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Drum Rack question

Submitted by handyman on Thu, 01/31/2019 - 09:11
handyman
Control Surface Studio User

Hi. I spent a bit of time reading the old posts regarding drum racks, but I can't seem to get an answer that works for me (yet). Judging by what I have been reading, it looks like maybe drum racks aren't 'a thing' here (yet), but I don't know if things have changed with CSS.

Anyway, I assume that a drum rack is like any other rack, comprised of chains (as an example, for a simple 4x4 drum rack, there would be a total of sixteen chains) with each chain corresponding to a different 'pad'. For my 4x4 drum rack, I have sounds that all each have utilized all eight of their own macros to manipulate various aspect of that particular 'pad' (frequency, reso, etc.) - that is to say, each of the sixteen pads has it's unique eight macros that control that sound only, and I want access to each of those! Also, the drum rack itself has 8 macros.

What I am attempting to do is use my sixteen MFT buttons to select the corresponding "chain" from the drum rack, and I assumed that the chain numbering would be 1-16 (I think I am wrong on that assumption). My Drum Rack is on Track 1, and I am using the Chain Targeting command that I have set to Device 1(the drum rack) and for each button, I am incrementing the value of the chain (device 1; Chan 1 for C2; Device 1; Chain 2 for C#2, etc.). Now for each button of the MFT, I am using the Select Device command using the above Chain Targeting strategy - for example the bottom left most button is set to Select Device for the Device 1, Chain 1 all the way up to the top right button being Select Device command for Device 1, Chain 16. I am attempting this approach because I don't want to trigger a sound when pressing the button, I only want to 'open' to that sound with it's delicious corresponding macros. I haven't gotten there yet, but I also want to be able to use the bottom 8 encoders of the MFT to manipulate the 8 macros for that pad I am trying to select, and the top eight encoders to control the eight drum rack macros. I will want to work on figuring this out for myself, so try not to spoil that part for me! With respect to the buttons, of course, it hasn't really worked, but it kind of has. Two of the buttons worked: the bottom left button (1st pad or C2) and the forth row left-most 'pad' (13th pad or C3) both trigger a change, but none of the other buttons do. Interestingly, the 13th button activates the 5th pad and not the 13th pad, like I would assume. It leads me to believe that I am more or less on the right track, but that the numbering assignments for the chains is not right. Does anyone have any insight into this?

Thank you,

Greg

Topic Category: 

4 Responses

Comments

handyman
Control Surface Studio User
#1

Okay, to answer my own question, I realized that under the track setting, I had the 'Relative to Session Box' checked 'Yes', and when I changed this to 'No', then it began to work as I hoped (mostly). Now all buttons of my MFT are selecting the appropriate drum pad except for the bottom right two pads... but I think I will be able to sort out the problem on my own.

JohnC
Forum Admin
#2

Hi Greg,

Glad you were able to work this one out, was just reading through it now.
So are you using Device Select mappings to select specific Drum Pads?

handyman
Control Surface Studio User
#3

Yes. Each drum pad 1 thru 16 corresponds to chain 1 - 16 on the drum rack. So I used Track Mapping (with folded tracks included but not relative to session box), and under this, I used sixteen instances of Chain Targeting for Device 1 (Drum Rack) and chains 1 thru 16 and I use the Select Device mapping command for each pad. Then I run a 8x parameter bank for the 'Selected' device mapping each of the 8 parameters in the parameter bank 1 thru 8 for the macros.

Interestingly (to me anyway), If I run 9x parameter bank, the ninth parameter controls the position of Chain Select parameter on the Chain Select ruler in Live (just above the Zone Editor). I like this because I can insert a few chains of an identical sound for each drum pad (same sound each with some different effects), and place each chain along the zone editor and then rotary control the position of the position along the ruler with Parameter nine. It just gives me even more flexibility and allows me to have 'presets' for each drum pad sound dialled by the individual chain I inserted. Fun!

Greg

JohnC
Forum Admin
#4

I'm not entirely sure why parameter 9 would control the Zone Editor as you can map more than 8 Device Parameters (if they are available in your Device).
Maybe the first parameter which isn't linked to anything automatically becomes a Zone Editor Control but this is purely a guess!

Glad to hear that you're having fun with it!