Drum or no Drum

Sebastian · Post by **Sebastian** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 11:20 pm

JEJE. you are all very patient.

Im still "worried" as to what is the advantage of havinf mutliple audio outs?

In what scenario will I need them?

Let me say again why I may use electro drum kits:

To record at home on PC as MIDI
To use the kits that come with the kit
To trigger the kits I create on Impulse
To be able to change after recording, any of the kit elements
To play the kit live, no MIDI, gigs

......To record at home as audio? (not sure if need to record as audio)

Machinate · Post by **Machinate** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 11:39 pm

It sounds to me as you don't quite yet grasp the difference between audio and midi, or, at least, you keep bringing up midi while talking about multiple audio outputs. The two have nothing to do with each other.

Sebastian · Post by **Sebastian** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 12:09 am

ja. no i do understand the difference . But no one has clearly exaplined why I would need multiple outs? when? I dont own any instruments with 8 pairs of outs!

GhostNoteLtd · Post by **GhostNoteLtd** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 9:20 pm

Maybe I can clear this up.
If you want to use the *built-in* sounds that come with whichever drum brain you get, it's advisable to have multiple outs so that each sound will be individually "tweakable" and eq-able.
For midi purposes, whatever sounds you have in Impulse or any other soft synth that you use will be there every time you load up your song. It doesn't matter what you use to send midi signals - it could be an electronic drum brain, a regular ol' synthesizer, whatever - but the sounds in this case will 100% reside WITHIN Ableton.
Likewise, if you record AUDIO from the brain into Ableton, those sounds will reside in Ableton, as audio files, but will contain no midi info.
So: mutiple audio outs = better recording of audio. midi = a whole different ballgame.
Got it?

Sebastian · Post by **Sebastian** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 1:24 pm

got it! thanks. Two more questions:

Do electronic drummers that record prefer to record audio or MIDI normally? Im just trying to plan ahead.

Also, if I want to use the kit live for gigs, multi outs is a must?

BeatPsychic · Post by **BeatPsychic** » Wed May 16, 2007 4:04 am

Ghost Note...you beat me too it...exactly as I would have posted it. As far as recording, it is usually a preference of the engineer or producer, if you only use the multi-outs, you are limited to the sounds coming from the brain of the drum module. A lot of times, if a drummer is using an electronic kit in the studio, it is advisable to record both the audio from the brain, and the midi information. This gives you the full range of possibilities when it comes to changing the sounds....say you like everything you recorded from the module except the kick, you could use the the midi information recorded from the bass drum trigger to trigger a sample of your liking.....In a live situation, multi-outs isn't a must if you don't want to use the sounds from the module... You can use any number of programs/plug-ins for your drum sounds when going the midi route, check out BFD, XFL, or DFH, all are professional sounding plug-ins used for triggering drum sounds from an electric kit...Hope this isn't too confusing...

chelfyn · Post by **chelfyn** » Wed May 16, 2007 4:55 am

Sebastian wrote:pls bear with me since im new to audio stuff. if I want to use the kits sounds, i need multi outs? I thought those could be used as MIDI too?

Is multi outs necsesary if I want to record drums as audio or play the kit live?

I have a yamaha DTXII, and use it often with ableton. It doesn't have multiple outs, and I don't find this a problems at all, but to explain why,.... ok here goes.

You're obviously new to this, so I'll try and simplify things for you. Most drummers will be expecting to source their sounds from the drumkits brain, as audio. If they want to record this in anything other than a strero pair, they need (expensive) multiple outs on the brain. This is only necessary if you need to process the drum sounds separately, or change volumes at a later date. Bear in mind, most drummers do not have a computer with ableton on running next to their kit.

If you have access to a computer and ableton, with a very low latency sound card, then you can effectively replace the drumkits brain with ableton, simply by hooking up the kit's MIDI out to your computer's MIDI in and then setting up a sampler with different drum sounds on different notes. Your drumkits brain will output (on a single cable) a different MIDI note for each pad. If you wish to put a different effect on each drum, it it becomes very easy. essentially, you can use ableton to turn a very basic kit into an extremely advanced one, as there is no limit to the number of 'outs' you can have within ableton.

For live use - multi outs are essential if you're going out into a desk and have someone mixing the whole live sound - if it's just a small pub gig and you just go straight into the house PA and don't require any extra FX, then you'll be fine without the extra outs.

Personally I use Native Instruments Battery 3 sampler for this job, as it comes with some of the best sounding multisampled kits I've ever heard. If you're studio use is more important than live, you'll benefit more spending money on battery than on a better brain, but if your going to go out and use the kit in a professional live environment, you'll probably prefer the better sounds and multiple outs on your hardware, not in your software.

Hope that helps.