Adjusting drum brain volume with MIDI controller

[pisquee]

My second post on trying to sort out the sound at church (different topic so thought best to use a different thread)

 

On stage there is an electronic drum kit (Alesis Nitro/DM7X) the brain only has a stereo out, but even if it didn't the desk wouldn't be big enough to take individual outs anyway.

 

My first thought was to think of the stereo out as two monos, and get kick and snare (and maybe hihat) on the left channel and everything else on the right (or something like that) to give a bit of control.

 

Then I wondered if it would be possible to use a MIDI controller deck thingy with faders - thinking along the lines of Behringer's BCF2000.

 

Is anyone familar with the Behringer controller, and/or the DM7X brain to know whether I could achieve this over MIDI, or have other suggestions?

 

The FOH position isn't far from the stage, so I'm not concerned about the MIDI cable run.

[adamburgess]

MIDI volume commands generally work per channel so a fader would probably only control everything that’s on channel 10.

 

I currently trying to fashion a custom Arduino controller for my Roland Integra module for similar reasons: if a part/sound is layered on the same channel, a load of SysEx is needed to adjust the part volume, not the channel volume. Doesn’t look like the Alexis has that ability from the manual, although there’s usually a MIDI implementation chart... not here.

 

Suppose you could midi the module out to Mainstage and a multi out audio interface, or use a good synth and split the drums that way? Either way not cheap.

[timmeh2]

Hi

 

A controller won't respond to MIDI commands it isn't programmed to listen to.

 

According to the manual, which is pretty sparse tbh, the box doesn't listen to MIDI Control or Program Change messages. It is possible to adjust the volume of the individual pads in the settings but this isn't what you were after. Chances are that it will do SysEX, but if the chart isn't published you'll be a bit stumped.

 

You can however, use it as a MIDI triggering device - you could drive something like a Novation Drumstation (think TR909 clone) or an Akai S1000 or better sampler - both offer multi-output so you can split out your sounds to your preference. The only thing that really goes wrong with Akais is the LCD backlight breaks, but there are plenty of people who sell kits and new displays for them.

 

And if you do go multi-channel, there's nothing to stop you buying another mixer which you can sub out to your main, which would give you total control over your kit.

 

There's currently a very-nice looking S3000XL on fleebay for £125.

 

If you've never tried to program a hardware sampler before, it is a lot of fun. Glowsticks optional.

 

All the best

Timmeh

Edited September 13, 2019 by timmeh2

[jamesperrett]

You can however, use it as a MIDI triggering device - you could drive something like a Novation Drumstation (think TR909 clone) or an Akai S1000 or better sampler - both offer multi-output so you can split out your sounds to your preference. The only thing that really goes wrong with Akais is the LCD backlight breaks, but there are plenty of people who sell kits and new displays for them.

 

 

Wouldn't it be simpler to trigger another drum module next to the mixer via MIDI - possibly even another DM7X or a DM5? No need to faff around with loading samples and it should be pretty much plug and play.

[Stuart91]

Wouldn't it be simpler to trigger another drum module next to the mixer via MIDI - possibly even another DM7X or a DM5?

 

You don't even need MIDI - you can simply have some triggers plugged into one module, and some into the other. So find a DM5 (or even an original D5) on eBay or similar. I've done this before myself, putting kick and snare into one unit, toms and cymbals in the other. All hard-panned so that I got four discrete channels on the desk. Whilst it would have been nice to split down further, this gave me more than enough control to get by.

[timsabre]

He doesn't want split channels though as he said he didn't have enough desk channels, he just wanted to be able to control the mix of the kit.

 

I'm not really sure it's worth the hassle, if you get it set right at the start, you don't usually adjust the mix of the individual drums during a service.

[Stuart91]

He doesn't want split channels though as he said he didn't have enough desk channels, he just wanted to be able to control the mix of the kit.

 

Good point - I'd missed that. Although there's no cost-free solution here, hopefully if money could be found for midi controllers etc. a small desk for submixing wouldn't be out of the question. If they're like many churches I've seen, there's probably one gathering dust in a cupboard somewhere. Multicore lines might be another matter, though.

 

I'm not really sure it's worth the hassle, if you get it set right at the start, you don't usually adjust the mix of the individual drums during a service.

 

Depends so much on the player, unfortunately. If they're consistent hitters, and have reasonable stylistic awareness, then no problem. But more granular control of the kit can help enormously sometimes. One worship band I dealt with at a conference had a basic Roland kit, set up with just a single stereo out. During the brief soundcheck, it sounded agreeable enough. Once the session started, the drummer decided to play with an open hi hat, which now sounded like someone emptying a bottle bank. Stuck at FOH, there was nothing I could do about it. EQing out the harshness sucked the life out of the rest of the drum sound but was the best compromise.

[timsabre]

sounded like someone emptying a bottle bank.

Haha I have obviously been lucky with good drummers and reasonable kits