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The MIDI editors
Working with drum maps
Background
A drum kit in a MIDI instrument is most often a set of dif-
ferent drum sounds with each sound placed on a separate
key (i. e. the different sounds are assigned to different
MIDI note numbers). One key plays a bass drum sound,
another a snare, and so on.
Unfortunately, different MIDI instruments often use differ-
ent key assignments. This can be troublesome if you have
made a drum pattern using one MIDI device, and then
want to try it on another. When you switch devices, it is
very likely that your snare drum becomes a ride cymbal or
your hi-hat becomes a tom, etc. – just because the drum
sounds are distributed differently in the two instruments.
To solve this problem and simplify several aspects of MIDI
drum kits (like using drum sounds from different instru-
ments in the same “drum kit”), Cubase features so-called
drum maps. A drum map is a list of drum sounds, with a
number of settings for each sound. When you play back a
MIDI track for which you have selected a drum map, the
MIDI notes are “filtered” through the drum map before be
-
ing sent to the MIDI instrument. Among other things, the
map determines which MIDI note number is sent out for
each drum sound, and so which sound is played in the re
-
ceiving MIDI device.
A solution to the problem above therefore is to set up
drum maps for all your instruments. When you want to try
your drum pattern on another instrument, you simply
switch to the corresponding drum map and your snare
drum sound remains a snare drum sound.
Drum map settings
A drum map consists of settings for 128 drum sounds
(one for each MIDI note number). To get an overview of
these settings, open the Drum Editor and use the Map
pop-up menu below the drum sound list to select the “GM
Map” drum map.
This drum map is set up according to the General MIDI
standard. For information on how to load, create and se-
lect other drum maps, see “Managing drum maps” on
page 277.
Ö All settings in a drum map (except the pitch) can be
changed directly in the drum sound list (see
“The drum
sound list” on page 273) or in the Drum Map Setup dialog
(see “The Drum Map Setup dialog” on page 278). These
changes affect all tracks that use the drum map.
About pitch, I-note, and O-note
This can be a somewhat confusing area, but once you
have grasped how it all works it is not very complicated.
Going through the following “theory” helps you make the
most out of the drum map concept – especially if you want
to create your own drum maps.
As mentioned earlier, a drum map is a kind of “filter”,
transforming notes according to the settings in the map. It
does this transformation twice; once when it receives an
incoming note (i.
e. when you play a note on your MIDI
controller) and once when a note is sent from the program
to the MIDI sound device.
In the following example, we have modified the drum map
so that the Bass Drum sound has different pitch, I-note,
and O-note values.