No Open Hi Hat in Dream Machines? Wtf???

[Ambrosio]

What the hell? I mean, it's cool to be able to automate between closed and open, but c'mon. I know that Melda love to do things differently sometimes but this is just weird. If there's one thing you hear in almost every song, it's an OHH. I understand that there's the 6 output limit but still.
Sounds amazing though. It really would be a dream drum machine if it had an OHH. It's kind of a deal breaker.
Devs, if you're reading, please put an OHH in there. Put it in place of the Perc slot.
Who needs cowbells besides cows? They don't use Melda stuff anyway.

[tonycore]

I'm sorry...are you asking for LESS cowbell???

[Ambrosio]

You're right. How are we gonna record Honky Tonk Women then? Replace it with the Tom pad instead.

[Ambrosio]

Actually, the 6 output limit doesn't even matter. We always have both the CHH and close OHH on the same channel anyways. It's the same instrument, only with 2 different states. So an extra pad (and MIDI note) for the OHH that is hardwired to the same output as the CHH would be nice. Keeping the possibility to automate the "openness" for those who want it.

[jan-sandahl]

Yes, a dedicated open HH and two Toms seems to me like a minimum. I wish it was in place. Automating between open and closed HH is rhythmically fun, but the modulators are only available when you run DM in Edit mode.

[Ambrosio]

I use Reaper and I'm able to automate it in graphical mode. But still. It's cool to be able to do it, but it shouldn't be the main way to do it. That sounds are really good though. I guess I'll be sampling it and importing the samples in a sampler.

[jan-sandahl]

Yes, you're right. i use Reaper too but prefer to use Melda's better modulation options.

[sirmonkey]

Why not just use MDrummer?

[Ambrosio]

I tried it but it's too complex. I'm trying to go back to as simple as possible with drum machines.
I have other ones like Battery, Geist and Rob Papen Punch, but for some reason, when it comes to drum machines, I like them as simple as possible. So even though I have all those paid ones, I'm using Sitala right now. I love it especially for how easy it is to use the multi outs in Reaper. So I sample those other drum machines, or synths sometimes, and I import the samples into Sitala.
I was excited when I first tried the Dream, until I realized there wasn't a separate OHH, and it turned into a nightmare. So now I wake up at night, sweating, after dreaming about a huge Hi Hat closing in on me, then closing itself on me, then never opening again.

[Held]

If you want simple, you can use MDrummer in Drum Pad Mode:

mdrummer_drumpad_mode.png

You can also drag in your own samples on each of the pads.

Then you can set the multi-out in the mixer.

mdrummer_multi_out.png

If you can ignore all the other stuff, it's not quite as simple as Sitala, but it comes close. And you get to use all the amazing samples MDrummer has to offer.

[Ambrosio]

Isn't MDrummer a pattern player? The only few times I tried it, it was just playing patterns. No matter what key I'd press on my keyboard, it'd just play patterns. Then I checked my piano roll, and all the keyboard keys have pattern names on them. I couldn't find any keys on the keyboard that would play individual samples. The samples are very good indeed though.

[Held]

Isn't MDrummer a pattern player? The only few times I tried it, it was just playing patterns.

You need to enable Drum Pad Mode (the button in the red circle on the right in the first screenshot) while you're in the Quick Setup tab (the red circle on the left in the first screenshot).

This will also change the names in your piano roll.

[jan-sandahl]

I dwell in Dream Machines because of the mixing and sound treatment options etc. One simple option could be to have HH and Toms resampled and then played in Sitala - or directly in MDrummer. Most of all I hope a future update will change the HH / Tom issues of DM. I'll look further into the MDrummer drum pad mode, so thanks for the reminder.

[Ambrosio]

"I dwell in Dream Machines because of the mixing and sound treatment options etc"
Exactly. Pitch, decay, etc. And MDrummer, even in Drumpad mode is still a pain. And it looks very Windows XP-ish. A serious graphic/usability overhaul of all the Melda plugs wouldn't hurt. The plugs are amazing, but user friendly (and easy on the eyes) they're not. That cheesy jumping rock singer makes me cringe every single time. Actually, it does look like he's jumping in front of a swiss cheese, with the knobs as holes.
The thing with resampling the OHH and having it in Sitala is that if you make any modification to the sound of the CHH, you have to make it also in Sitala. Well, you don't HAVE to, but if you don't, it won't sound like both sounds are coming from the same HH.
Why not a OHH pad routed to the same out as the CHH, and a few more toms, routed to the same out as the one tom that's there now. I do love the sound of DM. It would be my go to drum machine if it wasn't for that.

[jan-sandahl]

Yes, it really should be addressed. That's the bottom line.