OK, I'm about to give up on this. MDrummer. Input and Output filters. I absolutely cannot get my head around it, and I can find no way to accomplish what I want to accomplish. What I want is very simple. I want to drag an EZ Drummer MIDI file into MDrummer's rhythm generator and not see congas and bongos when I know damn well there are none in there. I want to set up MD so I can apply a filter for EZ Drummer, and MD will know it's an EZ file and play the right stinking sounds.
There is an EZ Drummer Output filter included with the MD installation, and I have no earthly idea what it's supposed to do. But it does nothing. Everything still plays wrong. Same with the Addictive Drums filter. Input filter presets are all for external controllers, it looks like. I'm not interested in this.
I need to be able to use my thousands of MIDI drum files, and have MD know how to play them. I have no idea what velocity has to do with mapping an incoming note to an outgoing note. No idea at all. Why can't I just tell MD not to play a conga here, play a snare instead? I'm confident that something this basic can be done in this powerhouse program, but there's no clear explanation in any of the documentation telling me how. Part 8 of the video tutorials covers Input filters, and promises Output filters in part 9, which has never been made to my knowledge.
I was letting a beat play while i was messing with the filters (input and output) and did not hear one single thing change. It makes no sense to me at all. Can someone, anyone provide me with clear, plain English instructions on how to map notes? I don't have EZ Drummer open at all. Irrelevant. I want MD to use his own kits and sounds, but play the EZ files correctly. Please?? Before I stab my computer monitor with a guitar neck? Thank you!!
I'm Clueless About These Darn Filters!
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- KVRian
- 975 posts since 10 Jan, 2007 from London
Reaper resources , midi drum maps . There's a few EZDrummer ones there. Choose one, download, save page in your browser (or select all, copy/paste into notepad, 'save as' a text file).
Put an EZD midi file into Reaper midi editor then: file /customize note names/ load note names from file (load your drum map).
Now you can see what notes are associated with what drums in EZD.
I can see that C#4 is mapped to HH closed tip, but in MD this note will play a Bonga hi ( MD is pretty much GM). If you load MD's default drums you'll hear the bonga when you press the C#4 in Reaper's midi editor... BTW, if you click on the bonga in MD's drum list, then see in advanced drum parameters which key MD has assigned to it, it's actually C#3 not C#4 : everything's down an octave.
So now in input midi filters click on C#3 (not C#4), enable modifier 1 and change your target to High hat.
Then in Drum editor choose your sample and give your HH a name (in basic drum parameters) like 'HH closed tip' (which then shows in the drum list).
You could do the same for all the different EZD articulations...identify the note in Reaper, then re-route with the input filter..trouble is, you only have 3 HH drum types in MD.. but wait, you could use for example Effect 1, 2 ,3 and 4 as drum types to target but then assign various HH articulations (samples) to them and give them appropriate 'EZD' names.
When you re-route like this, then import a midi file into MD's editor, the new drum type (hi-hat instead of Bonga) will appear in the editor's track list but unfortunately not your new name.
So after spending time doing all this for all those EZDrums you can save your input filter, and save your 'EZD' drumset with all it's new drum types and naming and chosen samples.
Next time you want to import EZD midi files just load your saved midi input filter and your saved EZDrumset.
BTW, you can of course just import a midi file then change the drum track type (say) from Bonga to Hi-Hat, but then even if you save the whole 'song', next time you import you'll have to change the tracks again, so OK for one off things but not for 1000's of files I guess.
Hope you can get this working.
Now the next thing I'm thinking is what are you going to do with all these midi files in MD?
Put an EZD midi file into Reaper midi editor then: file /customize note names/ load note names from file (load your drum map).
Now you can see what notes are associated with what drums in EZD.
I can see that C#4 is mapped to HH closed tip, but in MD this note will play a Bonga hi ( MD is pretty much GM). If you load MD's default drums you'll hear the bonga when you press the C#4 in Reaper's midi editor... BTW, if you click on the bonga in MD's drum list, then see in advanced drum parameters which key MD has assigned to it, it's actually C#3 not C#4 : everything's down an octave.
So now in input midi filters click on C#3 (not C#4), enable modifier 1 and change your target to High hat.
Then in Drum editor choose your sample and give your HH a name (in basic drum parameters) like 'HH closed tip' (which then shows in the drum list).
You could do the same for all the different EZD articulations...identify the note in Reaper, then re-route with the input filter..trouble is, you only have 3 HH drum types in MD.. but wait, you could use for example Effect 1, 2 ,3 and 4 as drum types to target but then assign various HH articulations (samples) to them and give them appropriate 'EZD' names.
When you re-route like this, then import a midi file into MD's editor, the new drum type (hi-hat instead of Bonga) will appear in the editor's track list but unfortunately not your new name.
So after spending time doing all this for all those EZDrums you can save your input filter, and save your 'EZD' drumset with all it's new drum types and naming and chosen samples.
Next time you want to import EZD midi files just load your saved midi input filter and your saved EZDrumset.
BTW, you can of course just import a midi file then change the drum track type (say) from Bonga to Hi-Hat, but then even if you save the whole 'song', next time you import you'll have to change the tracks again, so OK for one off things but not for 1000's of files I guess.
Hope you can get this working.
Now the next thing I'm thinking is what are you going to do with all these midi files in MD?
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 262 posts since 23 Jul, 2008
Thanks for that. I really don't have time to get into it all tonight, but I will. What I want to do with all of these files is drag them into MD and then just trigger them as normal patterns and fills with the midi control method, just as if MD created them. EZ stuff is categorized into verse, chorus, bridge, hh rhythms, ride rhythms, etc. I could put these all on keys and use them that way. MD is great, but sometimes I want the option to have lots more breaks available to me.
I'm still confused about it though. What is the purpose/function of the EZ Drummer and Addictive Drums OUTPUT filters??
I'm still confused about it though. What is the purpose/function of the EZ Drummer and Addictive Drums OUTPUT filters??
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MeldaProduction MeldaProduction https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=176122 - KVRAF
- 14339 posts since 15 Mar, 2008 from Czech republic
Ok, so, first about video tutorial - the thing is, at one point the editor of the MDrummer series simply disappeared, no contact... Not sure if something happened to him or he just "politely" stopped, but.. 
Anyway:
Output MIDI filters - these are for MDrummer's output - when MDrummer generates MIDI, then these transform them. MIDI suck
. So to make MDrummer's performance MIDI compatible, it needs to remove lots of information from the stuff and convert it into that thing, convert drums to notes etc. Output MIDI filters let you modify it somehow, so that you can for example control some other drum machine by MDrummer.
Input MIDI filters - input to MDrummer. If you connect some MIDI performance at channel 10 to MDrummer, it starts playing the notes as any other drum sampler/synth... But if the input isn't General MIDI compatible, or you just want to callibrate velocities somehow or anything, these let you do that. Now I'm actually not sure (because I don't remember, but I can check), but these should also affect MIDI import, which is probably what you want. So you just need to set this up.
It's actually really simple - select a MIDI note, enable a modifier, select target drum, that's pretty much all. There are multiple modifiers, because you may want to trigger multiple/velocity-dependent drums with it, but I don't think that's what you need.
Anyway:
Output MIDI filters - these are for MDrummer's output - when MDrummer generates MIDI, then these transform them. MIDI suck
. So to make MDrummer's performance MIDI compatible, it needs to remove lots of information from the stuff and convert it into that thing, convert drums to notes etc. Output MIDI filters let you modify it somehow, so that you can for example control some other drum machine by MDrummer.Input MIDI filters - input to MDrummer. If you connect some MIDI performance at channel 10 to MDrummer, it starts playing the notes as any other drum sampler/synth... But if the input isn't General MIDI compatible, or you just want to callibrate velocities somehow or anything, these let you do that. Now I'm actually not sure (because I don't remember
, but I can check), but these should also affect MIDI import, which is probably what you want. So you just need to set this up. It's actually really simple - select a MIDI note, enable a modifier, select target drum, that's pretty much all. There are multiple modifiers, because you may want to trigger multiple/velocity-dependent drums with it, but I don't think that's what you need.
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- KVRian
- 975 posts since 10 Jan, 2007 from London
Load the EZD output filter.
Every drum type in MD is mapped to an output note which corresponds to a drum hit in EZD.
This is a bit hit or miss because EDZ has a lot of various articulations that you probably have not set up in MD; and taking it to extremes, MD's 65 drum types can't cover the approx 130 different drum hits you can see if you download 'EZD2_Latin Percussion (ABRV)_Midi_Note_Names' for instance and put that in a Reaper midi editor...although, it would be possible to cover every single EDZ hit by setting up in MD different velocity layers within single drum types (where different velocity ranges trigger different samples) then use the Modifiers in output filter to associate these different velocity ranges with extra articulations in EZD... too complicated for me and impractical anyway.
But for general grooves with the normal drum sounds MD's EZD output filter should work, and you can always tweak it to allow certain special sounds in EZD.
And say you have set up and saved an 'EZDrumkit' in MD using the input filter associations as outlined in my previous post, then created loops that use those drum types, you could then set up a sort of mirror image output filter that REVERSES what you did with the input filter: then if recording midi output or sending it to EZD you'll get the right sounds.
But getting back to importing loops, yeah, I would import midi loops into Reaper first (with the EZD note names set up) so that I could check the associations I might need for the input filter, or even if not using the input filter and just right clicking in the track list to change drum type on the fly, I can look at the loop in Reaper to confirm what the tracks in MD should be. For instance a certain EZD loop might have a special articulation which I could create in MD by changing the drum type of that track to say effect 1, then editing effect 1 with an appropriate sample.
Every drum type in MD is mapped to an output note which corresponds to a drum hit in EZD.
This is a bit hit or miss because EDZ has a lot of various articulations that you probably have not set up in MD; and taking it to extremes, MD's 65 drum types can't cover the approx 130 different drum hits you can see if you download 'EZD2_Latin Percussion (ABRV)_Midi_Note_Names' for instance and put that in a Reaper midi editor...although, it would be possible to cover every single EDZ hit by setting up in MD different velocity layers within single drum types (where different velocity ranges trigger different samples) then use the Modifiers in output filter to associate these different velocity ranges with extra articulations in EZD... too complicated for me and impractical anyway.
But for general grooves with the normal drum sounds MD's EZD output filter should work, and you can always tweak it to allow certain special sounds in EZD.
And say you have set up and saved an 'EZDrumkit' in MD using the input filter associations as outlined in my previous post, then created loops that use those drum types, you could then set up a sort of mirror image output filter that REVERSES what you did with the input filter: then if recording midi output or sending it to EZD you'll get the right sounds.
But getting back to importing loops, yeah, I would import midi loops into Reaper first (with the EZD note names set up) so that I could check the associations I might need for the input filter, or even if not using the input filter and just right clicking in the track list to change drum type on the fly, I can look at the loop in Reaper to confirm what the tracks in MD should be. For instance a certain EZD loop might have a special articulation which I could create in MD by changing the drum type of that track to say effect 1, then editing effect 1 with an appropriate sample.