Recording and Arranging Virtual Drums in Logic Pro X

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Level 1

8 points

Recording and Arranging Virtual Drums in Logic Pro X

Hey guys,

I am fairly new to Logic Pro and just had a couple of questions related to the virtual drums.

So, I went to Track, New Drummer Track and it opened the track but did not give me the "Record" or "Input Monitoring" options I am used to seeing when opening a Guitar track for example. Being that I am not recording drums through an interface, the latter option makes sense as to why it isn't showing up, but is there an easy way to ensure I can have the Record option available to me when opening a new drummer track?

Lastly, when opening the Musical Typing feature for a drum kit, is it possible for me to customize which keyboard keys trigger each part of the kit or is this not possible?

Thank you guys very much for your help!

Jeff

iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2015)

Posted on Jun 11, 2016 3:01 PM

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Answer 1

BenB

Level 6

13,540 points

Jun 12, 2016 8:13 AM in response to JVern87

The Smart Drummer has no need for instrument monitoring or recording, since you don't use either of those. It is playing via the Smart Drummer algorithms. Double-click a region and you'll have your smart drummer controls.

No, the keys assigned to those drums is it. That is programmed in with the instrument. If you switch to a third party drum instrument, let's say the snare drum is on a different key for that instrument, easy to remap-ish. Hit the key the original drum instrument used for snare, this highlights all instances of that note in the Piano Roll editor. Drag them to the new key that plays the snare. Done.

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Answer 2

JVern87 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 12, 2016 10:38 AM in response to BenB

Thanks for the reply, Ben! So, I am not looking to use that Smart Drummer feature where you can design a drum track without the need to record it in real-time. I was looking to pull up one of the fake kits and record with it via musical typing while the track plays in the background. Is this possible to do?

Thank you again!

Jeff

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Answer 3

BenB

Level 6

13,540 points

Jun 12, 2016 11:55 AM in response to JVern87

I almost always start with a Smart Drummer track. I have a tutorial about the basics of Smart Drummer coming out in a couple of days. I start with that, then cover to MIDI tracks, reassign the drum instrument, and tweak the notes.

But what you're wanting to do is very easy. Create a new "Software Instrument" track. Assign it a drum instrument. Then you can record manually from pretty much any MIDI source, including the on-screen keyboard method.

You can record like kick drum and snare first. Right-click the Record button on the screen, go to Recording Settings. Make sure MIDI is set to Merge. Then you record right over your initial recording, let's say with cymbals, and you have kick, snare, cymbal notes all there in the Piano Roll to tweak.

But if you're not wanting a Virtual Drummer to play for you, leave the "Drummer Track" alone, use a "Software Track".

My favorite drum instruments for this are both third party; Shreddage Drums (Impact Soundworks) and Superior Drummer (ToonTracks). About the best out there IMHO. But there are tons of built-in kits, and you can tweak them to your hearts desire (partially covered in upcoming said tutorial).

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Answer 4

CCTM

Level 6

13,169 points

Jun 12, 2016 12:55 PM in response to JVern87

Hi

It is certainly possible to do:

Start with a Software Instrument track, load up DrumKit Designer and record as you would any software instrument.

If you *really* need to re-map, switch DrumKit Designer for the EXS24 once you have loaded the kit in DKD. You would then have some heavy work to do in the EXS Editor.

Alternatively, you may be able to make use of a Transposer MIDI FX plug, or use the Mapped Instrument Environment object to achieve the required transpositions.

CCT

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