note’ setting since they are one in the same.

Do I have a setting wrong somewhere?

Should I put this issue in other category in the Forum to get a faster response?

Thanks for the support.

[Scott]

I believe it has something to do with Korg using a different octave for middle C than Toontrack. For example, C1 on the Korg is C0 for Toontrack.

Scott Sibley - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[spyder]

More settings information:

Tambourine: Scene 1, Pad 1.

Latin Percussion Detailed View:

Articulations—>Key
Open Hit C0—-Middle ‘C’ on the EZX LP Keyboard Layout Diagram
Midi In C#1

Articulations—>Note
Open Hit 24—-Middle ‘C” on the EZX LP Keyboard Layout Diagram
Midi In 37

We selected ‘C1′ in the Korg Editor with negative result. We also tried both ’24’ & ’37’ under the “Control’ and “Program Change’ drop downs with negative results.
We also tried using the attached Touch Scale(with the TS button enabled) diagram from Korg to map C2/36 to C6/84, ascending and descending with negative results.

So I’m thinking, I can’t be the FIRST person to try to map a simple Tambourine to Scene 1, Pad 1 on a Korg nanoPAD? If I can get that one to work, we’ll be able to do all the other selected instruments one by one and customize the entire percussion set.

Thanks for the support~!

[Scott]

For some companies, they use middle ‘C’ as C4. For some companies, they use C4 as MIDI note 72. Toontrack does this.

Some companies, like Korg, use C4 as MIDI note 60.

I have a Korg PadKontrol kicking around and I just fired it up. It triggers C4 as note 60 instead of C4 note 72.

Now, this is a Korg PadKontrol and not a nanopad so I’m not sure what else I can add.

Scott Sibley - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[Pete Cleary]

I’ve been following this thread and have been thinking about getting the Korg nanoPad2. I’m not so sure about it since it looks to be a battle to get it right. I’d be using it with EZDrummer 2. I don’t know where to begin to look to set up the pad mappings correctly. There are a lot of different drum kits available to use. Would I need to do this pad mapping for each drum kit?

[spyder]

@Pete Cleary said:

I’ve been following this thread and have been thinking about getting the Korg nanoPad2. I’m not so sure about it since it looks to be a battle to get it right. I’d be using it with EZDrummer 2. I don’t know where to begin to look to set up the pad mappings correctly. There are a lot of different drum kits available to use. Would I need to do this pad mapping for each drum kit?

Thanks for following the thread Pete,

What I’m doing is trying something ‘a little different’.

I using the straight ahead EZ Drummer 2 Yamaha 9000 kit that comes ‘standard’ (with the Gretch and DW kits) in the basic installation to lay down a wide variety of drum tracks just to make some basic home recordings and that’s fine, it works GREAT for that type of situation. There’s enough of those samples(ballad, halftime, etc) to satisfy my situation for a long, long time. I don’t use any PAD mapping, I just select a style, tempo, intros, add fills, etc, and let it rip. (Recording into Ableton Live).

And I also added the Latin Percussion EZX Expansion pack. And for that, there are a lot of varieties there too. BUT when I’d like to add JUST my own tambourine, cymbals, shakers, etc, I need a PAD, not a Mouse Click, to trigger those with just my finger, old school drum machine style. See where I’m going here? In other words, across the top 8 pads of the nanoPAD, have those arranged left to right. Shaker, Tambourine, Bells, Cowbell, Chimes, Vibraslap, Woodblock, and Triangle and so on…

At this point we’re still working on how to get that done. And Tech Support is giving some valuable feedback as we work the issue since we’ve not run out of ideas yet…

Hope this helps explain what’s going on here at my end.

Ciao’

[spyder]

Update: So after hitting dead end after dead end and exhausting what little I knew about midi channel/note mapping using the Korg Editor and the Latin Percussion software and other support documents, etc. And not getting any feedback that would solve my configuration problem, as I experimented(explained above) over several days here on the forum on a subject I found, at least a little bit, interesting. I gave up…

But not really. What I decided to do and have uploaded is the Basic nanoPAD2 to Latin Percussion pad assignments as I found going thru every pad(16) and scene(4). Overall a lot of Conga and Cajon. MIssing from the list are the Shekere, Caxixi and Conga 2. So this final result is just plugging the nanoPAD in, enabling it and tapping the pads one by one. If anyone has gotten a different result, I’d really like to know. (Tech Support might want to file this away for future reference, just a suggestion)

Ciao’

PS- Missing from this entire Latin Percussion set of instruments is CLAVES
Why or how Toontrack forgot to record and add these is beyond me, it truly boggles my mind.
These two sticks literally define this type and style of music and the patterns played.
If anyone reads this please, please, please record a pair and put then in the next update~!

[Patrick Wilson]

What if your midi controller is not listed, Im not worried about mapping, I can handle that. In my case I have a Korg padKontrol.
Do I choose Generic since mines not listed? Thanks!

[John]

Hi,

I have a KORG padKONTROL and I don’t use any E-drum mapping, just the Default mapping and I only have made some small adjustments to my Scene in the padKONTROL.

BR,
John

John Rammelt - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[Patrick Wilson]

Then it must be in my pro tools settings, korg padkontrol is listed, its probably some small setting in peripherals.
Ive got it hooked up usb. #frustrating……….

[John]

Well,

check your MIDI Thru settings and if Thru Defaults to rec-armed track or first selected.

Do you have another MIDI Controller that works as expected?

BR,
John

John Rammelt - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

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