MeldaProduction

edkilp · Post by **edkilp** » Mon Sep 01, 2014 1:03 pm

Hmmmm....So, I have my various loops in the loop boxes. My subtle changes are working and sounding lovely when I have Random Loops selected. This is great for the verse and chorus beats, but I don't want my breaks to be random. I want to control them. Is there any way to have the grooves play randomly and still have midi velocity control over the breaks, intros, outros and long breaks??

BTW, I received a new .exe from Aerodrums, and MD now works great! I can now sit and air drum and use my MD drum kits! Happy day here!

MeldaProduction · Post by **MeldaProduction** » Mon Sep 01, 2014 2:48 pm

Hmmm, not sure, I thought you'd create a dedicated rhythm for these "things"

. Anyway when random loops are not selected, you can still control beats by velocity, right?

goldglob · Post by **goldglob** » Mon Sep 01, 2014 3:14 pm

Ed...for the breaks, intros, (etc), you could just have one loop (the one you want) in the loop index panel. Then even with random loops on, MD will just play that one loop for that loopbox.
Taking this further, if you (say) definitely want just one composed (say) intro, you only need one intro loopbox (with one loop in it). And for beats, you can still have lots of loopboxes with lots of loops inside each.
I've noticed that the factory rhythms usually have just one loop in the beats loopboxes and several loops in the breaks (etc) loopboxes which makes sense for most styles but I like to put lots of loops in the beats loopboxes to get an improvised jazz feel to jam with.

BTW, so with Aerodrums, playing with a click track, are you really not feeling latency?

edkilp · Post by **edkilp** » Mon Sep 01, 2014 3:16 pm

I did create dedicated rhythms for verses, choruses. The fills (breaks) are fine and I have no need (yet) to edit them or create my own. Now when I select Random Loops, the verses/choruses randomly switch between the loops I created, which is perfect. But when it comes time to play a break, it plays random breaks, and I want to tell MD which breaks to play using my velocity levels. Seems like I'm asking for the best of both worlds here, which would be to have the ability to tell MD to play random loops, random breaks,and random long breaks. Intros and outros I think are fine as is. After all, there's only one intro and one outro per song, so that can easily be set with velocity.

Of course, after my loops (beats) are created and added to the loop box, I can just set the velocity all over the place and let them play semi-randomly.

Maybe it's possible to have a velocity of 0 tell MD to play random loops, and all other velocities trigger the loops/breaks as they do now? If I have sequencer mode on, and I put a groove with a velocity of 0, it would continue to play randomly through the beats I created in that particular loop box. If there's a point where I want a particular beat to play, i can just set the velocity to trigger that beat. Then insert another beat at the next measure, give it a velocity of 0 and let it continue to play randomly through that loop box. Just a thought.

edkilp · Post by **edkilp** » Mon Sep 01, 2014 3:28 pm

goldglob wrote:
BTW, so with Aerodrums, playing with a click track, are you really not feeling latency?

No latency whatsoever. And they are very responsive. You can set the sensitivity as well as filter out midi notes below a certain velocity, which eliminates unwanted hits, such as inadvertently dragging your stick over the tom on your way back to the hi hat. And believe me, that happens! I definitely made the right choice when I bought Aerodrums, and MD is the most amazing drum program I own.

I have several kits in MD that I just love, and now that the guys at Aerodrums fixed me up, I can open Aerodrums and play all my MD kits.

My struggle with drums has been a nightmare. I absolutely despise clicking this crap in with a mouse, and we all know what a pain it is to sift through hundreds if not more MIDI clips, looking for something that is even close to what we are hearing in our head. MD eliminates the MIDI-sifting, and the depth of the customizing that we can do can really get us close to a real-sounding drum track. But for some songs, and I mean simple songs, just playing the beats with Aerodrums and tweaking a little after is even faster than MD.

As I mentioned before, I'm not a drummer, and there are lots of drummer moves that I just can't do. For that stuff, I'll create it in MD. After all these years, I think I hit on a winning combination! MD with Aerodrums has solved 90% of my drum issues. Aerodrums also spits out plain old MIDI, so even if i don't like the breaks in MD, I can still drag a MIDI fill into Reaper from say, my EZ Drummer MIDI files. Very versatile, and I highly recommend Aerodrums. The two together are as close to the Holy Grail of drumming as I've been able to find!

goldglob · Post by **goldglob** » Mon Sep 01, 2014 3:55 pm

Ed..I like your zero velocity idea.
BTW, strictly speaking, the sequencer mode has nothing to do with midi command method. It's only relevant when auditioning in the editor. Midi command method overrides the sequencer mode and automatic breaks buttons (but random loops button is still valid).

Wow, Aerodrums sounds incredible.

And re MDrummer..I've never owned any of the other software drum programs but I have checked out a lot of drum samples in my time and I think MD's sounds are great. But where MD leads the pack is in it's depth and functionality of course. (And hey, you can bring any samples you want into it.)

edkilp · Post by **edkilp** » Mon Sep 01, 2014 4:18 pm

If I have sequencer mode on, breaks will be followed by the beats continuing. If sequencer mode is off, once you get to a break, the break will continue to play over and over. Until you insert another beat.

goldglob · Post by **goldglob** » Mon Sep 01, 2014 4:52 pm

Yes, I can see now that what you say is correct. I'd never actually tested that with midi commands because my usual workflow is indeed to insert another beat straight after a break, making the sequencer mode setting irrelevant.

Simon Posford · Post by **Simon Posford** » Mon Sep 01, 2014 6:20 pm

goldglob wrote:
BTW, so with Aerodrums, playing with a click track, are you really not feeling latency?

Latetency is all about you're soundcard if you play with vsti.
And zero latency don't exist with souncard yet :p i don't speak for rack stuff like pro Tools etc...
but beetween 2 & 3 ms it's really playable it's the standard for pro soundcard.

goldglob · Post by **goldglob** » Mon Sep 01, 2014 6:35 pm

Simon Posford wrote:
goldglob wrote:
BTW, so with Aerodrums, playing with a click track, are you really not feeling latency?
Latetency is all about you're soundcard if you play with vsti.
And zero latency don't exist with souncard yet :p i don't speak for rack stuff like pro Tools etc...
but beetween 2 & 3 ms it's really playable it's the standard for pro soundcard.

I was wondering about latency other that that. For example, midi guitar pickups have a latency of their own. But I guess because Aerodrums is using camera recognition, and speed of light being faster than speed of sound, latency is not an issue here. Very tempting I must say.

Simon Posford · Post by **Simon Posford** » Mon Sep 01, 2014 6:39 pm

Yes but at the finale stage you're vsti/computer 'll need to play the sound so latency occur anyway for anything live in Audio a good pro soundcard is almost essential.

goldglob · Post by **goldglob** » Mon Sep 01, 2014 6:56 pm

Simon Posford wrote:Yes but at the finale stage you're vsti/computer 'll need to play the sound so latency occur anyway for anything live in Audio a good pro soundcard is almost essential.

Absolutely.

edkilp · Post by **edkilp** » Mon Sep 01, 2014 7:29 pm

Let me say it again, Simon. I can play Aerodrums with absolutely NO audible latency. The absolute millisecond I hit a drum, the sound is in my ears. I have a Line6 UX2 audio interface, and I use the Line6 ASIO drivers. There is no audible latency. I'm sure if you want to get super-technical, then yes, somewhere among all the 1's and 0's there must be some latency. But I don't hear it. And that goes for everything I have here. I hear no latency with drums, bass, guitars, nothing. It would be impossible to play drums with any kind of prescision if there was latency. I really am playing Aerodrums in real time.

Goldglob, ignore the detractors! It's a fantastic program, and if your computer is less than 4 years old or so, you should have no issues.

One more thing; Reaper tells me that my audio interface is performing at 5ms/10ms latency. It's extremely negligible, even at that. 2 to 3 ms latency is completely inaudible. I'm saying that it's inaudible on my system at 5/10ms. I can use WASAPI drivers as well, and still get negligible latency.

Simon Posford · Post by **Simon Posford** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 6:38 am

I have 2.9 ms latency and i hear/feel it but the musician auto adjust his playing in this case.
I have tested with the onboard sound of my clavier with it's own hp together with the others hp plugged to my soundcard and a very little echo occur.

edkilp · Post by **edkilp** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 8:07 am

I don't auto adjust anything, sir. I just play, and the latency is a non-factor. I don't know what you're referring to when you say hp.

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