one track per drum
if you a drum machine, and you would like to record the output from it in to N as MIDI notes the common wisdom would be to set all parts of the kit to output on channel 10 (the drum channel) -
this works OK, but all the drume you record will be on the same track, what if you want to record each part of the kit to a seperate track ? - normal answer to this is that you have to record each part of the kit to a seperate track repeating this for as many parts of the kit you want to use and join it all up afterwards, BUT if you are lucky and your drum machine can output each part of the kit to a different channel, then its easy to record each part of the kit to its own channel in one pass -
lets say that you want to record 4 parts of a kit - KICK / SNARE / TOM / HI HAT - OK so now we break with convention - on the drum machine you would program the KICK DRUM to channel 1, the SNARE to channel 2, the TOM to channel 3 and the HI HAT to channel 4 - then you would connect the drum machine by MIDI cable to your computer, open N, and set the MIDI in to whatever MIDI connection the drum machine is connected to -
in the timeline now insert a blank MIDI track - in properties set RECORD FROM to channel 1 (KICK DRUM) - now do the same again for track 2 but this time set the record from to channel 2 (SNARE)so on so forth (in this case you would have 4 tracks each recording a different part of the kit to its own channel -
the MIDI tracks are automatically armed for recording when you set the channels - make sure that the recording type icon on toolbar is set to MIDI (little keyboard) - press record on N and then play on drum machine - when the drum machine stops playing, stop N from recording - if all has gone well you will have a MIDI track per part of the drum kit -
OK lets presume that worked (i did it here using a sequencer on another PC to emulate the drum machine and linked that PC to this one by MIDI cable, worked OK -
next insert ANOTHER blank MIDI track and set its output to N TRACK DRUMS - then set the output on the other track to NTD -
now all tracks feed NTD - hit play and you will hear NTD play the drums back for you - if NTD plays back the wrong drum parts for a given track you can easily change the kit parts by using NTDs replace sample feature (right click on a pad, top option, click, highlight new kit part, click on select then keep - the pad will now play the part you have selected - save song -
if you want to render each track to a seperate wave file you will have to mute the tracks you dont want to hear and render them 1 at a time -
Dr j
Another easy way:
Let it all record to one track. Export the MIDI file.
Then use “mididrum”, a free program from http://www.gnmidi.com/gnfreeen.htm
This will separate each drum by note onto a different midi track and you can import it back into N.
(LOTS of great free MIDI tools on the above page…)