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ABOUT THIS MANUALThe information contained in this document is subject to change without notice.In addition screenshots included in this manual may differ from the actual product.

Toontrack Music AB makes no warranty of any kind with regards to this material, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Toontrack Music AB will not be liable for errors contained herein or for incidental or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing, performance or use of this material.

EZdrummer, EZplayer free, EZplayer pro and Superior Drummer are registered trademarks of Toontrack Music AB.

Audio Unit and Mac OS X are trademarks or registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. DirectX and Windows are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. VST is a registered trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH. RTAS is a registered trademark of Avid Technology, Inc.

All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

This manual is copyright 2008 Toontrack Music AB.No part of this document may be photocopied, reproduced ortranslated to another language without written consent from the originator.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 - INTRODUCTION 6

1.1 What is Drumtracker? 61.2 A journey back in time 7

2 - INSTALLATION 8

2.1 System Requirements 82.2 Installing Drumtracker for Windows 82.3 Installing Drumtracker for Macintosh 82.4 Registering Drumtracker and Authorizng 9

3 - QUICKSTART 11

3.1 Starting the program 113.2 Waveform Pane 123.3 Inputs Section 13

4 - OPERATION 14

4.1 Adding Inputs 144.2 Working with Inputs 164.3 Rendering Parts 174.4 Sound Preview 174.5 Adjusting the Threshold 174.6 Adjusting Filters 184.7 Velocity Controls 184.8 Mapping and Input Definition 184.9 Manual Editing 194.10 Converting to MIDI 204.11 Preview using external sounds 214.12 Using the MIDI OUT feature 22

5 - SHORTCUTS AND PREFERENCES 23

5.1 Preferences 235.2 Keyboard Shortcuts 245.3 Tools Shortcuts 24

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CREDITSConcept and specifications: Mattias Eklund and Erik PherssonProject Manager: Erik PherssonProgramming: Robert Jonsson and Leif LandénConfiguration Manager: Rogue MarechalArt Director: Fredrik Ärletun

Interface design: Fredrik Ärletun and Erik PherssonWeb and database programming: Daniel Dermes and Andreas Frost

Manual written by: Scott SibleyAdditional copytext: Erik Phersson and Rogue MarechalProofreading: Nils Eriksson and Scott Sibley

Support team: Nils Eriksson, Joe King, John Rammelt

Betatesters: Kevin Afflack, Tony Artimisi, Damian Blunt, Philippe Decuyper, Chaim Goldman, Scott Griggs, Svein Hyttebakk, Kenny Lee, Emmanuel Lorant, Murray McDowall, Dave Modisette, Marcel Ritsema.

Market Strategist and Head Evangelist: Andreas Sundgren

Additional thanks to all our hard working distributors, supporting families and, naturally, all Toontrack customers around the world for their custom and support.

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1 - INTRODUCTION1.1 What is Drumtracker?

Drumtracker is a stand-alone professional drum replacer that accepts multiple Audio tracks and converts them to MIDI for sound replacement.

In essence, you feed it audio recordings of drums in one end. Then, with the help of filters and additional manual adjustments to define the trigger points, Drumtracker spits out multi track MIDI at the other end. The results can then be used within the Digital Audio Workstation and drum sampler(s) of your choice.

Importantly, Drumtracker allows all out manual operation so you can tweak your audio to achieve a perfect result and then convert to MIDI. Each trigger point is graphically represented on a timeline and, since we’ve decided to leave it up to you as to how to catch the emotion of the original recording, you can delete, add, move or even change the velocity of the hits to your individual needs, there and then. Operating independently from your host, you can rest assured that the quality of the detection is second to none and will provide a very high degree of accuracy. Export options to encompass all possible environments and workflow are available and it is a simple matter to import the result back into your project.

The list of features goes on, of course, but this is what Drumtracker is in simple terms: Feed > Convert > Replace

We are confident you will find it more than adequate for the task and be equally pleased with how much of the performance you can retain after some minimal efforts. Are you ready to revisit your early recordings and make them sound as fresh as they have ever been?

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1.2 A journey back in time

I started playing in my first serious band just when the record format shifted from vinyl to CD. With that first band we even managed to release a vinyl EP before CD took over. After we made that EP, we made a bunch of recordings, both for a CD that we released and just some demos in the studio with the songs of the original EP in new versions. Every time we re-recorded those songs we tried capturing the feel of the first cut on that EP. We never succeeded. The new recordings always came out more competent than the originals but also a lot less emotional.

Before this turns into an article in any well-known rock mag where the thirtysomething rock journalist tries to delve into the mysteries of lost youth, I know you’re asking yourself: in which way does this relate to presenting a software tool designed for converting audio recordings of drums to MIDI?

Well, back then, if only I (or we) had the means to capture both the sound and emotion of the original 8-track recordings of that EP, it seems obvious I could just have used this tool to regain the feeling of the moment caught on tape. By solely replacing the sounds, we could have achieved what we were looking for - a better sounding recording... at least for one part of the track.

With the tools that Toontrack Music and others have developed to make digital instruments sound like they came out of a ‘full-on studio’, when in fact they were produced on a laptop computer, the improved sound quality is easily achievable, undoubtedly. The feeling is another thing. For that you need to go back to the original multi track recordings. Toontrack has endevored and will keep on striving in a direction where we can offer all components that a writer, performer, or producer might need to make better music. Drumtracker is another step in that direction. So, whether you’re a seasoned pro that works with replacing drums on an every day basis, or somebody who wants to update the sound but not the feeling of their classic garage recordings, go catch the feeling!

Andreas Sundgren

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2 - INSTALLATION2.1 System Requirements

Minimum Requirements:

• 50Mb free hard disc space, DVD drive• Windows XP or Vista, Pentium IV / Athlon 1,8 GHz with 1GB RAM• Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) or higher, Dual G4 1,25 GHz with 1GB RAM• Professional soundcard with up-to-date drivers

2.2 Installing Drumtracker for Windows

To install Drumtracker for Windows simply run the Drumtracker Installer located in the same folder as this document. To uninstall run this program again or use the Add/Remove Program control panel provided by your operating system.

2.3 Installing Drumtracker for Macintosh

To install Drumtracker for Macintosh simply run the Drumtracker Installer located in the same folder as this document. To uninstall simply run the Uninstaller executable provided.

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2.4 Registering Drumtracker and Authorizing your Computer

If this is your first Toontrack product, please begin by setting up a user account athttp://www.toontrack.com/register/ and register your product by using your unique serial number, found on the back of the DVD sleeve (or alternative placement on the product packaging). If you already have one or several Toontrack products registered to an account, simply log in and register.

On first launching Drumtracker, you will be prompted to authorize the software. The authorization screen will display your unique Computer ID and ask you to key in an authorization code in order to use the software. To obtain the response code, please follow the on-screen instructions:

1. Copy or manually write down your unique Computer ID from the Authorization Screen.2. Go back to your account and click the “Authorize Product” button in the right hand menu.3. Add a short “Computer Description” for your convenience. 4. Paste or manually enter the Computer ID to generate your Authorization Code.5. Paste or manually enter the Authorization Code back into the Authorization Screen in Drumtracker.6. Press <Authorize> in the product interface.7. You will be greeted with a congratulation if Drumtracker has been successfully authorized.

Should Authorization fail, please first make sure the computer ID displayed in the Authorization Screen indeed matches the one you used to generate your code. If not, please repeat the above steps and use the proper ID.

Should Authorization still fail, please contact Toontrack Support by filling out the Contact Form located at http://www.toontrack.com/contact_support.asp. Make sure

to include your serial number, Computer ID, and a detailed description of the issue.

MYCPU-UNIQUE-UID

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3 - QUICKSTARTThe purpose of this chapter is to give you a quick overview of the program, as well as introduce essential concepts and the basic workflow you will need to be familiar with in order to operate Drumtracker.

Remember that Drumtracker processes an Audio source and converts it to MIDI information that you then import into your day-to-day sequencer application in place of the original Audio file(s). Keep this in mind while reading through the documentation as this is key to understanding some, if not all, of the features described herein.

3.1 Starting the program

Upon opening Drumtracker, you willl be presented with the User Interface pictured below:

The interface is divided into two main areas: the Waveform pane, and the Inputs section, just below the transport bar.

We’ll take a closer look at them very shortly but for the time being choose ‘New Input’ from the ‘File’ menu, and browse for a suitable sound file in the ensuing dialog. Accept the default by clicking ‘Done’. What is important at this stage is that you have a waveform to experiment with.

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3.2 Waveform Pane

The Waveform pane is where a graphical representation of your audio track is displayed. It is here in the Waveform pane that Drumtracker detects and graphically depicts the events from your loaded audio file. It is also where you will have the flexibility to add, delete, and move events to create your perfect performance from a sometimes not-so-perfect take.

For the time being, just drag across any area of the waveform to delimit the region or part that you’d like to work on, as per on-screen instructions.

The Transport bar below the waveform provides basic Play/Pause functionality, as well as a Loop function. When ‘looping’ is enabled, the playback will loop the area marked in the timeline of the sound file.

The loop area is set by dragging across in the timeline just above the waveform. The loop area will thereafter be indicated by two vertical yellow lines. If no loop area is selected, the whole file will be looped.

Included in the Transport Bar section are horizontal and vertical ‘zoom’ sliders. The zoom sliders will zoom in or out centered on the position of the playback cursor. Alternately, you can zoom in by Right PC clicking / Control MAC clicking, then holding and dragging to the right or left in the Waveform pane. Alt+Right click and drag allows you to zoom out of an area. A Zoom Tool is also provided in the Tools section.

In the Transport Bar, you will also find a ‘Preview Balance’ slider, but more on this later.

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3.3 Inputs Section

The Inputs section is where you will add the tracks you want Drumtracker to work its magic on. As previously seen you can accomplish this by selecting the ‘New Input’ entry from the ‘File’ menu but you can also click the ‘+ Add Input’ button in the bottom left of the program’s graphical interface.

We will review the process in greater details in the next chapter of this Operation Manual. For now, note the various controls available to you to define how Drumtracker should handle your audio file:

Preview - this is where you will choose which sound should be played back for the detected events after you have ‘Rendered’ the track.

Main Filter - in a nutshell, these are the parameters critical to ensure that Drumtracker detects the events you want and ignores the ones you don’t. Three factory preset filters are included – Hi-hat, Snare, and Kickdrum, but you can, of course, customize your filters as needed for proper detection.

Velocity Control - velocity controls are a convenient way to specify the minimum and maximum value that should be processed and a rescaling funcion to optimize the result for a particular drum sampler.

Mapping - here you can change ‘on-the-fly’ the note number associated with the events the filter will allow you to detect.

Convert - once you are satisfied with Drumtracker ’s event detections and have tweaked the performance to your liking, the end product can be loaded into your Digital Audio Workstation and run through your favorite drum sampler(s). The ‘Convert’ dialog box will specify what should be included in the MIDI file(s).

For now mark the box next to the sole Input present in this test project then select‘Tools’ > ‘Render’ and after the process has completed ‘ Tools’ > ‘Convert’.

Congratulation, you should now have produced your very first MIDI drum track out of your recording. Do not worry about the exact result at this stage, the important aspect is that you get a feel for the basic workflow: > >

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4 - OPERATIONYou should now be familiar with the basic workflow of the program. The idea behind Drumtracker, however, is that instead of using automatic functions for analyzing audio hits, we put the power in your hands, the user.

This means that the more time you spend in setting up your project the better the final result will be. Much like setting up and placing microphones for a drum recording session, the better the pre-work, the better the end result.

So let’s take a more in-depth look at getting the best results out of Drumtracker.

4.1 Adding Inputs

Clicking the ‘+ Add Input’ in the bottom left corner of the interface (or selecting ‘New Input’ from the ‘File’ menu), you will be presented with the ‘Add Input’ menu window.

In the ‘Add Input’ menu, you will first want to select a sound file to process. The file can either be mono or stereo in .wav, or .aif format. Navigate to the file via the ‘Browse’ button. Once selected, the path is displayed in the ‘Path’ window.

Rename the Instrument name by typing the desired label into the text input field if the default name is not suitable.

Next, choose a MIDI Template. You can select templates from EZDrummer, Superior 1, Superior 2, or General MIDI amongst others. ‘Note Numbers’ is the default template selection and is practical when you know exactly which target note number you want the trigger points to be converted to in MIDI. You can then choose which MIDI note that will correspond to this particular Input under MIDI Mapping.

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For example, select ‘Superior 2’ as your MIDI template and if, as in the above test file, you have opted to work on a kick drum file, select ‘[36] Kick - Normal’ in the dropdown menu under MIDI Mapping. This will ensure that the correct MIDI note is used for your particular drum sampler once you have converted your track to MIDI.

If you want to extract more instruments or articulations from your selected Input, you can do so by selecting ‘+ Add Instrument’ and setting the instrument name and MIDI mapping as described above.

This can be useful if you want to break out an entire drumkit (Kick, Snare, Hi-hat, Toms, and Cymbals) into their individual kit pieces from just an overhead or room audio file. Keep in mind, however, that when working from direct mics for the instruments it will be easier to discriminate between the main instrument and the others, since the signal will be dominant and there will be less bleed from the other sources.

This is also a very convenient way for getting the best performance from a specific instrument featured in the audio file, as you can then ‘+ Add Instrument’ for each articulation you would like featured in the resulting MIDI file. For example, if you have a track where you want ‘Hit’ and ‘Sidestick’ represented where appropriate, choose‘+ Add Instrument’ and select the mapping associated with the note corresponding to the relevant samples in your drum sampler of choice.

Once you are satisfied with your Inputs, click ‘Done’.

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4.2 Working with Inputs

After your inputs have been loaded into Drumtracker, each will be displayed in the Inputs Section, as horizontal Input strips. Note that the Waveform pane will always display the currently selected Input strip. You can change between which Input is active by clicking the corresponding Input strip.

Press the Play button and listen to the audio file. Make sure it’s the correct file you wish to work with.

Use the Part tool above the waveform to select the part or parts that you want to be analyzed. The selected part will appear in the color corresponding to the input instrument or articulation to indicate your selection. Each Input has to have at least one instrument ‘part’ defined in the timeline, otherwise nothing in that input will be processed.

Note that if you have more than one instrument or articulation in an input you can select each of them separately with the Part tool. First, choose the input by clicking on it in the Inputs section and select the colored box that corresponds to the articulation in the Waveform pane. Then, using the Part tool, highlight each section of the waveform where the specific articulation is present.

So, for example, if you have chosen a Hi-hat input, you can highlight the sections of your song containing closed and open Hi-hat separately to ensure each is triggering the correct sound and will also render the correct MIDI notes at the export stage.

If you require to resize a part at any point, with the part tool selected, place your cursor close to the edge of the coloured area. The cursor will change to a [ (front) or ] (back) to indicate you can now resize the current part.

4.3 Rendering Parts

Click in the timeline to the left of a part you have just defined. Press play again. All events inside the selected parts that are detected are shown as vertical colored lines. The higher the line shows, the higher the velocity.

Note that playing through a part is, in effect, an alternative to clicking the ‘Render’ button (or choose ‘Render’ from the ‘Tools’ menu), as seen in the previous chapter. If you wish to process the whole timeline in a sweep without listening to the sound, the ‘Render’ function will probably be more appropriate but there may be times that you just want to re-render a part after readjusting a filter.

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4.4 Sound Preview

If you want to listen to the ‘triggers’ detected so you have a better idea of what the end results might sound like, you can choose which sound you want to be played for each Instrument. This is selected with the Preview dropdown menu in the Input strip. Choose the one that corresponds to your Instrument. You can select between kit pieces as well as various ‘click’ sounds.

For example, working on a snare track you might want to select the sound that best corresponds to the articulation you want to preview, as intended in the end result post-export. You can also select distinct synthetic sounds that help differentiate the events more easily. Basically, select the closest sonic matches or one type of ‘click’ for head and another one for rim.

Then, making sure Tools > Play events > Audio is selected, play the part again.

To change the balance between the original sound file and the drum ‘triggers’, drag the Preview Balance Slider next to the Play button.

Drag to the left to hear more of the preview sound and to the right for more of the original audio sound.

If you wish to trigger a dedicated drum sampler in real-time, you can also selectPlay events > MIDI in the ‘Tools’ menu. For this to work you will have to specify your MIDI interface and MIDI channel in the program’s ‘Preferences’ (in the ‘Tools’ menu), or set up adequate MIDI routing through a virtual MIDI port at system level. See later in this chapter for additional information.

4.5 Adjusting the Threshold

The detection threshold can be seen as a red horizontal line in the waveform. To adjust it, choose the Part tool and drag the threshold up or down. Try to set the threshold to trigger the events you want while not triggering extraneous noises or hits. Take your time here but keep in mind that these detected events can be adjusted later.

If you want a different threshold in a specific section, hold down the Control PC / Command MAC then click and drag on the threshold line. The different threshold levels can be adjusted both horizontally and vertically. If you drag close enough to an adjacent level they will snap together.

This is very useful for making sure events are detected in quiet passages by lowering the threshold for only that section and then raising the threshold for the louder sections.

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4.6 Adjusting Filters

The Main Filter section in the Input Strip is where you can further refine the way that the events are detected in Drumtracker. These filters allow you to choose any one of three filter presets depending on the Input Instrument. You can select between Hi-hat, Snare, or Kickdrum filters. You can also choose to freely customize your filters.

Click on ‘Edit’ in the Main Filter area for the Input of interest. You will be presented with the Main Filter Edit menu. It is in this menu that you can adjust the filter’s parameters. You can also choose to load and save a filter preset from this menu.

Sensitivity – This is the Attack sensitivity.A small value equates to high sensitivity,a high value equates to low sensitivity.

Hold – This is a Hold Filter.The smaller the value, the closer in time the trigger points can be.

Frequency – Select between low and high frequencies with this button. Select ‘Low’ for low frequency instruments like a kick or ‘High’ for instruments like cymbals.

Q Value – This is used to select the Q value, or frequency tolerance, for the filter.A ‘Wide’ Q value selects more frequencies on either side of the of the base frequency (Low or High), while a ‘Narrow’ setting selects a tighter frequency range.

Along with the Main Filter, each part you have selected for Drumtracker detection can also have its own unique filter. It can be adjusted by clicking the little ‘F’ icon in the lower right corner of each part. This part-unique filter can be adjusted independently from the Main Filter and has the same options, described in the previous paragraph.

Note that you can reset ‘part’ filters, effectively returning to the Input default filter parameters, by using the Part tool and clicking on the part in question. Then, in the ‘Tools’ menu, choose Remove part filter.

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4.7 Velocity Control

To the right of the Main Filter in the Input strip is the Velocity Ctrl. Here you can specify the maximum and minimum value that should be set during detection. The Velocity Menu is accessed by clicking the ‘Edit’ button.

Upper Limit – Velocities above this value will be Set To the specified value. Lower Limit – Velocities below this value will be Set To the specified value.

This feature quickly allows you to rescale the dynamic range of the track. This can help ensure that weak hits correspond to sufficiently high MIDI velocity values and, in turn, trigger the appropriate sample layer from the sound bank intended for the final track.

4.8 Mapping and Input Definition

To the right of the Velocity Controls in the Input strip is the Mapping section. This is the same mapping section that you selected when you added the Input so you may change the mapping after the Input is created by using the Mapping dropdown menu.

Note that you can only choose an entry belonging to the same MIDI template. If you require more involved mapping adjustments, or want to change any other aspect of the Input (for example, adding another Instrument or articulation to the Input), click the ‘Edit’ button to the far right. This will present you with the dialog you encountered when first setting up the Input.

Last, the ‘Remove’ button will completely remove the Input strip from the Inputs section from the project. This step cannot be undone so make sure you really want to delete the Input before clicking ‘Yes’ on the confirmation dialog.

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4.9 Manual Editing

Now let’s look at adding, editing, and removing events manually. These alterationsto the original performance can be accomplished by selecting the Edit Tool .To select an event, click on it with the Edit tool. Multiple selections can be performed by SHIFT PC/MAC clicking events to add to the current selection. You can also use the left and right Arrow keys to move from event to event in the selected part. To add events manually, hold down the Control PC / Command MAC key and click with the mouse where you want the event to be. This is useful in situations where Drumtracker has failed to detect an event that you can see visually in the waveformor that the performer missed during the recording. Alternately, you can place your cursor where you want the extra event and select the ‘Add Event’ button .

To exclude an event, click on the event and press delete or backspace. This is useful for when Drumtracker detected an event that it shouldn’t have or you just feel that the rendered MIDI file shouldn’t include that particular event. You can also hold down Control PC /Command MAC and click on the event you want to be excluded.

To move an event, click on the event and simply move it with the mouse. You can also use the keyboards arrow keys to nudge it by holding down Control PC / Command MAC and hitting the right or left arrow keys. The amount nudged is set in the application Preferences. Moving an event is helpful when the live performed track had a hit that was either early or late and you want the resulting MIDI to correct it.

To change the velocity value of an event, equating to the force of the hit, hold down the Alt PC / Option MAC key while clicking an event, and then move the mouse up or down to change the value. You can also mark an event and use Control PC /Command MAC + Arrow Up or Arrow Down to adjust the velocity of this event.

In the ‘Tools’ menu you also have a couple of options for adjusting the velocity of selected events. Choose ‘Change event velocity’ under the ‘Tools’ menu will present you with a Change Velocity window where you can change the velocity of the selected event(s) by dragging a slider to the desired value. Dial a value from 1 to 127.

Also available in the ‘Tools’ menu is the ‘Random event velocity’ function. Select multiple events and choose this option then pick a Minimum (1-127) and Maximum (1-127) value and Drumtracker will randomly provide values within that range for each individual event included in the current selection.

Continue to tweak and work with your files until you are satisfied with the results. This process may take time depending on the complexity of the source files and the quality you are looking to achieve. Creating MIDI parts (kick, snare, toms, hi-hat, and cymbals) from a single mono drum track will take considerably more time and effort on your part than, say, a mono kick drum file with very little bleed from other instruments.

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4.10 Converting to MIDI

Once you are satisfied with Drumtracker results, you can convert your Inputs (source files) into MIDI information to import back into the original project.

The first step is to select the ‘convert’ box for the Input instruments or articulations you want to convert into MIDI. A blue box will indicate that those Inputs are selected.

Next, click ‘Convert’ in the lower right corner of the Inputs section.The Convert window will open:

Set the path to the folder on your computer where you want the MIDI to be saved. Then choose a name for the MIDI file that will be created.

Next, set the Target Tempo you want for the MIDI file created. Set the tempo to correspond to the tempo that the audio file was tracked to in your original project.

If you have used audio files of a live performance where no ‘click track’ was used, choose any value, for example 120BPM, and make sure you set the tempo to the same value in the project you import the resulting files in. This will ensure proper sync when imported into your DAW.

If a tempo map was used as a reference while tracking, be it to accomodate tempo changes or odd time signatures, you can choose to import your conductor track as a MIDI file at this point so that all events are referenced correctly against your project timeline. Select ‘Browse’ next to Tempo Map and navigate to the MIDI file. Then make sure you select ‘Enable Tempo Map’ at the bottom of the window.

By default, Drumtracker will convert to MIDI type 1 format. This option is useful if you wish to archive your MIDI into a single file on disk but import the instruments to separate MIDI tracks in your host’s sequencer. MIDI type 0 is best suited if you prefer to import all instruments to a single track in your host.

Another option available to you is ‘Split Instruments’. Selecting this will save one MIDI file per instrument (or articulation) that were included as part of each Input. So, for example, if you have a Hi-hat Input and have multiple Instrument articulations set up for it, selecting ‘Split Instrument’ would create a separate MIDI file for each articulation.

Once you have finished, click the Convert button.

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4.11 Preview using external sounds

In addition to auditioning your converted tracks with the useful but minimalistic sound selection at your disposal from within Drumtracker, you may also trigger your favorite software or hardware drum sampler in real time. You can, therefore, hear the track exactly how it will sound when you import it back into your project.

The ability to preview your final adjustments with the exact sounds you will be using to replace your drum track is immensely helpful but relies on technology beyond the scope of this operation manual. However, we would like to introduce the essential concepts and keywords that should help you understand how it all works and provide you with the acumen to search for related information (the Internet is of course a good place to start. Keywords are noted in italic in the below text for your convenience).

The first option available to you is to drive a hardware sound module. This is relatively straightforward: choose your MIDI interface in the program’s preferences window and specify the discrete MIDI channel your equipment is set to respond to.

The second option is to use a MIDI inter application communication system, commonly referred to as a ‘MIDI loopback’. In a nutshell, MIDI information from Drumtracker is passed onto a MIDI capable application via the operating system.

The pivotal component of a MIDI inter application communication system is invariably a virtual MIDI port accessible at OS level for any MIDI capable application to accept information from. The good news is that it sounds more complicated than it is. The bad news is that on the Windows platform you will have to install the main component required for the system to work, the virtual MIDI port (aka ‘MIDI loopback device’) itself.

On the Macintosh platform, your operating system already contains a virtual MIDI port called the IAC bus. You will need to configure it however, which is thankfully a painless process thanks to the Audio MIDI Setup application.

On the Windows platform however, the difficult part will be to chose which virtual MIDI port to install as there are many to chose from, with variable capabilities and different price points (including freewares). The key is certainly to choose one whose code is well maintained and specifically guarantees compatibility with your operating system. Typing “MIDI loopback device” into a search engine should return plenty of information and candidates for you to consider.

OK, so, assuming you’ve successfully set up your MIDI loopback device and it now appears in Drumtracker’s preferences (see the next page for details), let’s turn our attention to making it all work for you!

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4.12 Using the MIDI OUT feature

As stated previously, to utilize the MIDI OUT feature you must ensure thatPlay events > MIDI is selected in the ‘Tools’ menu. Note that both Audio and MIDI play events options can be selected at the same time.

So, with both options selected in the ‘Tools’ menu, drag the ‘balance’ slider underneath the waveform in the Waveform pane all the way to the left. This will turn off playback for the source file but allow events to be heard using the Drumtracker built-in sounds.

Make sure that the Preview sound has a sharp attack and is sufficiently different in tone to the external instrument you intend to trigger as this will help the calibration procedure explained below. A ‘click’ sound will be perfect. Bring up the Preferences window by selecting Drumtracker > Preferences from the main menu bar:

In the bottom part of the window, select your Audio hardware and virtual MIDI port in the drop down menus. Select the MIDI channel to be used as required. Exit the dialogue box.

Start the playback of your Input (loop a small section for convenience) and turn your attention to the Audio application you intend to use to host your drum sampler. This can be the stand alone version of your sampler, a basic VSTi host, or a full fledged sequencer. So, as long as you can load your drum sampler into it and configure MIDI inputs, you should be OK.

With the help of your chosen application’s manual, route MIDI from the virtual MIDI port you specified in Drumtracker to your instrument track. This should be no different than triggering your sampler from a MIDI keyboard so if you know how to do that this should be a simple matter. You should now be hearing drums coming out of your speakers. If the opposite is true, carefully check your routing.

You may notice that the ‘click’ sound emitted by Drumtracker, to coincide with the detected trigger points in your drum part, may be slightly ahead or behind in time compared to your drum sampler. If this is the case, bring up the Preferences window to the front again and adjust the ‘Latency Correction’ slider until the sounds align exactly.

That’s about all there is to it. Uncheck Play events > Audio (or choose <no sound> in the Input section) and drag the ‘balance’ slider to the right until you hear just enough of the original sound to suit your working method.

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5 - PREFERENCES AND SHORTCUTS5.1 Preferences

You can access the program’s preferences from the main menu bar at the very top of your screen:

The Nudge length (ms) value specifies how much the nudge command should move the MIDI events.

Rewind on pause. If this is selected the timeline marker will jump back to the point where the playback started once playback is stopped.

Audio device. Select the audio interface you want to send the sound to from this drop down menu.

MIDI device and channel. Select the MIDI device and channel you want to send the MIDI to when using the Play Events > MIDI function.

Latency correction. Adjust this setting so the Sound from the sound file is played at the same time as the MIDI out signal.

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5.2 Keyboard Shortcuts

T = Zoom inR = Zoom outControl PC / Command MAC + L = Toggle loopEnter = Go to startAlt + arrow down/up = Zoom out/in verticallyAlt + arrow left/right = Zoom out/in horizontallyN + Right arrow = Next MIDI eventB + Left arrow = Previous MIDI eventControl PC / Command MAC + M = New MIDI event at current positionDelete/Backspace = Delete selected part or MIDI eventF1 = Edit toolF2 = Part toolF3 = Zoom toolSpacebar = Toggles playback

5.3 Tool Shortcuts

Edit Tool = Select a MIDI eventClick/Drag = Move a MIDI eventAlt + Click/Drag vertically = Increase/decrease velocity of MIDI eventControl PC / Command MAC + arrow down/up = Increase/decrease velocity of eventControl PC / Command MAC + arrow left/right = Move MIDI eventControl PC / Command MAC + Click = Add or Exclude MIDI event (contextual)

Part ToolClick/Drag = Create partClick/Drag near edge = Resize partAlt + Click/Drag = Subtract from part

Zoom ToolClick/Drag = Zoom in areaAlt + Click/Drag = Zoom out areaDouble Click = Zoom out to maximum view

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