Is there a way to specify MIDI mapping of individual drums, in Reason Drum Kits?

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irongiant14
Posts: 15
Joined: 01 Nov 2019

18 May 2021

Hi, I'm trying to map a Kieth MacMillan Bop Pad MIDI controller to a trial version of Reason Drum Kits. I like the Bop Pad because it lets me play with sticks or hands, without the space or financial investment of a whole e-drum kit. It has a software setup that lets me control and assign four quadrants of the circular pad. This is good but there's another, even more interesting, app for Bop Pad that let's me program each quadrant's radius so I can play multiple drums in each quadrant.

For instance, in Logic's Drum Designer, I can program Quadrent 1 to have the outer radius be the edge of a ride cymbal, the middle of the radius play the middle of the ride, and the central part to trigger the ride's bell. This works because Logic lets me assign each drum component to an individual MIDI note, i.e. Bass drum at C1. The Bop Pad software is limited in that it can only assign adjacent MIDI notes*, so I could program, for example, a quadrant to trigger C1, C#1, D. (*I can adjust the Scale of the note sequence but this is too imprecise too work in the case of triggering these drums.)

Reason Drum Kits has a few key mappings on offer but the instruments are typically separated by default, i.e. C2 (Hi tom) C#2 (crash) D2 (Hi tom) D#2 (Ride). This sounds a mess. I need to be able to place and group them however I want. Is there a way to do this? I've looked into Combinator but struck out.

Before downloading this Drum Kits trial, I had been piecing together custom kits in NN-XT, which gave me the flexibility I need, but I was hoping Drum Kits would make this whole thing easier. If Reason Drum Kits can't work, in this way, do you have any recommendations for what will? I've heard about Ezdrummer, for instance. The Logic Drum designer works well, for this purpose, but my projects are in Reason, not Logic.

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MrFigg
Competition Winner
Posts: 9123
Joined: 20 Apr 2018

19 May 2021

irongiant14 wrote:
18 May 2021
Hi, I'm trying to map a Kieth MacMillan Bop Pad MIDI controller to a trial version of Reason Drum Kits. I like the Bop Pad because it lets me play with sticks or hands, without the space or financial investment of a whole e-drum kit. It has a software setup that lets me control and assign four quadrants of the circular pad. This is good but there's another, even more interesting, app for Bop Pad that let's me program each quadrant's radius so I can play multiple drums in each quadrant.

For instance, in Logic's Drum Designer, I can program Quadrent 1 to have the outer radius be the edge of a ride cymbal, the middle of the radius play the middle of the ride, and the central part to trigger the ride's bell. This works because Logic lets me assign each drum component to an individual MIDI note, i.e. Bass drum at C1. The Bop Pad software is limited in that it can only assign adjacent MIDI notes*, so I could program, for example, a quadrant to trigger C1, C#1, D. (*I can adjust the Scale of the note sequence but this is too imprecise too work in the case of triggering these drums.)

Reason Drum Kits has a few key mappings on offer but the instruments are typically separated by default, i.e. C2 (Hi tom) C#2 (crash) D2 (Hi tom) D#2 (Ride). This sounds a mess. I need to be able to place and group them however I want. Is there a way to do this? I've looked into Combinator but struck out.

Before downloading this Drum Kits trial, I had been piecing together custom kits in NN-XT, which gave me the flexibility I need, but I was hoping Drum Kits would make this whole thing easier. If Reason Drum Kits can't work, in this way, do you have any recommendations for what will? I've heard about Ezdrummer, for instance. The Logic Drum designer works well, for this purpose, but my projects are in Reason, not Logic.
Maybe:
https://www.reasonstudios.com/shop/rack ... /tonerows/

Or:
https://www.reasonstudios.com/shop/rack ... ltiplexer/
🗲 2ॐ ᛉ

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DaveyG
Posts: 2499
Joined: 03 May 2020

19 May 2021

It's always struck me as odd that you can't reassign the drums in RDK to other keys except for the small number of presets and you also can't reassign the pads in Kong. It's also a shame that Reason does not support VSTs that output MIDI because there are a few free VSTs which can map incoming MIDI notes into one or more other notes.

So I think you are stuck with NNXT or, as Mr Figg suggests, buying an RE to convert the incoming notes.

irongiant14
Posts: 15
Joined: 01 Nov 2019

29 Sep 2021

I have a distinct memory of replying to these helpful responses this summer but am reviewing my forum posts and see that it never posted. That stinks! Better late than never. THANK YOU, MrFigg & DaveyG!

Back in May/June I tried both Multiplexer and Tonerows. I liked Multiplexer better and got it to work with RDK intuitively. Mainly because RDK only has one zone for the ride cymbal, ultimately, I purchased Addictive Drums 2, which is awesome, even though it cost more.

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HeartbreakOne
Posts: 42
Joined: 21 Jan 2015

29 Sep 2021

This is my favorite thing ever! Read carefully.

https://www.reasonstudios.com/shop/rack ... rd-player/

Edit: Just realized this post is from May of this year, but if you haven't tried the player in the link yet, I think you'll find it exactly what you need.
TO LET THE WORLD BE

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