Topic: Drum Maps

Ok the tutorial is ready now 8)

I already have it as a .doc file but I need to get into the WIKI. I can get into the playground and that seems ok but how do I add it to the existing tutorials Frits? Or does it need to go somewhere else?

I suggest the WIKI as the text is about 4 – 5 pages. It will be a very long post here on the forum otherwise. 8)

As for the project I have deleted tracks and made many changes so there is not much left to send you but I could create a Stylus project with a drum map quickly so you have something to see. Is that helpful Frits? ❓

@Zynewave wrote:

Edit the main tutorials page in the wiki, and create a new line at the bottom similar to the existing tutorials. Something like:

Drum map editing\

When you have saved the page, you can then click the link which brings you to a new blank page. Edit this page and enter your tutorial.

Cheers that was a great help! 🙂

The “tutorials:drum_map:” bit is what Dokuwiki calls namespaces, which is similar to folders. It means you can upload images and other stuff in the drum_map namespace without worrying about file name conflicts with other tutorials.

So that’s why.

Don’t bother. Let’s see the tutorial first 🙂

Hee hee…it’s up and ready for reading on the WIKI…very interested in feedback from everyone!

http://www.zynewave.com/wiki/doku.php?id=tutorials:drum_map:index

Please let me know as well Frits if something needs changing as I can always edit the page. 😉

I have some things I noted down on post it notes while I was making the tutorial.

I will put them together and post them here tomorrow. It’s just some feedback on drum maps in Podium in general that I think you would be interested to read. 8)

I must say it was quite fun putting the tutorial together, even though it took a bit longer than I thought it would, I guess I really just wanted to help out so apologies to everyone in advance if anything in the tutorial is not 100% accurate (although I fully expect it to be) 😆

@Zynewave wrote:

Very nice. Thanks for the contribution.

Thanks! Happy to help 🙂

Some comments:

You mention in several places that you can right click below the last track to create a new track, and then either double-click a mapping or drag it to the track. Maybe it would be good to mention the shortcut; that you can drag a mapping below the last track to create a new track assigned with the mapping in one go.

Yes, good idea I have added this to the tutorial now. 😉

You describe that the 1+2 mapping matches “Output A” in the plugin, 3+4 matches “Output B” etc. It may be a useful addition to the tutorial to describe that you can rename the mappings so their name matches those used in the plugin. Right click the “StylusRMX (#1) Out 1+2” mapping, select “Properties”, rename to “StylusRMX (#1) Output A” etc. A small note describing that the (#1) refers to the plugin instance number may also avoid some confusion.

All good and I totally agree…I added your suggestions here as well to the tutorial. 8)

Seing the images in your tutorial has given me a clue to your problems with plugin settings not being saved without a library preset. It seems that the plugin import did not create the “Local Bank” library preset. This would otherwise automatically be assigned to the track when you assign the first Stylus mapping to a track.

I have modified the tutorial now, so it is probably better if you have another look at the changes as it may answer your question. I removed the reference to a New Program Library preset as it is an uneccessary additional step, as Stylus has a default Program preset assigned to it’s first 1+2 Output mapping when it is dragged to the arrange view anyway.

I thought that a Library preset would be better as I assumed it would allow me to save the kit for use in other projects which is not possible in Podium, so I have re written all references to creating a New Library preset and replaced it with instructions on how to modify the default Program 1 preset (that Podium assigns to Stylus) into a drum kit instead. I added an image to illustrate this.

The image with your stylus mapping shows no assigned preset. Could it be that you started this tutorial project using an old project created before the new “Local Bank” preset system was implemented?

Which image are you referring to? I have changed one of them this morning after reading your post.

I’m considering adding a “Create Drum-Kit Template” command to the preset panel menu. This would replace the need for opening the properties panel and clicking “Use preset as a drum kit”.

Yes please I think that will simplify things. 8)

The problem with the the way you do it, is that you convert the preset used to store the plugin settings to a drum-kit. This means you can only assign this preset to one track. This would be a problem if you wanted to use multiple tracks with the separate MIDI channel mappings.

Agreed. This is one of the observations I came across while putting together this tutorial but the process described in the tutorial is perfectly suitable for drum programming when a user wants to use one midi track to build up his drums but still hear each drum sound (Kick, Snare e.t.c) on a different output. 😉

Having a kit template preset that does not store plugin settings means you can assign it to any number of tracks. I do this with the drumatic plugin in the Freebees example project.

I’ll take a closer look at that. 8)

Your description of how to save the drum kit preset to avoid going through the setup of the kit again in the future is not possible unfortunately. As I mentioned in an earlier post, saving to a VST preset does not store information about the kit customization you make in Podium. VST preset files only stores the settings provided by the plugin.

Correct, I have fully updated the tutorial now. 😉

I have now added the “Create Drum Kit Template” command to the preset panel menu. This should simplify/remove some of the steps in your tutorial. Will appear in 1.75.

1. There is a need to refresh certain views before a drum map appears within Podium.

I’ll try to hunt this down.

Selecting a key range in Program properties will *not* remove unwanted notes in a drum map. I tried this and it made no difference at all. What am I doing wrong?

Nothing. The drum kit preset only decides the visual layout of the drum map editor. Changing the kit presets will not affect the note sequence, and I think it would be undesirable if it did. The note sequence may be used in other places and with other drum kit presets. The way to do it is to use the list editor as you mentioned.

This should simplify/remove some of the steps in your tutorial.

Actually as you are currently working on this I thought I might as well ask a few questions about it and share some thoughts…

You said “simplify some steps”

Does this mean any of the following…?

1. Editing of drum names / unwanted notes can now be done in the Preset panel in the Inspector?

and /or

2. A drum template can be saved and used in any other Project?

I am just asking now, to try and possibly discuss a few changes / suggestions (if you are happy with them) as you are currently working on this area of Podium. 😉

@Zynewave wrote:

1: No, not yet.

Thats Ok, at least you said “not yet” 🙂

2: Not as a shortcut in the preset panel. You can use the browser window to locate the drum kit preset, and then use the export file command.

Ok I’ll try this out. 😉 At least the file or preset can now be exported! Thanks for that, it will be very useful 8)

I’m about to release 1.75, so I’m not working in this area any longer. I’d like to get back to audio features.

That’s cool, further expanding Podiums audio features sounds good to me. 😉

Cheers Frits!

Hello Conquistador!

Thanks for your drum-map tutorial!

I have gone through it, and I think I now understand most of it, but in truth I must tell you it raised more questions for me than it answered. 🙂

Now this was a good thing in itself. I realized that I needed to have at least a minimum of knowledge about things like Global versus Insert plugin mode, and the function of the different mappings in the device list etc.

In the process I also gained some insight into the various panels, browsers and lists, in which all this information is displayed. I also learned that there is much to learn in Podium… 🙂

Now, as for the drum-maps, the way I understand it from your conversations in the drum-map and 1.75-thread, there is at the moment no practically useful way of saving and re-using drum-maps in other projects?

I did find the “Export file” menu item in the “old standard browser” but that was for saving project files, so I’m not sure how to use that.

Another kind of weird thing (well, perhaps it seems weird to me because I don’t understand it). I discovered that if I right-click on one of the drumkit note-names in the Preset panel, I can then open yet another “Drum preset properties” dialog, where it is possible to set “Use as drumkit”.

In other words I can create drumkits within drumkits ad infinitum, or so it seems. Which is sort of mind-boggling… 😯

Anyway, thanks for the tutorial, which gave a newbie like me the impulse to dive a little deeper.

/SQ