Roland V drums (TD-1KV) MIDI into Logic Pro is unreliable

[DiBosco]

Folks,

 

I'm assuming this is a Logic Pro issue and not an issue with my drums, but I am happy to be told otherwise. I'm pretty new to Logic (very experienced in analogue recording/engineering), so it's maybe fair to assume I'm missing something very basic here.

 

When I play the drums with the headphones plugged into the sound module on my TD-1KV, everything works perfectly. If I connect my USB lead from the Roland sound module to Logic, create a software track and assign a drum kit to it, I can kit the drums individually and sound comes out of all of them. However, when I play the kit as a whole (and it's much worse when I'm playing along to tracks already recorded in Logic I often get nothing triggered. The snare, bass drum and toms, I think, always get triggered and I seem to have no issues with the ride cymbal. However, the crash cymbal more often than not fails to trigger and the hi-hat is very sensitive to being hit in a very small area otherwise it doesn't play.

 

The choke on the cymbals don't work at all.

 

Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this please?

 

Many thanks

 

Rob

[simonreyno]

Hi Rob, I was stumped by this too and spent quite a few hours before finding the simple solution. Hope I can save you some time!

 

In the Drum Kit Designer in Logic, you need to change the Input Mapping from GM to V-Drum. If you're not seeing those options, you'll need to click on the little disclosure triangle below the main picture of the drum kit. See screenshot here:

 

{dead link removed by admin}

 

I just discovered this really simple fix after spending a few hours doing it the long-winded way

 

But I'll leave it here in case you're curious or need something long and boring to read!

 

Rock on,

Simon

 

LONG-WINDED EXPLANATION:

 

I've been struggling with this myself and it's because the MIDI notes the TD-KV outputs are not by default the same as the MIDI notes Logic (and most other DAWs that use the General MIDI standards) will use by default. See this page if you're interested: http://computermusicresource.com/GM.Percussion.KeyMap.html

 

So basically on almost all MIDI drums, when you press the kick pedal it outputs the MIDI note C1, which by default in Logic and most other DAWs triggers a kick drum sound.

 

The issue we have with the TD-1KV (and probably plenty of other kits) is that when you hit the crash you get MIDI note G2 which in Logic will trigger... nothing. Same for the edge of the hi hats. As you say it works when you hit the very top of the hats.

 

I've attached a pdf which compares the defaults the TD-1KV uses vs the defaults Logic uses.

TD-1KV MIDI notes.pdf

 

LONG-WINDED SOLUTIONS:

 

1) you can reprogram the TD-1KV itself to output different notes - you'll have to read the manual I'm afraid - quite tedious and if you accidentally (or deliberately) reset it to factory defaults you'll have to do it again!

 

2) you can set up a Mapped Instrument in Logic and then choose which MIDI notes are triggered by which hits on the TD-1KV - also quite tedious but in my opinion easier and a more flexible solution - this video walks you through it:

[simonreyno]

As for the choke I'm not sure if that'll be possible but will keep trying & will update here if I figure it out!

 

Simon

[DiBosco]

Cracking, thanks a lot. I'm back home tomorrow and will give it try!