Connecting and recording Roland V-Drums with Logic Pro X?

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Connecting and recording Roland V-Drums with Logic Pro X?

HELP!!!! Fairly new to this so bear with me!

I have a Roland V-Drum TD-12 Kit and want to interface to Logic Pro X and use to trigger/record the Logic drum kits. I thought it would be as simple as plug in and play, 4 hours later, I couldn't have been more wrong! I am utilising a MIDI to USB cable to connect V-Drums to my Mac, el-cheapo cable from eBay but works fine (tried with a keyboard I have and I can get sound through the Logic).

For clarification; before I even open Logic, do I need to;

Install some kind of driver for the Roland TD-12 V-Drums on my Mac?
Do any other setting up of the device on my machine?

Naively, after I connected, I have tried creating a software instrument and then went on to select a drum kit for this instrument from the library (SoCal to be specific), expecting to get some sounds when I bash away, but nothing. Is this correct? If anyone could break this down in simple steps from setting up device on Mac (if required) to connecting to Logic (and make it recognise the V-Drums!) I would be eternally grateful!

I have seen all of the tutorials on YouTube regarding V-Drums with Logic Pro (literally, all of them) and went through countless message boards online (including the apple community for Logic) but nothing is totally specific to solve my problem!

Thanks!

Mac mini

Posted on Sep 16, 2015 1:23 AM

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Answer 1

Sep 16, 2015 2:31 AM in response to oasisads

! I am utilising a MIDI to USB cable to connect V-Drums to my Mac, el-cheapo cable from eBay but works fine (tried with a keyboard I have and I can get sound through the Logic).

There has been a midi to usb integrated circuit on the market with a hardware bug, causing it to change messages while transmitting them. These chips have been sold cheaply in huge quantities and ended up in practically ALL low cost cable midi interfaces. About the only thing they get right are note on and note off messages. Everything else is a huge disaster.

So the solution to your problem is very likely buying a proper midi interface, use the midi interface of a dedicated audio interface or use direct USB to USB with the v-drums, which should be available on the TD-12.

Good luck,

Jazz

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Answer 2

oasisads Author

Level 1

1 points

Sep 16, 2015 4:19 AM in response to Jazzmaniac

Hi Jazz,

Many thanks for your reply. Yes, it is my intention to get something like the Roland Duo Capture Ex as an interface for the long run. I thought this cable would sort me out for the short term! If it is indeed the cable, do I still have to do any of the steps I mentioned when connecting to logic via an interface (set the v-drums up through Mac, install a v-drums driver or do anything else for Logic to recognise them?).

Thanks,

Adam

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Answer 3

Sep 16, 2015 4:40 AM in response to oasisads

I would suggest you take a USB-A-to-B cable and connect the TD-12 "USB Computer" port to a free USB port on your computer. That *should* do it. Some usb to host connections do require dedicated drivers, but the vast majority runs as class-compliant device out of the box.

If this works, I would prefer it over any Midi interface connection, as the usb-to-host has the chance of actually providing better midi timing, as in much lower latency and significantly reduced jitter, both of which are quite important for midi drum tracking. As soon as you use the old school midi plugs you're also limited to the 30 year old physical midi transmission, which is greatly inferior to MIDI over USB.

Hope this helps,

Jazz

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Answer 4

oasisads Author

Level 1

1 points

Sep 16, 2015 6:57 AM in response to oasisads

Hi Jazz, thanks again! Just checked rear of module, stuck with MIDI! No USB. I will give it a shot with MIDI leads through an interface and to logic.

One more question, am I right in thinking that if the connection and communication between Logic and vdrums has been established, I create a software instrument (drum kit) and should get sounds thereafter when I hit the drum pads!?

Thanks

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Answer 5

Sep 16, 2015 12:22 PM in response to oasisads

Ok, then the TD-12 I've googled must be more recent than the one you have.

In Logic you only need to instantiate a software instrument and you should get some output. How meaningful that output is depends on the mapping of the controller and note data to the instrument. Some instruments come with maps for the V-Drums, typically drum samplers. You'll have to check out the specifics for the instrument of your choice.

Cheers,

Jazz

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Answer 6

Oct 9, 2015 1:30 PM in response to oasisads

Nice to see a recent post on this. I'm pretty experienced with Logic, though I'm not an expert, but I have used several types of controllers with it. I just got a Roland TD-15kv and hooked the USB-B on the back of Roland to USB-A on the MB Pro - pretty much what I do for any type of controller. I merely want to trigger the kits in Logic (current version). But I'm not getting any input. If I take the same USB cable and plug into a keyboard controller, it triggers the kits. But not the Roland.

The midi menu on the Roland has all the standard mappings - C2 for kick, D2 snare, G#2 hat, etc.

Is there something I need to enable/disable on the Roland to trigger Logic Pro X?

Thanks in advance

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Answer 7

Jan 26, 2016 8:40 PM in response to Hugh Kremer

Hi Hugh,

Did you ever get your problem resolved? I have a TD12, which is different of course, but I might be able to point you in the right direction.

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