DSP trigger on Mac

[Rob]

You didn't? I sent a copy to someone, but obviously not the right person. I'm at work, but I'll sent it to you later this evening.

[T]

I have the VH11 and the CC4 trigger is just a resistor.

Just in theory:

Wouldn't it be possible to send a signal (e.g. 1kHz sinus) to the resistor and analyze the output to determine the level of open-ness?

I know if this would work the wiring of it all would be more complicated ....

I had exactly the same idea

I hate the unavoidable midi timing errors of drum brains. Midi is an old, sequential format, and I notice this when drumming.
I've tried several drum brains, and they are always off by 2 (roland) to 4 (alesis) milliseconds. This deviation is random, it's not a question of a simple delay. So you can't compensate, and it messes with the feel. By the way: this is also the reason why old-style CV is still popular with synths. Circumventing the MIDI path gives a more direct path, also true for synths.

DSP trigger does much better. The delay is there (unavoidable) but it's constant and that makes it perfect. After all, in real live there's also a delay from the drum skin to the ear.

This is why I invested in some serious I/O in my daw (rme HDSP RayDat, plenty of I/O at low latency).

For now, I have to fiddle with midi to get the hihat controller(s) into the daw. I use a VH12, with an extra "security" switch for hihat-close, and I also need cymbal choke so that's still midi.
All real drum hits are DSP Trigger.

I'd love to get rid of midi I/O completely. The sine wave andiw mentioned could be generated by DSP Trigger, fed to switches and continuous controllers, and analyzed again by DSP Trigger. If the feed signal is constant (like a sine wave), the only delay that matters would be the audio interface input latency (and probably half a millisecond for DSP Trigger to analyze it). The timing would be exactly spot-on the same as the audio trigger itself.

Cheers, T

[Rob]

While the method describe is certainly doable, I probably won't go that route. To be honest, I think that MIDI / samples for hihat just sounds lifeless. For recording purposes, I use a real hihat and MIDI for the rest of the kit.

It would be interesting, however, to physically model a hihat. By modelling it, you could have the sound of a hit change in response to what your foot is doing with the pedal. In fact, if you have a setup similar to VH-11,12 or 13, you probably wouldn't even need to consider the pedal CC at all as you could infer what the pedal is doing by looking at the decay of the vibrating cymbal pads.

I'm sure modelling the sound of a hihat is no small feat, but might be worth some experimentation.

[mikensoth]

Hey I could use a little help setting up DSPTrigger (1.5.0.6) in LogicPro 9 and Garageband on my MacbookPro runing 10.6.8
I can get it to the setup window and adjust the calibration and all that, but I cant get any sound out! I can see the hit register when I adjust the calibration. I actually got the snare to trigger in Logic a little while ago, but I'm so ready to crash out and get some sleep, that I wasn't paying attention tho what I did differently! Smooth move I know, but there was so much latency I couldn't play even a bar or two in time with the clicktrack! My interface in an older m-audio usb interface3 with just one input so I'll just be usingDSPT by itswelf for the time being. I havd a little edrum set run through a DM5 that I don't have any trouble with..ah I need to get som sleep! I'm sure I've forgotten swomething here...I'l go over this post again when I wake from the dead and try to fill in whatever I forgot here tonite...

Thanks for any and thanks to whomever might send a little help or advise in my direction!

-Mike

[Rob]

Hey Mike,

You need to make sure the track with DSP Trigger on it is record enabled and that the input is active. I'm not a Logic user so I'm not sure about the correct terminology, but I'll make a screen shot for you with the pertinent details when I get back to my studio.

Rob

[mikensoth]

You need to make sure the track with DSP Trigger on it is record enabled and that the input is active. I'm not a Logic user so I'm not sure about the correct terminology, but I'll make a screen shot for you with the pertinent details when I get back to my studio.

Thanks very much! I'll check that its rec enabled and active. I had a good laugh at myself after reading all the typos in my post and how exausted I was...but I was having fun trying get it to work. Your app has really piqued my interest. I've been checking out all the eDrum DIY sites for the last year of so, with plans on putting something together. And being able to use a comp as the drum brain is a great idea! One of those things thats such a good idea, my first thought was that I wished I thought of it! Very interesting stuff!!

Thanks
mike

[Rob]

Did you have any luck?

[mikensoth]

Yes and NO....Mostly no. I mainly use logic to just record guitars over whatever audio file or drumloop that I make with addictive, ezdrummer or superior. Nothing too fancy. I never use the environment. A few nites ago I started a new project. Put DSP on a audio track. selected mono input 2 for my audio interface and got the DSP window and calibrated for a generic snare pad. Then opend a software instrument track for either addictive drums or ezdrummer...I routed dsp through the drum sofware track and it worked. Being the idiot that I am I thought 'oh this is easy' shut everything down and went to sleep. Next day I tried to do the exact thing again and realised I couldnt remember exactly what I'd done as far as the routing went. Idiot! I think I was in the mixer window and routed dsp to an empty channel strip, then put the drum program on that channel strip...I don't know what the heck I did. I was probably just triggering the instrument track without dsp and didn't realize it! Sorry for the long winded reply! Maybe a logic user could help sort out my routing difficulties! Can't be more than a couple-a-steps right?

thanks again
mike

[Rob]

It's actually simpler than you think. In Logic you don't need to do any MIDI routing, that's all taken care of as the system sends all MIDI to whichever instrument track is record enabled.

Add DSPT to an audiotrack. Make sure its input is active.
Add an instrument track with your drum sampler on it.
Record enable the drum instrument track.

That should be all your need to do. Same goes for Garage Band and Digital Performer.

Hope that helps,
Rob.

[mikensoth]

Hey thanks for the info...I just opened a project from last week that I didn't think I had set up correctly...And it triggered a pretty snappy snare. For some reason I thought I didn't have your app set-up right and was just triggering addictive. But today I realised I didn't have my usual drum module midi setup...my pad is plugged straight into the audio interface and your app...and I don't think I would be able to trigger addictive unless I had your app set up correctly...without my usual midi setup....I'm pretty sure...doh! What a dummy! ah well this is a very cool app and Im glad to hear its easier to use than I was making it out to be!

thanks again
Mike