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Drum Patterns


SonnyDaye

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Thanks Choppin and also Brad for your suggestions. I'll experiment further with phrases I think. I'm only just beginng to see what a wonderful (almost endless!) machine this really is. Trouble is I'm not getting much sleep since I bought it! :blink:

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Thanks Brad.

It's probably a dumb question, but I need to ask it:

Exactly WHERE and HOW do I record it as a midi sequence?

I use Cakewalk on my computer. Midi into the computer with an interface of some sort and let cakewalk record the rhythm.  As long as the drum machine patterns are using general midi sounds then they should convert nicely to the 5s as a phrase.

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When I make a sound setting with a drum phrase I noticed when I save it even on zone 4 where I want it to be able to switch on the brass or not and then call it up on a gig it reverts to zone 1(drums) but I want to have the option of brass or not !

Do you mean your putting drums on zone 4?  The PX5 doesn't like drums to be anywhere but zone 1.  We found out why early on.  Try to edit a drum set then save it as a user drum set.  Listen to the funky modulation artifacts that occur if you place the drums anywhere other than zone 1.  Factory drums sets are fine but user no.

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I use Cakewalk on my computer. Midi into the computer with an interface of some sort and let cakewalk record the rhythm.  As long as the drum machine patterns are using general midi sounds then they should convert nicely to the 5s as a phrase.

I have the Roland BK-7m Arranger Backing Module connected to the computer via USB (not MIDI). I can't figure out how to have Cakewalk or any other program record the rhythm as a Midi Sequence. Can it be done via USB?

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Does the Roland send midi over usb like the PX5 does?  If so, it can be done over usb.   I go to the options in Cakewalk and choose midi input device.  Roland should show up for you.  Then create some midi tracks and start up the rhythm.  If the Roland is sending it's rhythm over midi then Cakewalk should be able to record it.

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@loz2754

 

I just realized that you listed you could only enter 99 measures possibly because that's what it seems like by the number of repeats you can enter per slot.  To add more slots, in Tack Edit mode press the Number 1 key (insert).  That adds a new slot/line/cell (whatever you want to call it) to the current track.  You will see the 3 digit number (001) on the left side increase each time you press insert.  You can delete a slot by pressing the Number 0 key (delete).  You can kinda look at these slots as bars in a song, though they aren't necessarily that because a phrase can be any number of measures long and a single phrase can be repeated up to 99 times in a single slot.

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Posted Yesterday, 08:24 PM

Hugh O'Kelly, on 27 Jan 2014 - 7:40 PM, said:snapback.png

Do you mean your putting drums on zone 4?  The PX5 doesn't like drums to be anywhere but zone 1.  We found out why early on.  Try to edit a drum set then save it as a user drum set.  Listen to the funky modulation artifacts that occur if you place the drums anywhere other than zone 1.  Factory drums sets are fine but user no.

When I make a sound setting with a drum phrase I noticed when I save it even on zone 4 where I want it to be able to switch on the brass or not and then call it up on a gig it reverts to zone 1(drums) but I want to have the option of brass or not !

 

Sorry Brad for not being clear.

Drums are on zone 1

? on z 2

? z 3

Brass on ZONE 4 

Now I save that hoping that ZONE 4 will be displayed when I call up the STAGE SETTING

No

It reverts back to zone 1 with drums

how can I get ZONE 4 to be displayed when I call up the STAGE SETTING ? so I can turn enable brass on and off ?

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There are probably ways around what you're trying to do, Hugh.  It sounds like you want to have zone 4 come up so you can just hit the Zone Enable button rather than cycle through the first three zones before you get to the point when you can turn it off.

You could assign a controller to toggle that zone on/off.

 

You could put brass and piano in a hex layer and assign a controller to toggle the brass layer on/off.

Or, you could create a stage setting with duplicates of everything except the brass zone and toggle between it and the first.  The drums won't stop if you have a phrase looping, although it will reset upon stage setting switch.

Or I may have completely missed what you're trying to do and gave you useless advice!

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Does the Roland send midi over usb like the PX5 does?  If so, it can be done over usb.   I go to the options in Cakewalk and choose midi input device.  Roland should show up for you.  Then create some midi tracks and start up the rhythm.  If the Roland is sending it's rhythm over midi then Cakewalk should be able to record it.

Brad, I've got it up and running. The USB does send midi! However, after about 100 tries I'm not able to record a viable track into Cakewalk. The problem is getting the recording to start at the PRECISE beginning of the measure. I tried hitting Record and hitting the Roland Start button at the EXACT same moment, but the recording always shows up off kilter (for lack of a better word). I also tried letting the drum pattern play on the Roland and then hit Record on Cakewalk at the exact moment I want. You'd think that after a hundred or so tries at least ONE attempt would come out in sync. Not sure what the problem is or how to correct it. Is there a way to sync up the Roland to Cakewalk so when I hit Record it also triggers the Roland? Or some other way to solve the problem?

Thanks!

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SonnyDaye, what version of Cakewalk are you using?  As long as you can get a MIDI track into Cakewalk, you can worry about the synchronicity afterward in editing, or at least delete the empty space between the Roland record start and the Cakewalk record start.  You will have to disable the "Snap to grid" function so you can accurately line up your selection.

You may not even need to worry about this when converting the resulting MIDI into a phrase.  There's a chance that it may automatically blank out the empty space at the front, anyway (disclaimer - I've never tried that).  In fact, if all you have in your Cakewalk project is the incoming MIDI stream from the Roland, if you just save your project as MIDI, there might not be any commands in the file before the track starts.  Reopen the saved MIDI project in Cakewalk and see if it took care of the problem for you.

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Jason hit on the same method I use.  I would set the tempo of the Roland and Cakewalk software to the same number then just hit record in Cakewalk.  Hit play on the Roland and then stop it wherever you want.   Then I would select the recorded section I want and drag it to the starting line.  Export the midi file and your set to run it through the phrase converter.   The phrase converter will create a phrase that matches whatever time signature the mid file is in.  So the skies the limit on that front. 

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There are probably ways around what you're trying to do, Hugh.  It sounds like you want to have zone 4 come up so you can just hit the Zone Enable button rather than cycle through the first three zones before you get to the point when you can turn it off.


You could assign a controller to toggle that zone on/off.

 

Jaspeter,

Yes, the controllers work well

 

Thank you

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Jason hit on the same method I use.  I would set the tempo of the Roland and Cakewalk software to the same number then just hit record in Cakewalk.  Hit play on the Roland and then stop it wherever you want.   Then I would select the recorded section I want and drag it to the starting line.  Export the midi file and your set to run it through the phrase converter.   The phrase converter will create a phrase that matches whatever time signature the mid file is in.  So the skies the limit on that front. 

 

Brad and Jason.....THANKS for all your suggestions. I've progressed quite a bit in figuring out the ins and outs of the process of using Cakewalk to record drum patterns off of my Roland Backing Module. I've got a long way to go, but I'm getting closer thanks to your tips. Sure is time consuming....wish I could find "ready made" midi loops of common rhythm patterns. :D

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  • 1 month later...

Update to the problem that the tempo of a song changes if you select a different Stage Setup. I found out today that this behaviour can be prevented by the "Stage Setup Filter". If you go to"Sys Settings, General, Stage Set Filter" you will find the parameter "Tempo". Switch it to "On". This prevents the tempo been changed if you select a different stage setup.

 

I stumbled on this many months after it was posted. It's exactly the info I needed to solve one problem....going from one Stage Setting to another while playing (to enable me to get variations of a drum pattern) while keeping the SAME tempo.

But, now that seems to create another problem - Is there a way to UNDO that scenario, so when I choose a completely different Stage Setting (say later in the gig), it will play at the Tempo I have saved with the new Stage Setting and not at the Tempo that I was previously playing. Unfortunately, that seems to be what's happening. And obviously, it's not practical to have to go into the Sys Setting menu to change the Stage Setting Tempo Filter back and forth from off to on. Is there a way to control this easily?

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Sorry Sonny, I think the menu is the only way to toggle that feature on/off.  

 

Sorry to hear that Brad! But, thinking about it, I guess it's more important to be able to keep the same tempo going while switching from one SS to another. So, the Tap Tempo button will be getting some use when I need to change the tempo for a new SS.

Thanks!

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