Hi all, I just got a Roland TD-9 drum set and am trying to record it as MIDI while being able to actually hear the damn thing, and hear it on playback. I'm fairly new to MIDI but I do have Kontakt 3 and have been able to use that with my Yamaha USB KX controller, so I have at least some MIDI chops. I have never used an external sound bank with MIDI before however. I've looked at the Roland manual and the Reaper manual but can't find my way completely through this process. Here is where I am at the moment: I have Presunus Firestudio project and have the TD-9 hooked up to its MIDI in and MIDI out ports. I armed a track in Reaper for MIDI and have been successful in triggering MIDI via the TD-9 while recording so the MIDI notes do appear visually when I have finished recording. I cannot hear anything on playback nor can I hear the TD-9 while playing. The TD-9 manual says I should turn off local control and soft thru on the TD-9, which I have done. It looks like I should turn ON soft thru in Reaper. Is that right? If so, how do I do that? I have tried to find and select the TD-9 soundbank on the Reaper track as I would do with Kontakt, but I cannot find it. Do I need to select it? If so, how do I get it to show up? Thank you very, very much in advance for any help anyone can offer. MIDI is still a new language to me. I was so proud to be able to figure out how to make Kontakt work. If I can unlock the key to using external soundbanks I'll he in heaven. Hugh
Looks like I solved the problem, in a way. Probably not the RIGHT way but it all works. It looks like the track was accessing the TD-9 through Firestudio but without the capacity to monitor so when I played or played the track back I couldn't hear anything. I hooked up the 1/4 inch cable as well as MIDI from the TD-9 to Firestudio and I can now hear what I play and hear the MIDI on track playback. This seems to me to be wrong somehow, but it all works. There's a slight latency in the playing, which I know happens with MIDI but Firestudio advertises zero latency monitoring. Perhaps I can get that to happen too.
I find it hard to understand what you are trying to do. I just connect my TD-3 to my interface and place the Superior Drums 2.0 VSTi onto a track and can monitor it in realtime with no problems.
If i understand correct you think you will hear audio while recording MIDI? I just recorded a session in the way you try to. Here`s what I did (for monitoring ONLY) : Set MIDI track for record - you already did that Set an audio track for record AUDIO from the TD-9 (stereo out with 2 mono jacks) MIDI will be recorded an you will have your audio for monitoring (also recorded at a separate track). I assume you know you won`t be able to multichannel record TD-9 sounds.
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Thanks. You're right. I probably spent more than I needed to with the TD-9, though my band will use it from time to time for performances, so perhaps not. I'm a guitar player building a home studio in NYC. Noise issues forced me into electronic drums as a part of the setup. Roland was recommended to me by actual drummers. The e-drums do look kind of inviting though. Maybe I'll take some lessons!
I have the TD-9KXS kit and here's what I do. I run a midi cable out for recording the track, then I run a stereo audio line from my RME headphone monitor back into the TD-9 module to get a mix of both the module sounds and the song from the DAW. This works great. I use the module to monitor because the latency is virtually non existent, whereas if I try to monitor using BFD2 kits there's a noticeable lag (my computer's a G5 dual 1.8GHz, so it's a little slower than many of today's computers). Once I have the MIDI, the rest is just switching the sounds. I like BFD2 because of the high hat flexibility. But it also has great control features.
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