User manual

518
The MIDI editors
Working with drum maps
Working with drum maps
Background
A drum kit in a MIDI instrument is most often a set of different drum sounds with each
sound placed on a separate key (i.
e. the different sounds are assigned to different
MIDI note numbers). One key plays a bass drum sound, another a snare, and so on.
Unfortunately, different MIDI instruments often use different key assignments. This can
be troublesome if you have made a drum pattern using one MIDI device, and then
want to try it on another. When you switch devices, it is very likely that your snare drum
becomes a ride cymbal or your hi-hat becomes a tom, etc. – just because the drum
sounds are distributed differently in the two instruments.
To solve this problem and simplify several aspects of MIDI drum kits (like using drum
sounds from different instruments in the same “drum kit”), Cubase features so-called
drum maps. A drum map is a list of drum sounds, with a number of settings for each
sound. When you play back a MIDI track for which you have selected a drum map, the
MIDI notes are “filtered” through the drum map before being sent to the MIDI
instrument. Among other things, the map determines which MIDI note number is sent
out for each drum sound, and so which sound is played in the receiving MIDI device.
A solution to the problem above therefore is to set up drum maps for all your
instruments. When you want to try your drum pattern on another instrument, you
simply switch to the corresponding drum map and your snare drum sound remains a
snare drum sound.
Drum map settings
A drum map consists of settings for 128 drum sounds (one for each MIDI note
number). To get an overview of these settings, open the Drum Editor and use the Map
pop-up menu below the drum sound list to select the “GM Map” drum map.
This drum map is set up according to the General MIDI standard. For information on
how to load, create and select other drum maps, see
“Managing drum maps” on page
520.
Ö All settings in a drum map (except the pitch) can be changed directly in the drum
sound list (see
“The drum sound list” on page 514) or in the Drum Map Setup dialog
(see “The Drum Map Setup dialog” on page 520). These changes affect all tracks that
use the drum map.
About pitch, I-note, and O-note
This can be a somewhat confusing area, but once you have grasped how it all works
it is not very complicated. Going through the following “theory” helps you make the
most out of the drum map concept – especially if you want to create your own drum
maps.
As mentioned earlier, a drum map is a kind of “filter”, transforming notes according to
the settings in the map. It does this transformation twice; once when it receives an
incoming note (i.
e. when you play a note on your MIDI controller) and once when a
note is sent from the program to the MIDI sound device.