EZDrummer and Toontrack Solo feat request MIDI LEARN

[ProDigit]

Hi,

I’ve demoed EZDrummer 1.1.1 with toontrack solo 1.2.2, and with the Roland HD-1.
I really loved the program, it works great out of the box.

But found one thing missing on this tested soft, namely a midi mapper software, or ‘MIDI learn’ feat.
I don’t know if any future updates perhaps already cover this issue but I’ll write my request anyways.

The thing is, the main drums (pop/rock) is really a great set, with 2 crash cymbals, and a ride.
The HD-1 (as well as many other kits) only has 2 cymbals. One is set to ride, the other to crash.

Depending on the situation I would want my crash to trigger be the left or the right crash (or perhaps trigger it to another sound like a rimshot or bell sound).
Also in situations like drumkit from hell, or the Latin percussion, it would be nice to be able to set which instruments I would want to hear. Being rather limited in hardware, I am not able to create my own drumset; with all the percussion available in these 2 drumsets most samples are left without a trigger pad.

In situations like with the Cocktail drumset, 2 of my 3 toms are addressed to the same tom (because the software drums only has 2 toms).
It would be nice if I could address one of the toms to a bell sound or something… And since the HD1 only has single zone pads, I am never able to sound a bell on a cymbal.

This is not to bash your program, but simply bring up the topic of perhaps allowing users with smaller and cheaper drumsets to access all parts of the purchased software!

I thought of 3 ways to solve this problem:

1- have each drum mapped in an .ini file, so the user can edit this ini file to change triggers or rout midi commands. This is for advanced users, is harder to do and slow.

2- Have some sort of ‘midi learn’ command. Most software has a rightclick function (eg rightclick on the center or rim of the cymbals and have a menu popping up saying ‘midi learn’ or something.
the first midi command triggered from the midi console will be accepted as the new midi trigger.

3- OR have a small software app added to rerout midi commands. This is more complex to achieve.

I think the second option is the most viable option.

If you guys could implement this feat, I will buy my own version of EZdrummer, as it would have anything I’d ever need!
I personally found this the ONLY major thing missing in EZDrummer.

Any thoughts on this?
Is this already implemented with later versions of EZDrummer?

Thank you!

Topic

[Dave Modisette]

Superior Drummer 2 has the midi learn feature.  You might want to investigate that product as it was targeted more toward what you are trying to do. 

Dave Modisette www.gatortraks.com www.plasticsamerica.com http://www.gatortraks.com/forum

[ProDigit]

It is also more expensive, and has many feats I don’t really need… :/

[Scott]

I’m not saying that your FR is invalid but, as Dave pointed out, Superior Drummer 2 was designed with e-drum support in mind whilst EZdrummer has very, very limited e-drum support, and that only with Toontrack Solo as host using the ‘E-drum’ controller preset.

Scott Sibley - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[ProDigit]

So, it’s a Toontrack solo issue, or an Ezdrummer VST issue?

I don’t think that it’s THAT hard to implement a midi learn, or a way to re-rout midi signals.
I don’t think that EZdrummer is endangering the sales of superior drummer that much. People who are really serious about drumming should go for superior drumming. And I find instead of using a preset drumkit, I’d probably prefer if superior drummer mainly focuses on selecting your own drumkit from samples taken from a variety of cymbals (eg: Zildjan, Paiste, Sabian, etc…) . Ezdrummer mainly focuses on a few preset drumkits with limited space to modify or adjust. I’m not saying that Ezdrummer should get into Superior drummer territory. All I’m saying is that it isn’t fair that people who purchased Ezdrummer, and can’t access all samples because they don’t have a sophisticated controller should be punished over people who do.

Meaning, basskick should remain basskick, regardless of which edrums you connect to them as midi controller (Roland, Alesis, or Yamaha, Yoki or Simmons,…). But if a hardware kit only has 2 cymbals and 3 toms, I find it more than normal if the e-kit has 2 toms and 3 cymbals, that one of the toms will be replaced with a cymbal, instead of using the same sample for 2 toms (and thus wasting a pad).

Superiordrummer is great! but not everyone likes the advanced-ness of it!
I just want to control a great pop kit like in EzDrummer, and have limited flexibility on it.

[John]

It is not an “issue”, it is by design.
If MIDI Learn would be implemented it would defeat a great deal of the EZ concept and open up a can of worms. Please remember that an EZdrummer expansion is sounds and MIDI.
Can you imagine how the Support Tickets would increase if EZdrummer users easily could change the MIDI layout and destroy compatibility with the supplied MIDI?

You are of course entitled to Feature Requests but I just want to explain why I doubt it would happen in the foreseeable future.

Best Regards,
John

John Rammelt - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[ProDigit]

Well, I doubt about that…
I think that if there’s a small program running in toontrack solo, in between the incoming midi messages and EZdrummer, that could just change midi notes (eg: C4 to G4) that it would do nothing to the functionality of the program. At most you’d be introducing a latency of less than a tenth of a millisecond on modern computers.

Kind of like a midi rerouter. If you look at MidiOx, which I might test with toontrack Solo in the near future, remapping midi goes very easy.
The default always is NO remapping. from there you could remap, and save that preset as a patch, which you can load up.

It would do absolutely NOTHING to EZdrummer in terms of programming, as the MIDI mapper is chained before the incoming midi commands in the plugin.
In toontrack solo perhaps some programming need to be done, to run a small app. Midi remapping does not require a powerful computer. Any computer can remap midi on the fly (downto the 32Mhz ones of the late 1980’s), because it’s just changing a text and a number digit to another one; so it’s definitely not a problem on most modern computers.
If programmed well, there will be no perceived latency issues neither.

I understand not building this in EZdrummer, but perhaps in toontrack Solo?
That’d allow for previous EZDrummer plugins to be compatible, and not require them to change.

And since toontrack Solo is made for live drumming,I think the midi remapping feat fits more there, than within the easy drummer plugin.

[Author]

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