Hi,
I'm going to be using Live for live drumming. We will be triggering actual hits (single kicks, single snares, etc) using a basic midi drum pad (akai mpd16), not drum loops. I'm new to Live and I'm trying to figure out the best approach..
My biggest question right now is whether I should use the Impulse drum machine, or if I should use multiple tracks and assign a drum hit to each track. Any thoughts on the pros/cons of each approach? Which is easier on the processor?
Any general thoughts or helpful tips would be much appreciated, too. Thanks!
Alex
live drumming - impulse or separate tracks?
Hey Alex,
I really like using Impulse -but there are a couple of limitations. First, there is no velocity mapping -just one sample you can trigger per drum. Something like Battery will give you velocity mapping so that you can have more control over how the drums sound depending on how hard or soft you hit the Akia pads. Second, an instrument like Battery can handle multiple outputs -which also gives you more flexability in the sense that you can control level and processing for each individual drum. For instance you could put a delay on just the snare or compress just the kick.
Of course you prolly won't always need this flexability -in which case Impulse would work great. Don't forget you can still radically manipulate an individual drum sample in Impulse, as well as Pan, Level, etc.
If you don't have a VSTi like BFD or Battery I would use Impulse until you find you need that extra control. It's simple, but it's a gem.[/quote]
I really like using Impulse -but there are a couple of limitations. First, there is no velocity mapping -just one sample you can trigger per drum. Something like Battery will give you velocity mapping so that you can have more control over how the drums sound depending on how hard or soft you hit the Akia pads. Second, an instrument like Battery can handle multiple outputs -which also gives you more flexability in the sense that you can control level and processing for each individual drum. For instance you could put a delay on just the snare or compress just the kick.
Of course you prolly won't always need this flexability -in which case Impulse would work great. Don't forget you can still radically manipulate an individual drum sample in Impulse, as well as Pan, Level, etc.
If you don't have a VSTi like BFD or Battery I would use Impulse until you find you need that extra control. It's simple, but it's a gem.[/quote]
hitherto - i got mine off ebay. not brand new but mostly because i absolutely had to have a silver one (not blue), hehe.
thanks for the thoughts everyone. the lack of velocity mapping doesn't bother me too much. i pulled a lot of kits into impulse yesterday and i am pretty happy so far. but i'm hitting some limitations already, wondering if anyone has general thoughts on these:
- say i have one slot with its settings all perfect, but i want to move it to another slot. possible? i could always apply a scale device to move it i suppose..
- using a midi keyboard is perfect, it's c3 through c4. but on the mpd16 i had to manually re-program my mpd16 to be c3 through c4, a bit of a pain. why are the slots not simply assignable through apple-m (ctrl-m) mode?
- i can't seem to figure out a "cut itself" setting on a slot, where if you re-trigger a sample while it is playing, it cuts off the sample. i only found the 7-8 linking thing in the manual..
other than that i'm pretty happy with impulse and the mpd16.
thanks for the thoughts everyone. the lack of velocity mapping doesn't bother me too much. i pulled a lot of kits into impulse yesterday and i am pretty happy so far. but i'm hitting some limitations already, wondering if anyone has general thoughts on these:
- say i have one slot with its settings all perfect, but i want to move it to another slot. possible? i could always apply a scale device to move it i suppose..
- using a midi keyboard is perfect, it's c3 through c4. but on the mpd16 i had to manually re-program my mpd16 to be c3 through c4, a bit of a pain. why are the slots not simply assignable through apple-m (ctrl-m) mode?
- i can't seem to figure out a "cut itself" setting on a slot, where if you re-trigger a sample while it is playing, it cuts off the sample. i only found the 7-8 linking thing in the manual..
other than that i'm pretty happy with impulse and the mpd16.