Connecting Roland V-Drum TD12 via midi to the Oasys

Pr0 · Post by **Pr0** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 1:18 am

My drummer and I tried connecting is TD12 to my Oasys. The idea was for him to play and make the Oasys's drum kits sound, but something went wrong. Ex: instead of hearing a snare (whe he was actually hitting the snare) we heard the tom and so on... the sounds did not correspond. What could be wrong?

Pr0

minnkorg · Post by **minnkorg** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 4:36 pm

Why are you expecting the codes to match between the Roland and the Oasys Drum Kits in Combi and Prog modes?
Are u doing this in GM mode?

Pr0 · Post by **Pr0** » Fri Apr 17, 2009 10:04 am

minnkorg wrote:Why are you expecting the codes to match between the Roland and the Oasys Drum Kits in Combi and Prog modes?
Are u doing this in GM mode?

No, I'm not using GM. The whole idea is for him to play is TD12 and make the Oasys drum kits sound, just like in a master-slave midi protocol, only we're using a digital midi capable drum instead of another keyboard.

hermanmusic · Post by **hermanmusic** » Fri Apr 17, 2009 11:24 am

PostPosted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 10:18 pm Post subject: Connecting Roland V-Drum TD12 via midi to the Oasys
My drummer and I tried connecting is TD12 to my Oasys. The idea was for him to play and make the Oasys's drum kits sound, but something went wrong. Ex: instead of hearing a snare (whe he was actually hitting the snare) we heard the tom and so on... the sounds did not correspond. What could be wrong?

Hi! You need to make certain your Roland is sending the correct Midi note number message to your Oasys. In other words, if the Bass Drum is assigned to B2 on your Oasys, then your Bass Drum pad on your Roland must send the same Midi Note Number (B2, for instance). If the Bass Drum on your Roland is set to a different note, say F#3, then you will hear whatever sound is assigned to F#3 on your Korg, maybe a ride cymbal, or whatever.

So, you will need to either change the Midi note number that is sent from your Roland (probably the easiest), or create a custom drum kit in your Oasys to match the Midi note messages your Roland is sending. Hope this helps.

razzaq1 · Post by **razzaq1** » Fri Apr 17, 2009 1:37 pm

..also this statement in a thread over at Karma Lab, by Stephen Kay might be relevant, depending on whether your sound banks are mapped as 'KORG' or 'GM'

"The fact of the matter is that Korg doesn't match GM. If you play any Korg Bass patch, and compare it to the bass patches in the Korg GM Bank, they are an octave lower. If you compare any Korg drum kit to the GM Drum Kits, they are an octave higher, with more kicks and snares in the bottom octaves. That's just the way it is."

http://www.karma-lab.com/forum/showthre ... #post76507

That might be why you are hearing thewrong drum sound.

I hope this helps!.

Pr0 · Post by **Pr0** » Fri Apr 17, 2009 5:12 pm

Jeeezzz... this stuff is complicated. Well, I'm going to try an transposing 1 octave up/down and try playing with GM. I'll let you know later.
Pr0

X-Trade · Post by **X-Trade** » Sat Apr 18, 2009 5:45 pm

The most straightforward way would be to just adjust the note number on the roland.
It won't change any of the sounds on the roland and would only be a problem if you want to use it with another synth in the future, then you'll just have to change the MIDI notes again...

OR use one of the kits in the GM bank.

its not really that complicated. just a matter of getting the sounds you want for each drum.

Pr0 · Post by **Pr0** » Sun Apr 19, 2009 12:31 pm

X-Trade wrote:The most straightforward way would be to just adjust the note number on the roland.
It won't change any of the sounds on the roland and would only be a problem if you want to use it with another synth in the future, then you'll just have to change the MIDI notes again...

OR use one of the kits in the GM bank.

its not really that complicated. just a matter of getting the sounds you want for each drum.

What do you mean by note number, X-Trade?

Pr0

X-Trade · Post by **X-Trade** » Sun Apr 19, 2009 12:46 pm

well, in MIDI there are 127 notes, on 16 channels.

The drum machine will be transmitting a different note for each drum, most likely all on the same channel.

Most drum modules in electronic drum kits (I have an alesis one) will give you the option to set which note is being transmitted for each drum.

as already mentioned. Korg's drum key mapping is a bit different to standard so you'll want to adjust it a bit.

minnkorg · Post by **minnkorg** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 11:28 pm

Actually I own V-Drum Pro Session and think that you might be in for a headache based what you are contemplating on doing.
There are some tricky things that the Drum module does as far as interpreting for instance how hard you strike the snare for example. So for example if you strike the rim u get a rim shot. Yet this signal is still decoded from a single cable going to the snare. Similarly, the cymbals have different zones that give different sounds depending on where you hit them. These codes are not necessarily going to end up as unique midi codes. So even if you create a midi map for a particular Drum kit, the end result might not be acceptable.
My VDrum also allows me to "tune" each sound from all the strike surfaces and you will lose all that if u just want to midi to the O.

Pr0 · Post by **Pr0** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 5:28 pm

What a drag... guess I'll have to sample it...

Pr0 · Post by **Pr0** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 12:34 pm

Update: I've made a simple midi conection - recorded the td12 on the Oasys (internal midi on the global mode) - and then switched midi cables in/out and there it was. The td12 played by itself. This solution serves me perfectly, because I get to keep all the midi info. The only thing I need to find out is how to remap the notes in order to use the Oasys drum kits. Problem solved!
Thanx for all the hints guys.

Pro