why is the note mapping in drum machines so weird?

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
forge
Posts: 17422
Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2004 9:47 am
Location: Queensland, AU
Contact:

Post by forge » Wed Jan 02, 2008 9:28 am

found more weirdness - really dont know if it's deliberate or a bug

I had a drum rack containing 1 sample assigned to C1 then 3 drum racks set to all - I then dragged another sample to the chain list instead of the pad view and instead of it being added to C2 it went to C1 and C1 became 'multi'

before
Image

after

Image


http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic. ... highlight=

longjohns
Posts: 9088
Joined: Mon Dec 22, 2003 3:42 pm
Location: seattle

Post by longjohns » Wed Jan 02, 2008 3:31 pm

Why not drag it to the pad, if you want a particular note assignment?

forge
Posts: 17422
Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2004 9:47 am
Location: Queensland, AU
Contact:

Post by forge » Wed Jan 02, 2008 3:38 pm

longjohns wrote:Why not drag it to the pad, if you want a particular note assignment?
I just came across it - not sure if it's a bug

I could imagine though that if you had a pretty full rack there would be a case where you'd want to drag to the chain list view and have Live automatically take the next free slot

the thing I'm not sure about is whether it is intended behaviour and there is some actual reason for it that I just havent thought of

longjohns
Posts: 9088
Joined: Mon Dec 22, 2003 3:42 pm
Location: seattle

Post by longjohns » Wed Jan 02, 2008 4:25 pm

My assumption is that they don't feel it should guess what note you want the new device to respond to.

Although I could also see the logic behind taking the next free note above c1

Khazul
Posts: 3185
Joined: Wed Feb 23, 2005 5:19 pm
Location: Reading, UK

Re: Very confusing?

Post by Khazul » Wed Jan 02, 2008 4:49 pm

Tarekith wrote:Also, say I load up the 808 Classic kit, the HH samples are set to F#1 and A#1 instead of all, why? Just curious why some cells aren't set to All?
Thats the standard GM mappng for open and close HH (pedal HH is G#1). The only way your goingh to get exclusive behaviour (ie hitting closed kills the open sound and visa versa) between open and close is by sticking them together which means giving them their own notes.

TBH - I dohnt know why the hell it doesnt just simply follow and stick with the usual GM drum kits mappings - all my hardware gear does - which is great - if I want to play my MPC from my roland drum kit - it just works - zero hassle.
Nothing to see here - move along!

forge
Posts: 17422
Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2004 9:47 am
Location: Queensland, AU
Contact:

Post by forge » Wed Jan 02, 2008 5:22 pm

longjohns wrote:My assumption is that they don't feel it should guess what note you want the new device to respond to.

Although I could also see the logic behind taking the next free note above c1
that's the thing - it does normally add it to the next free pad

forge
Posts: 17422
Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2004 9:47 am
Location: Queensland, AU
Contact:

Post by forge » Tue Jan 08, 2008 1:12 pm

ok more confusion....

if you drag a pad within the drum rack holding ALT, thereby creating a new nested drum rack containing that sample, then I would expect if you drag another sample to the newly created nested rack then it would occupy the same pad (that would be the point of creating that nested drum rack right?) well what actually happens is the new sample you drag is automatically assigned to the next free MIDI note/pad - not the way I think it should behave at all

Tarekith
Posts: 19074
Joined: Fri Jan 07, 2005 11:46 pm
Contact:

Post by Tarekith » Tue Jan 08, 2008 2:51 pm

Good luck man, I have up on the drum machines myself. Far easier to just use my own samples versus sorting out that constant scrolling mess :)

R.J.Dubya
Posts: 909
Joined: Tue Dec 12, 2006 6:26 am
Location: Guelph, Ontario.

Post by R.J.Dubya » Tue Jan 08, 2008 3:04 pm

Have no fear! I'm almost done re-doing the classic drum machines with the hits as instrument racks within the drum racks, and all on one 4x4 page. I did most of them last night.

I'll be happy to post the new presets when I'm done. That's ok with ableton right? I wouldn't post samples, so only those who have purchased it will be able to have the preset find the samples right?

I really like how I've set it up now. I've maintained the GM map of the hits that were on the first page, and then filled in the rest of the pads with the hits that you used to have to scroll for, in a logical manner. Another nice benefit of the hits being instrument now (other than hotswapping working) is that every little play button (to audition the sound) is available when you fold out the in-line drum mixer, where as before none of the ones set to receive "all" had them on the mixer.
aka glitchrock-buddha
303 posts as Winston

Macbook pro C2D 2.16, Firepod, rubber band and a stick.

forge
Posts: 17422
Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2004 9:47 am
Location: Queensland, AU
Contact:

Post by forge » Tue Jan 08, 2008 3:26 pm

Tarekith wrote:Good luck man, I have up on the drum machines myself. Far easier to just use my own samples versus sorting out that constant scrolling mess :)
oh - I actually forgot this thread was for drum machines - I was referring to just drum rack - the example starts with an empty drum rack

guess I should post that as a seperate bug report

but I'm getting pretty damn sick of bug reports! :? :roll:

Amaury
Posts: 5884
Joined: Mon Mar 20, 2006 6:59 pm
Location: Ableton Headquarters
Contact:

Post by Amaury » Tue Jan 08, 2008 3:52 pm

forge wrote:
Tarekith wrote:Good luck man, I have up on the drum machines myself. Far easier to just use my own samples versus sorting out that constant scrolling mess :)
oh - I actually forgot this thread was for drum machines - I was referring to just drum rack - the example starts with an empty drum rack

guess I should post that as a seperate bug report

but I'm getting pretty damn sick of bug reports! :? :roll:
Hi Forge,

Don't do it if it hurts! :wink:
In your case: dropping a sample into the chain list of any drum rack will always set the newly created chain to a unique mapping (a note, and not "ALL"). Remember, then, that a pad does not represent a chain, nor a device, but a note, only. If you want to layer a sound with an existing sound (be it a single hit or already a rack), ALT drag it onto the pad you want it on. It's far easier to work with pads only.

As for the Drum Machine presets, they should be updated, at least our sound team is aware of your feedback.

Regards,
Amaury
Ableton Product Team

Tarekith
Posts: 19074
Joined: Fri Jan 07, 2005 11:46 pm
Contact:

Post by Tarekith » Tue Jan 08, 2008 3:56 pm

Amaury wrote:

As for the Drum Machine presets, they should be updated, at least our sound team is aware of your feedback.

Regards,
Amaury
Good news, thanks for the update.

forge
Posts: 17422
Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2004 9:47 am
Location: Queensland, AU
Contact:

Post by forge » Tue Jan 08, 2008 4:46 pm

Amaury wrote:Hi Forge,

Don't do it if it hurts! :wink:
that's a nice theory, but how can I not? I'm trying to use Live 7, I've gone past the point of no return on most sets, but i still come across as many problems as I did during the testing - so I either ignore it, or I tell you in the hope it gets fixed!

as it stands there are a few I work around daily and havent got around to reporting
Amaury wrote: In your case: dropping a sample into the chain list of any drum rack will always set the newly created chain to a unique mapping (a note, and not "ALL"). Remember, then, that a pad does not represent a chain, nor a device, but a note, only. If you want to layer a sound with an existing sound (be it a single hit or already a rack), ALT drag it onto the pad you want it on. It's far easier to work with pads only.
No I'm pretty sure the things I'm reporting are bugs - these are not to do with working with drum racks, they are weird behaviours that make no sense

I fully get the bit about pads being shortcuts etc now

at least the one up the page with the screenshots - it's too unpredictable to be intentional, unless you're all drinking Stefan's weird halucinogenic tea now :wink:

the one I just pointed out makes no sense to me at all - what would be the point in adding a drum rack to a pad only to have other chains within it set to recieve on different notes?? surely the default situation in almost all cases would be to have them on the same note???

as for the first point, let me paste a PM conversation I had with Longjohns where we were trying to work it out - (if LJ doesnt mind of course!)


::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Forge wrote:- you know the thread I posted yesterday you replied in about dragging to a chain list in drum rack? - do you have time right now to quickly have a look and see if you can work out if there is a valid reason for it or whether it's a bug?

here's the thread: http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 418#609418

I've just been playing around and it looks like it keeps happening until there is a standalone sample at the end and no drum racks
::::::::::::::::::::::::
Longjohns wrote: I think it is probably intentional -

that if you drag to the chain list, it will make no attempt to guess what note you want it to respond to.

I can totally picture Amo saying "Craig, what do you expect in this case? Will the drum rack guess which note you want it set to?"

I'd say what they expect is that
1. you know what note you want, and you will drag to that pad

or

2. you will set the input note for the new chain after creating it
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Forge wrote: ha ha - true,that's sounds like Amo! Wink

but the weird thing is that at some point it does actually start following the rule of taking the next free pad

if you do what I did then drag a note to a free pad after all the others (so it's the last one) then drag a sample to the chain list - now it follows the rule

I'm just trying to work out if there is some kind of method to this
::::::::::::::::::::::::
Forge wrote:I'm starting to see a pattern

after steps one and 2 (single sample dragged to C1 followed by multi to D1) if you then drag the drum rack to the top in the chain list, then it works - the next single sample you drag into a chain list takes the next free slot

so it seems drum racks on pads confuse the count somehow - I just wnat to work out if there is any conceivable reason it could be meant to be like that
::::::::::::::::::::
Longjohns wrote:I see more what you mean now

It seems to auto-assign for only the top-level drum rack. And only once you're on a roll of adding samples, like you say.

If one of the top chains contains another drum rack, then it can't auto-assign around those notes.

But the top-level rack still gets its pads assigned by all the sub-racks which are set to 'all' at the top level.

Once you're on a roll of adding to the top-level chain list, it starts going up the notes like you say..

But it will still stack on top of an existing note, when it comes to an occupied note assignment (aka pad)

So I guess it does seem kind of buggy!
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Amaury
Posts: 5884
Joined: Mon Mar 20, 2006 6:59 pm
Location: Ableton Headquarters
Contact:

Post by Amaury » Tue Jan 08, 2008 4:54 pm

Hi Forge,

I was only talking about the very last problem you mentioned: if you drag a sample, to any drum rack's chain list, it will never set the chain to "ALL", ever, regardless how the Rack has been created.

Regards,
Amaury
Ableton Product Team

forge
Posts: 17422
Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2004 9:47 am
Location: Queensland, AU
Contact:

Post by forge » Tue Jan 08, 2008 5:06 pm

Amaury wrote:Hi Forge,

I was only talking about the very last problem you mentioned: if you drag a sample, to any drum rack's chain list, it will never set the chain to "ALL", ever, regardless how the Rack has been created.

Regards,
Amaury
but I'm not saying it should be set to all - I'm saying it should have the same note as the pad that the drum rack was created on

if you create a nested drum rack using a pad then the most likely reason you are doing it is so you can layer some drum sounds together

so why do any chains added to the chain list view in that rack now start taking the next available pads? there is no pad view in the nested drum rack so it is quite possible to drag to the chain list

I see what you're saying that the intention is just that you will hold ALT and drag to the pad - but I think there are definitely times when you are likely to use the chain list

more to the point it's just neater if the behaviour is still as you would expect

it seems as it is just as if once the PAD view idea was born then the chain list version of drum racks was not finished and these little things are just not working properly

Post Reply