DRUMMING ON THE DESKTOP
May 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Jim Aikin
PRETTY IN PINK
The PadKontrol has only two assignable knobs, but the x-y touch pad gives you access to two more controllers. Whenever you touch the pad, you’ll be sending values for both of them, which limits the pad’s usefulness a bit, but there are compensations. When you press the Hold button, the x-y pad won’t transmit anything when you lift your finger, which lets you use it the way you would a nonspring-loaded wheel; you can push the output value up and leave it there.
Below the Hold button are the Flam and Roll buttons. Those can be programmed to be active with any of the trigger pads in a preset. When either is active and the corresponding button is pushed, the x-y pad is transformed into a flam or roll controller for the active pads. Slide your finger to the right and the roll will speed up; slide it up or down, and the Velocity values in the roll will change.
Velocity curve settings can be varied for different trigger pads rather than global, which is a good feature. There are eight different curves, including three with just a few stepped Velocity levels—useful for controlled accents. You can also program any pad in a preset so that it always sends a constant Velocity.
The PadKontrol is much more responsive to light taps than the MPD24. Its pads are slightly smaller than those on the other two units (1 1/8-inch square rather than 1 1/4-inch). Because the pads are smaller and more sensitive, I felt comfortable playing the pads with just one finger rather than slamming them with two.
On the rear panel is a footswitch input, which can send an extra note message or transmit a Control Change message such as a sustain pedal. The pads can also send control change messages rather than notes, but unfortunately the pads are not pressure-sensitive: For a control change, you specify an “on” value and an “off” value for the pad, and values between those two won’t be sent.
In addition to the 16 user presets, the PadKontrol provides 30 factory presets. Those are optimized for various software, including Ableton Live, Image Line FL Studio, FXpansion Guru, Battery and so on, but the optimizations—just assignments of pads to specific notes—don’t look very useful to me.
SHOOT TO THRILL
The Trigger Finger sports eight knobs and four long-throw (2 3/8-inch) sliders, all of them assignable. The pads are pressure-sensitive and can transmit control change messages if desired. In fact, each pad can transmit both a Note On when you tap it and a control change as you add pressure. Notes can be sent normally or in Toggle mode. Setting the maximum and minimum values for the pads’ control change outputs requires use of the bundled Enigma software, but most other edits can be performed directly from the Trigger Finger’s front panel.
The pads on the Trigger Finger are somewhat more sensitive than those on the MPD24 but less than those on the PadKontrol. You have a choice of eight velocity curves (global, not per pad), and the slightly convex curve 3 responded well to my two-finger technique. The pads’ sensing is quite position-dependent, an effect I didn’t notice on the other two units. The Trigger Finger’s pads really do have to be tapped in the center, as the output from an edge tap is a low velocity or no note at all. A Multivelocity mode allows you to assign one sound to all 16 pads and change velocity by tapping a different pad. The Trigger Finger has 16 user-memory slots.
The transpose slider can be used in performance to allow the pads to play more drum notes. (Don’t move the slider while actually playing because that can cause stuck notes.) A handy Mute button can shut off either the note output or the Control Change message output. That allows you to use your software’s MIDI Learn function to assign the controller output from a pad: The software won’t receive the pad’s note message, so it won’t get confused about which message to assign.
SPECTRASONICS STYLUS RMX
If you’re hearing the sound of a different drummer, Stylus RMX ($299; www.spectrasonics.net) could be it. This VST/AU plug-in is packed with infectious beats, totaling a massive 7.4 GB of data, but the sounds are processed and fresh rather than traditional or realistic-sounding. If you need classic Motown or a samba, look elsewhere. If the factory sound design isn’t strong or twisted enough for you, you can add more color with the included effects rack, which has all of the usual algorithms, from EQ to tube-type distortion.
Most of the styles in RMX include five or six sub-grooves. For instance, you might find a beat with a tuned percussion layer, plus separate layers containing only the trap kit and only the tuned percussion. Because RMX is eight-way multitimbral, you can easily mix and match various elements.
To export the MIDI data for any layer, just drag-and-drop it into a sequencer track. Each hit in the rhythm is a separate MIDI note, so you can re-quantize to get a different feel, or cut and paste bits of the beat to create your own breakdowns and fills.
If you’re letting RMX play its own patterns rather than exporting them to sequencer tracks, you can use the Chaos Designer to alter the dynamics or pitches of occasional hits, either subtly or drastically. Chaos Designer can also randomize the order in which the notes of the pattern are played, introduce timing changes or play some of the samples backwards.
Individual hits are defined by where they are in the pattern, not by what drum is playing. Many of the hits are layered—a kick with a hi-hat, for instance—and can’t be peeled apart, but if you need a kick without a hat, you can usually find one elsewhere in the same pattern. Velocity layering and cross-switching are not part of the RMX concept. The hits can be freely assigned to Edit Groups, and each Edit Group can have its own voicing parameters—envelopes, filter, effects and so on. This makes tricks like adding dub echoes to one particular snare hit quite easy.
Spectrasonics sells several expansion packs for RMX. In addition, with a little effort the program can be coaxed to import REX files. Copy protection is via challenge/response.
THE REX FILES
REX Files are sampled beats whose tempo can be changed with no sonic degradation. Also, you can mess with the beat, changing the groove or replacing single drum sounds. You need to have the right software — a REX File player, a compatible sampler or a sequencer that will load REX Files directly into audio tracks. A REX File player, such as the Dr.REX module in Propellerhead Reason, will give you the most options.
Unlike a sampled loop, which is usually just one long chunk of audio, a REX File contains a loop that has been sliced apart into single hits using Propellerhead ReCycle software. The REX File player assigns each slice to a separate MIDI note. The timing information of the beat is also encoded in the file in the form of a MIDI note pattern, and the REX File player will let you extract the MIDI data to a track, where it can trigger the slices.
Many sound library developers sell CDs or DVDs containing REX Files. One of the best deals I’ve seen is the Zero-G Total REX DVD, which contains thousands of REX Files drawn from the extensive Zero-G catalog.
BRING THAT BEAT BACK
Manufacturers are piling on more and more products in this category —proof (if any were needed) that hot rhythm tracks are foremost on producers’ minds. Other software products worth checking out include Spectrasonics Stylus RMX, Submersible Music DrumCore and FXpansion Guru. MIDI pads and percussion systems from Alesis, Kat and Roland are also well worth looking at. If your music needs big-ass beats, there’s never been a better time to get with the program.
| Want to use this article? Click here for options! |  |
