Ok, I’m sure there are plenty of topics on this, but I searched, and couldn’t find one where the information was really clear. I can’t find anything on the drums in the manual or in the wiki. Is there a simple user manual or other such support document for how to use it? I mean, I get it’s a vsti and how to use it like that. duh. 
but I want to figure out the sequencing, etc. It looks good, and I’m sure I can get it working. I’d love to come back if I have questions, but right now I can’t even use it well enough to have questions, so perhaps you can help.
(by the way, nice to be back. I’ve been dating and gettin married, and being married, so the whole recording/music thing has been on hold for a while. But now I’m gettin back into a little of it, and just discovered the drums. cool!)
Oh, and I’m using 4.2 or whatever. the last 4.x release.
-Fish
this is what N Drums is based on -
http://nusofting.liqihsynth.com/DKplus_Virtual_Drums.htm
only manual i can find is in N Drums help file -
Dr J
Thank you ever so much. Ok, I’m looking at the manual, and here is what I can tell from looking at it:
To use the program as a sequencer, using midi control
1) you select your drum kit
2) you go to the step sequencer and program your patterns. Instrument selection and track creation are intuitive. I do have some confusion which I’ll ask about in a moment.
3) you create a midi file in n to control the vsti. c3 turns the editor on and off. c1 through b2 selects which pattern you want to play.
That’s pretty easy, all in all. I’ve been looking for a good drum VSTi and N gives me one. awesome.
I did have a question, as I said. What’s the deal with the pages? And what are the LEDs it mentions? Here’s what it says:
<!–QuoteBegin>
| Quote |
| to select a pattern - click the selection button [A] . . [X] to set the pattern length - click on the page button for the multiple of 16 steps, then on the series of LEDs above the drum pads area. - - for example, for a pattern length of 40 click page [2] then the 8th LED - - the display to the left will show the number of steps in the current pattern - - and the LEDs will light up to select a page (of 16 steps) within a pattern - click the Page number [1] . . [8] to copy the content of one page to another - right click the source page button, select the destination page |
Does anyone know how that part works?
Also, the manual mentions vst automation. anyone know what that is or how it works? I would assume that it means the VSTi controlling itself (or really, you controlling the patterns, etc., through the vsti interface. Anyone know how to do that? I know you can click on the pads, but is there a way to use the interface to control the sequencer in “live” mode?
-Fish
i believe the LEDS are the blue dots that light up in the centre of the blue squares on the drum pads when the drums are played -
in sequencer mode a page consists of 16 steps - 16 steps is not a lot so it is increased by adding pages (16 steps per page) pages make it easier to know where you are when programming rather than one long sequence of steps, also as some people are not up to speed on MIDI programming via the piano roll, using the inbuilt sequencer make it easier -
for a real (complicated) sequencer look at Drum Station DT 010 by DeLusion
http://www.d-lusion.com/ProductsDrumstation.html
apart from being a bit difficult to operate at first, the drum station is s stand alone application so you can use it without using N - also look at its sister program (also stand alone) RUBBER DUCK which is a fantastic TB 303 electronic Bass emulator -
for an easier to program deum sequencer there is TUNAFISH from
http://www.brambos.com/
this uses the old Roland drum machine samples, so is not so versatile -
if you want to be clever you can use the wave files used in N Track drums on their own, you will find them in the N track drums LIBRARY FOLDER (in Ns VST folder) - then you can make drum loops in the timeline -
cant help with automation as havs never tried to use it -
also beware of software drum kits that are not very accurate in the way they plays back samples they are prone to PHASING if you try to double up some of the lower sounding drums -
Dr J