MDrummer: Cymbal rolls ?

[mevla]

Is it possible to do cymbal rolls with MDrummer and if so, what approach do you take ?

Cheers.

[werzel]

What kind of cymbal roll?
The two kinds that I can think of would be orchestral, where they typically use some sort of beater that is felt or otherwise covered, and pop/ rock/ jazz/ etc. where sticks or brushes(?) would be used.
Thinking about this, the first thing that I did was look at MD to try and find a modulation system and oddly couldn't find one. (Never thought I'd say that in Meldaland!)
Then I tried to set things up within MXXX using MD inside of it. My knowledge about MXXX is pretty limited and I wasn't able to assign any parameters beyond the volume, pitch and pan (Volume of sends could as well).

[Side note: This exploration lead me to wonder if there should be a plugin called MDrum, where a modulation system could be set up for a single drum preset. I think that a fully accessible Mod system would make MDrummer melt my CPU! But maybe it would work on an individual basis.]

A cymbal roll, in my head, is a swell that rises and lowers (or the other way around) in pitch and volume that is usually accompanied by a tempo change towards and from the rise.

To mimic beaters, I would use a low pass filter and use the cutoff point to make things more/ less intense.
For a rising final, I'd try to expand the stereo field more towards the end of the rise, maybe even using MUnison and increase the voice number gradually for interesting effect.
Reverb or convolution could be used to help create the washed effect.

Sorry, I think I just started tossing out ideas without a whole lot of direction. I think I'll quit while I'm behind!

[mevla]

Thanks for the ideas. Not that it matters a lot in general, I was thinking about a roll done using sticks hitting the edge of a cymbal just a bit above the hands, along the length. An approach based on modulation would make sense. There could be a problem with the sample itself though as it will most certainly need to be repeated. It might mean that going through a full-fledge sampler for rework and extension might be needed.

A MDrum surely seems interesting.

Cheers.

[werzel]

Cymbals seem to reverberate in a way that I can only picture as liquid. A second strike doesn't stop the vibrations further away from the striking point, does it? If true, then we'd need a release that continued a bit beyond the next attack phase. I think that a delay would work to replace the release phase and allow us to have the sample re-trigger.

Maybe a drummer (Vojtek?) could chime in here.

[Chandlerhimself]

Just draw it in the Rhythm editor. Add a lot of fast notes such as 32nd notes, 16th note triplets, quintuplets, etc. Adjust the velocity so the velocity gradually increases. Then highlight the notes and increase the inaccuracy and deflection to taste. I generally find the default sound too hard, so with the new samples I use the room mics instead of the close, overhead, etc. IMO they sound better for rolls.