Confusion regarding Mdrummer

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I thought I had all my Mdrummer issues sorted out but apparently not. This could be due to my misunderstanding the operation of said plugin. Anyway, here's the issue I have using midi triggering. If I place a break at C# at the start of a bar followed by a groove at D on the next bar, Mdrummer will start the groove on C# for one bar before switching to D (I often use grooves that are 2 bars long). Yes, the midi has been quantized. Does the break need 2 bars to complete or should it switch immediately to the groove when it sees the groove midi note?

Thanks.
d.

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So I went back and watched the tutorials and noticed that the groove notes and break notes are triggered by the same note in each section (e.g. verse). So you can't have a groove triggered by a C followed by a break triggered by a D? The break needs to be C as well? Also, if the groove is 2 bars long and you then trigger a break for 1 bar followed by a new groove trigger on the next bar with a different note, will it ignore this new note until it's finished 2 bars? I can see ways to work around this but just wondering about the parameters. The tutorials do not go into these specifics.

Thanks.
d.

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I'd suggest checking the documentation:

https://www.meldaproduction.com/downloa ... tation.pdf

I generally quite don't understand much of what you wrote, and everything should be explained on pages 4-8.
Vojtech
MeldaProduction MSoundFactory MDrummer MCompleteBundle The best plugins in the world :D

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I did check out the documentation but don't see this specific question addressed anywhere there. This is probably best explained with an example.

Say I create a verse and start with a groove triggered by C in the groove octave (C0 in Reaper). On the 4th bar I want a short break. Does this short break need to be triggered by a C (in the short break octave - C1) as well or could I trigger it with a different note (e.g. D1) if I wanted more complexity. Or is the best method to leave the short break as C1 and use velocity to trigger a more complex break?

Also, if my groove loop is 2 bars long, does it need to complete these 2 bars before it will start a new loop. For example, if I trigger a 2 bar loop with a C but then want more complexity on the next bar and add a D, will it cut the initial loop off after the first bar and start the new loop triggered by the D or will it ignore the D until the initial loop has finished the 2 bars?

Hope this makes it clearer.

Thanks.
d.

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You can trigger breaks from any key in the octave. This issue may have something to do with how you have your advanced parameters set in the rhythm editor. Click the 'Additional' tab. If you're using the pure MIDI input method, turn off Random Loops. Then expand the Advanced tab. You want Automatic Breaks off. Jam Mode off. Sequencer Mode is hit or miss here, but try it both on and off. Perfect Sync seems to me to have no effect whatsoever on anything.
In the Rhythm Generator, click the Advanced Settings tab. This is where you decide what style of loops, breaks, intros and outros you want. If you have Random Cut-Off ON, the breaks will not necessarily play for the full length of the break. For example, you might get 3 bars of a loop, then another half bar before MD plays the last half of a break. It lends to the realisiticity. If this setting is OFF, it will play 3 bars of a loop, then one full bar break. I prefer to have it cut off if it wants to, kinda like a real drummer.
So, technically, you should be able to drop notes wherever you want in reaper's MIDI editor, and MD should do what you want him to do.
With Sequencer Mode on, he'll play a break and then keep playing it indefinitely until you stop the thing. Try to turn off sequencer Mode, make sure Random Loops is off, and don't let it play automatic breaks.

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Thanks edkilp. That's very helpful. I've played with a few of those settings but not all. I will investigate this further.

Cheers.
d.

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Sorry I can't be more helpful. I bought this program 2 years ago, and it really is deep and confusing and there's a lot of trial and error involved. One more thing is that when you generate your loops and breaks, if you look at the Short Breaks in the Rhythm Editor, there are no breaks on the C, D, or E notes. I don't know how MD handles commands to play a break where there are no breaks, but maybe that's causing something to go off the rails for you.

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dayvyg,
A break following a groove can be on any break key.
A two bar groove can be interrupted by a break...the groove doesn't have to complete.

I think your problems might be due to where your play cursor is positioned when you hit play.
Say your drawn notes fill a whole bar and your cursor is not set to snap to bar lines...you rewind...the cursor ends up anywhere in the bar...hit play..MD starts from where the cursor is and stays out of sync..turn on perfect sync...MD starts out of sync but gets back in sync quickly.

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Thanks for the input edkilp and goldglob.

Some of this stuff I've noticed (not every note has a loop associated with it by default and play cursor position). I haven't played with the advanced options much though. I will tackle it tonight again and heed your advice and see how things go.

Thanks again. I appreciate your help. It is indeed a very deep program. Getting there though. :)

d.

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dayvyg,
just thinking out loud, the number of non-empty loopboxes in a rhythm purely depends on how many you put there, either by editing manually, or with generator advanced settings (note that 'fill base rhythm boxes only' only applies to beats, not breaks etc, and overides the number of 'beat loop boxes' you set in this panel).

If you enter a note in DAW midi editor but MD has nothing in that keyboard loopbox, he will play whatever is in the nearest box BUT at the LEVEL of the entered box!
If there are non-empty loopboxes equidistant from the entered note (above and below) MD chooses the one above.

So all of this should not be relevant to your problem, but SOMETHING WEIRD:

I was just mucking about with this and was suddenly experiencing your problem..something to do with having an 'empty loopbox' groove note in DAW editor playing the nearest non-empty loopbox, fine, but THEN, dragging that note in the editor to another 'empty loopbox' groove note ...uh oh...the next break came in a bar late! Moving that first note somehow confused MD..like he somehow was clinging onto the old info and needed to make an extra computation thus missing the break trigger. Thing is, after a computer restart I can't reproduce this!?

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Hmmm..., yes strange. I'm going to muck around with it tonight and see where I get.

Thanks.
d.

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Well, I thought I had a working method for Mdrummer but I'm back to where I was. Fills are coming in a bar late. This happens in both Reaper and Mixbus. The midi data has been quantized. I've made sure I haven't placed any midi notes on notes that don't have loops attached to them. I've turned automatic breaks, random loops, and jam mode off, enabled and disabled perfect sync and sequencer mode. I've also tried random cut-off both on and off. Whatever I try, the fill comes in a bar late.

Any other Reaper users (using latest version 5.15) having success with this. It shouldn't be this much of a pain. Not sure whether it's Mdrummer or the daws. I'd really like to be able to use this reliably but that's definitely not the case. Any suggestions welcome.

d.

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Just a long shot....make sure Song Mode is not enabled...weird things can happen if you muck about with Song Mode then stop the song with space bar then leave that screen then focus on your DAW editor, moving cursor and starting play with spacebar...MD will still play Song Mode rather than what's in your DAW editor. Song Mode's cursor relates to DAW cursor, Song Mode's bar 1 is DAW bar 1. Depending on where your DAW arrange starts in the timeline, you could well be hearing Song Mode's break a bar later than your DAW break. And bear in mind that if you have saved a 'song' in MD (which is the way to save everything at once), the Song enabled/not enabled status will be saved and subsequently loaded.

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Hadn't considered that so I checked but it's not enabled. I've never used it. Thanks anyway.

d.

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Hmmm...., seems it may just be imported loops that are causing this behaviour. The loops native to Mdrummer appear to be triggering at the appropriate time. This may be a silly question but these loops (groove monkee, loop loft, smart loops) come in various formats. I imported general midi, type 0 I think. Should I be using a different format - type 1 for example?

Thanks.
d.

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