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