Audiofront

I don't know if it's me that did not calibrate my drums correctly but I always find that the volume is to low.

When I start ezdrummer or AD2 I change the default master volume setting so that it's set to the max. Is it something others do too? Otherwise the overall edrum sound is too low.

But at the same time if I play the already made up midi loop they are very loud compared to the edrums.

Sensitivity could be to low. Had that problem with my TD12 back in the days I had it still with ezdrummer

Do you use a audio interface? If yes, which one? Maybe the headphone output is not that great as well

thenewdrummer wrote:I don't know if it's me that did not calibrate my drums correctly but I always find that the volume is to low.

When I start ezdrummer or AD2 I change the default master volume setting so that it's set to the max. Is it something others do too? Otherwise the overall edrum sound is too low.

But at the same time if I play the already made up midi loop they are very loud compared to the edrums.

Same with SD3.

This VSTis aren't necessarily designed for live playing, but to create music using midi. I assume they output volumes then ready to mix, which with effect VSTs, and a final mastering process will be much louder.

Drums are such a dynamic instrument, that they need the headroom in the digital world, as anything past 0dB clips and distorts horribly.

The trick isn't to increase the volume in your DAW, but to amplify it in the analogue world - turning up your headphones!

If this gets you no where near, then experiment with a limiter on the master bus - Reaper has 'event horizon' that will do the job nicely

anton wrote:Sensitivity could be to low. Had that problem with my TD12 back in the days I had it still with ezdrummer

Do you use a audio interface? If yes, which one? Maybe the headphone output is not that great as well

If I I set the gain higher, I can't remove the hotspot.


I'm using this one https://www.presonus.com/products/audiobox-usb-96

The output is perfect if I'm playing the midi loop of ezdrummer or if listening to music.

MWJT42 wrote:

thenewdrummer wrote:I don't know if it's me that did not calibrate my drums correctly but I always find that the volume is to low.

When I start ezdrummer or AD2 I change the default master volume setting so that it's set to the max. Is it something others do too? Otherwise the overall edrum sound is too low.

But at the same time if I play the already made up midi loop they are very loud compared to the edrums.

Same with SD3.

This VSTis aren't necessarily designed for live playing, but to create music using midi. I assume they output volumes then ready to mix, which with effect VSTs, and a final mastering process will be much louder.

Drums are such a dynamic instrument, that they need the headroom in the digital world, as anything past 0dB clips and distorts horribly.

The trick isn't to increase the volume in your DAW, but to amplify it in the analogue world - turning up your headphones!

If this gets you no where near, then experiment with a limiter on the master bus - Reaper has 'event horizon' that will do the job nicely

When I increase the volume on the the interface, I'm hearing the hit audioclip start and stop, like background noise at the end before becoming silent.

What a limiter does? Cuz it doesn't clip, it's just just too low.

thenewdrummer wrote:

MWJT42 wrote:

thenewdrummer wrote:I don't know if it's me that did not calibrate my drums correctly but I always find that the volume is to low.

When I start ezdrummer or AD2 I change the default master volume setting so that it's set to the max. Is it something others do too? Otherwise the overall edrum sound is too low.

But at the same time if I play the already made up midi loop they are very loud compared to the edrums.

Same with SD3.

This VSTis aren't necessarily designed for live playing, but to create music using midi. I assume they output volumes then ready to mix, which with effect VSTs, and a final mastering process will be much louder.

Drums are such a dynamic instrument, that they need the headroom in the digital world, as anything past 0dB clips and distorts horribly.

The trick isn't to increase the volume in your DAW, but to amplify it in the analogue world - turning up your headphones!

If this gets you no where near, then experiment with a limiter on the master bus - Reaper has 'event horizon' that will do the job nicely

When I increase the volume on the the interface, I'm hearing the hit audioclip start and stop, like background noise at the end before becoming silent.

What a limiter does? Cuz it doesn't clip, it's just just too low.

That makes sense, if it's louder, you're more likely to hear the background noise and sample artifacts! Only option there is a better quality sample.

A limiter, with a pre-gain, will allow you to increase your mix level but stop it distorting digitally, and often musically attempt to do so.

This is nice free one:
https://www.tokyodawn.net/vladg-limiter-n6/

For what it's worth, I never touch the master volume in SD3. That's been factory calibrated to give a decent level when bouncing or playing inside a DAW environment. Setting it too high will introduce audible artifacts so unless you have a good reason, I'd suggest you leave it alone.

In my setup, audio from the computer is going into my audio interface (Tascam US16x08) at unity level, and from there into a cheap 4-channel Behringer headphone amp ($25 or so on Amazon.) I use that amp to adjust my headphone levels, and it's plenty loud for me just sitting at 12 o'clock.

monospace wrote:For what it's worth, I never touch the master volume in SD3. That's been factory calibrated to give a decent level when bouncing or playing inside a DAW environment. Setting it too high will introduce audible artifacts so unless you have a good reason, I'd suggest you leave it alone.

In my setup, audio from the computer is going into my audio interface (Tascam US16x08) at unity level, and from there into a cheap 4-channel Behringer headphone amp ($25 or so on Amazon.) I use that amp to adjust my headphone levels, and it's plenty loud for me just sitting at 12 o'clock.

So maybe my velocity issue is not high enough.

When I play normally it's between the middle and 3/4 of where we see the white dots of notes played on edrumin.

Is it what it's supposed to be?

Because it is well balanced when playing loop samples from the ezdrummer / AD2.

I honestly never look at where those white dots are. Check the curve editor, there's a display of the outgoing velocities there. It should be a decent range between 0 and 127 with normal playing.

Take the time and go over the different presets of each library, there are some that are loud enough and sound good out of the box, I too keep the gain at 0dB on SD3 and my audio interface at 1 for most libraries.