Ion drum rocker midi question

[thefuzmixman]

I am considering purchasing this kit to use with Flstudio as a midi controller. At 300 bucks, it's incredibly cheap, velocity sensitive, and connects via USB. My question is can software emulate a midi connection so i can utilize the velocity information inside of Flstudio?

I know that Alesis makes a brain with midi capability, but I'm obviously on a budget.

Thanks

[thefuzmixman]

oops i made a mistake here.

[thefuzmixman]

After thinking about it, isn't all i need simply a midi I/O?

http://www.roland.com/products/en/UM-2G/index.html

You can find them so much cheaper then actually purchasing a module.

[Max Headroom]

I'm not 100% sure what you're trying to do with the ION Drum Rocker, but I'm going to try to answer your questions anyway.

First of all, MIDI is more than just a cable or I/O port. MIDI is kind of like a language used between two machines, but not all machines can speak that language. XBox360 and PS3 have their own special machine languages as well. These languages are different, and this is why you can't use an XBox360 controller for a PS3 and vice versa. It's also why you probably can't use the ION Rocker as a MIDI controller - because it probably doesn't speak MIDI at all.

The cable doesn't matter and adding a MIDI port won't help. (For the record, MIDI works fine over USB.) Think of it this way - what if you plugged that cable into a digital camera with a USB port? Would the camera suddenly become like a keyboard or drum set? No, because it doesn't speak MIDI.

So, in order for the drumkit to work as a MIDI controller, it needs a translator. This is the trigger I/O add-on that is sold separately ($150). You could also get the full drum module for about $350. But you're right that there might be a software solution, which could also act as a translator to convert the drumkit's XBox360 (or PS3) language into MIDI. I don't know if such a thing exists though.

Just for your information, ION audio also makes a couple cheaper models: the IED01 and IED05 that might be suitable for your needs. The price is lower, but of course, the quality looks like it is a bit less as well.

[thefuzmixman]

Thanks for answering my questions. I appreciate you taking the time out to reply.

With a midi i/o, i was thinking that it would show up as a midi controller inside of Fl Studio, but now I see why that wouldn't work if the module doesn't support midi to begin with. Originally I though that the trigger i/o was a link the "chain" so to speak. After look at the product, it seem you'd have to unplug everything from the default module, and use the trigger i/o as the new module.

Anyhoo, the kit just caught my attention as a low budge solution for a velocity sensitive e-drum kit to use in Fl Studio. Plus it looks pretty snazzy.

I did see the other models that ION audio offers, but the ION IED 05 as you said, seems to be a much lower quality then the ION kit made for Rockband.

[buscemi]

Save up for something like an Alesis DM5 (or better yet the DM5 Pro) - you can't use it with videogames (at least not as its intended out-of-the-box purpose anyway) but it is not bad. The non-Pro version is about $450 street price in the States IIRC.