I've been frustrated after making recordings in Cakewalk and my mates complained my drum loops from SI sounded too canned that ruined any other impression they had of my music despite the quality of guitars, so I'm diving in to drum editing. Makes it understandable the way you explain it- I think I have a chance of now making better drum tracks for my recordings. Thank you!
Mike, you have just the best content I found in internet about how to squeeze the juice out of Cakewalk's DAW and an essencial knowledge about Sound Engineering. Many thanks!
You have the best instruction videos for Cakewalk, I have been searching a long time for ezdrummer, and superior drummer drum maps for Cakewalk, with not much luck finding the ones I use most. I decided to learn to make my own, and ended up here, I am so glad that I did. Thanks for putting this out there Mike.
First of all: Thank you for making me build my very own small studio - Caused by your inspiring videos!! Then a hint for making DRUMMAPS FOR DRUMPADS - without a manual: I have an old Yamaha DD-11, which I wanted to MIDI-connect to Cakewalk and SI-Drumkit. I did see your 2 videos on the subject, but didn't get to any result. Then I made DD-11 trigger the SI-Electric Piano VST, recorded a hit on each pad, went to the pianoroll and wrote down the notes it triggered. By counting I found out which number ie. E4 had on the keyboard (52), and then it was all easy. So 52 was the first pad sending, which I wanted to play bassdrum. I opened SI-Drumkit, rightclicked on a BD and chose no. 36 to receive. Voila!! (Pad 1 --> Bassdrum = Out:52 - In:36 - Note: E4) Finally a question inspired by "Multiple Kontakt Outputs": I wonder if I can do something like that with SI-Drumkit, so I can get each drum, in its own track but only have 1 instance of the instrument? (Maybe combined with drummaps in some way?) Best wishes and keep up the extremely good and inspiring work! Flemming
Took a mysterious bit of Cakewalk and made it crystal clear. Excellent! This plus your basic video on drum maps moved me to the next level on my DAW. Thank you! 🤘🏻
I immensely enjoyed this video Mike. I'm sure I'll refer back to it multiple times while getting the hang of making a custom drum map. A common drum beat on many classic country records of the sixties is the dominant hand to use a brush to play sixteenth snare hits and the secondary hand use a stick to play hits or side stick (rim shot). Now all I need to do is find a good snare brush hit.
love frum pro and yours tutorial... i'm a reaper user, but I approached cakewalk thanks to your explanations and I must say that it is very compelling!
Brilliant Mike. You've no idea how much you just solved a problem i was having by demonstrating the note in / note out function of the drum map window. Thanks again Mike. Keep safe.
Thanks Mike - an easy to follow tutorial - always wondered if I could mix and match drum kits, makes workflow easier. Added bonus of installing pro drum, which has a great sound!!!
Different Midi In/Out! Oh My God! Genius! If this works, it will make my life easier and save me a ton of time! One card for everything instead of different ones) Thank you Mikeee! I'm Very Grateful for you! You're my Cakewalk MasterHelper😂❤🎉⌚😁👍😅😅😅😅😂😃🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏👏🤣🤓🎊💁😎👌🤩🤪🤠
Another brilliant and very informative video Mike. One thing I have always found very annoying is the fact that on a keyboard the snare and tom tom keys are so far apart which makes it impossible to play something like , say a triplet fill round the snare and toms. Moving the drums closer to each other will make it a whole lot easier. Once again I have learnt something new! Thanks. Mike.
Hey I'm back!!! I'll start binging on the channel again. Somehow YOutube messed up my frequent suggestions and I got lost. HAppy to have found you guys again.
Mike, I found this very helpful. I now have my rack mount drum kit triggering the Si drum kit. I would like to have a separate track for each drum so that can eq and add effects to them individually. Do you have a video on that subject?
Great as always Mike. I've found the 2-octave discrepancy happens in a lot of sampler plugins, so maybe it's Cakewalk that's odd, or maybe there are just 2 different conventions for the numbering scheme of octaves. Do you know a handy way to trigger (for example) a kick in 2 plugins at the same time from the same note? Drum maps in CW by BL don't seem to allow this. Obviously we can duplicate the midi track, but if you are not super disciplined, that can get messy.
Hi Mike. Thank you. Question: Is there anyway to programme a drum map so when in Step Squencer, etc, the drum name shows up rather than the note name. Eg, 'KIck' rather than 'F#3'? Thank you.
Mike, can I insert for instance, 8 copies of the same drum kit so that I can assign each drum or cymbal to its own channel on the mixer? That way I can apply effects and EQ individually to each drum/cymbal.
Great video Mike. Very informative. This might be a silly question: When you set the out (in the drum map) to the kick drum sound from a different vst, (Drum Pro), is that a work around for a kit that only has 1 stereo out? For example: if you were using MTPowerDrums, (8 separate outs) but wanted the kick from Drum Pro, (w/ only L&R outs) will the kick still show up at the kick output (track) for MTDrums? Not sure if I explained my question very well. And thx again for all the info.
I went rogue and used my NI "Studio Drummer" as I walked through the video with you Mike. Everything went very well (mapped the in/out keys, names and output ports for 27 instruments) . When I selected the output for the track, the whole thing popped up beautifully in the piano roll view! I hit play and there was no sound (but the signal was coming through on MIDI). The fix: changed the MIDI out on my VST (NI Studio Drummer) to omni and whammo! sound! How do I send this VST signal on the "right" MIDI channel (vs. omni)? Also, is there any way to change the silly color scheme in piano roll so that the contrast (e.g., instrument names column) is better? p.s. HUGE fan of yours now - in one (vacation) week you've enabled me to elevate my Cakewalk skills tremendously. Keep the videos coming!
Great video Mike! I have a question regarding drum mapping and using an edrum as a midi controller. I have a Roland TD17 KVX kit and when I connect via USB MIDI my hi hat does not trigger correctly (missed hits, open vs. closed issues). If I connect via audio 1/4 jack through my interface I get the full audio drum sound. Any suggestions? Thanks for your great videos!!
Sir i just wanna ask.. i did this also.. multiple drum kits and drum maps but i cant saved it in .mid or midi format.. It says "this project has one or more drum maps.. Im using the sound canvas va and AD2 vst plugins.. i successfully get the separation of output triggers to each other to my cantabile as a vst host.. but my midi file im editing uses a drum map i made which is separated output for the sound canvas va and ad2.. but i cant save the output that has the custom drum map i made
I just have one question, can I assign a different color to each note in the drum map? For example, the kick will be green, the snare will be yellow, and the hi-hat will be orange? In the video they are all orange and I know you can customize the overall color, but is there a custom color setting? This would simplify the editing even more, especially if there are many different options for one drum, for example, as in Superior Drummer 3)🤓👍 This would help to identify everything into groups not only by midi but also visually, by color🤠😃👏🤩👌🤓👍
Might you have a drum map specific to Roland V-Drums and their MIDI notes? When recording via USB/MIDI the stock CW Drum Maps don't trigger the correct hat, crash, ride, snare and tom MIDI notes. Plus all my pads are dual zone/dual trigger which adds further complexity and mapping headaches :-( Was hoping either CW, Bandlab or someone out there may have configured one? Thanks!
Hello, maybe someone here who can help me. I can follow the steps exactly to 12:30. But when I click f.e. on "Kick", the signal is only on the MIDI Tack, but not on the first track, so I can't here anything. MIDI Track has the Input "Omni" and the Output to the Drum Map, which has the Output to (in my case) Kontakt 1. The Virtuell instrument (the first track) has the input "Kontakt 1" and the output "Master". Does anyone know or has an idea what I do wrong? Greetings from germany
HELP !!! Sometimes when I make a drum map in Cakewalk I do or change something that says I need to save presets and that I've made changes to the map. I cannot figure out how to save my drum map changes correctly. I end up losing the whole drum map. When I go to "Drum Maps" in the C drive the name of my file is there but all content is lost. Have you got any idea of what I'm doing wrong? This happens when I am closing Cakewalk and saving project. Up to that point everything works great. Thank You. Greg in Seattle.
Awesome video. I'm wanting to record with my Elesis Dm10 electronic drum kit. The SI drum kit in cakewalk only has a 8 piece kit. So 3 of my pads make the same sound or no sound because the SI kit does not have a place for it. How do I fix this
Mike, should you be so kind helping me out with a doubt: what if I want to send a drum map that I have created or receive it from someone else (or just save it, because I need to format the HD)? Is there a way to do it? If so, how should I procede to install the received/backed up files?
Once again thanks. The real pity from my point of view in Cakewalk these are “Drum Maps”. You cannot use them to set the keys up for other instruments (AmpleSound Guitar for example.). In Reaper for example it is easy to create a template that allows one to setup “maps” for the keyboard. Naming whatever as it is a text file. Pity Cakewalk limits the note length or it would be possible. Just a thought. Thanks again Tony
In the PRV you can enable Notes -> Show-Durations-in-Drum-Grid and disable Notes -> Display-Velocity-Tails -in-Drum-Grid to have standard PRV behaviour. And you get to list Keyswitches as well.
Hey Mike! I have searched and searched the internet. I have drum wav samples that i’ve had for years. Is there a way to make a drum kit on cakewalk that i can create myself? The drums on cakewalk are alright, they’re not as malleable as i would like. I’m trying to see if i can import them to a kit and use the sequencer to make my beats.
Thank you so much. I'm going to try it with Sitala and MT-Power Drum kit. But, could you, if it is not so much to ask, give us the notes and their numbers on the keyboard. Thank you again. Thank you, a lot.
Mike, you're a great teacher of Cakewalk. Your lessons are clear and well-paced, with great visual examples.
Thanks Ron :)
I've been frustrated after making recordings in Cakewalk and my mates complained my drum loops from SI sounded too canned that ruined any other impression they had of my music despite the quality of guitars, so I'm diving in to drum editing. Makes it understandable the way you explain it- I think I have a chance of now making better drum tracks for my recordings. Thank you!
Mike, you have just the best content I found in internet about how to squeeze the juice out of Cakewalk's DAW and an essencial knowledge about Sound Engineering. Many thanks!
You have the best instruction videos for Cakewalk, I have been searching a long time for ezdrummer, and superior drummer drum maps for Cakewalk, with not much luck finding the ones I use most. I decided to learn to make my own, and ended up here, I am so glad that I did. Thanks for putting this out there Mike.
First of all: Thank you for making me build my very own small studio - Caused by your inspiring videos!!
Then a hint for making DRUMMAPS FOR DRUMPADS - without a manual: I have an old Yamaha DD-11, which I wanted to MIDI-connect to Cakewalk and SI-Drumkit. I did see your 2 videos on the subject, but didn't get to any result. Then I made DD-11 trigger the SI-Electric Piano VST, recorded a hit on each pad, went to the pianoroll and wrote down the notes it triggered. By counting I found out which number ie. E4 had on the keyboard (52), and then it was all easy.
So 52 was the first pad sending, which I wanted to play bassdrum. I opened SI-Drumkit, rightclicked on a BD and chose no. 36 to receive. Voila!!
(Pad 1 --> Bassdrum = Out:52 - In:36 - Note: E4)
Finally a question inspired by "Multiple Kontakt Outputs": I wonder if I can do something like that with SI-Drumkit, so I can get each drum, in its own track but only have 1 instance of the instrument? (Maybe combined with drummaps in some way?)
Best wishes and keep up the extremely good and inspiring work!
Flemming
Thanks for your lessons
Took a mysterious bit of Cakewalk and made it crystal clear. Excellent! This plus your basic video on drum maps moved me to the next level on my DAW. Thank you! 🤘🏻
Awesome content! These Cakewalk tutorials are priceless. Thanks Mike!
Great lesson. You really take your time. I appreciate the little extras, such as changing the graphic for your drums.
Excellent tutorial Thank you!!! All your videos are extremely helpful!!
I immensely enjoyed this video Mike. I'm sure I'll refer back to it multiple times while getting the hang of making a custom drum map.
A common drum beat on many classic country records of the sixties is the dominant hand to use a brush to play sixteenth snare hits and the secondary hand use a stick to play hits or side stick (rim shot).
Now all I need to do is find a good snare brush hit.
Thank God for Mike's tutorials!
Great help Mike, nice to see someone break the info down and explain it clearly, love the tutorials👍👍👍
love frum pro and yours tutorial... i'm a reaper user, but I approached cakewalk thanks to your explanations and I must say that it is very compelling!
Brilliant Mike. You've no idea how much you just solved a problem i was having by demonstrating the note in / note out function of the drum map window. Thanks again Mike. Keep safe.
As usual your explanation is very clear and concise. I wish other peoples tutorials were so easy to follow!!
That intro is so iconic I do it along with you lol love the cakewalk videos btw
OK, Mike; you know what? Your lessons are AWESOME! Cheers! :)
All your tutorials are super-helpful. Thanks!
Very nice. Until now wasn't sure how to blend SI Drum Kit sounds with Addictive Drums. Mix and match is so helpful.
that was quite amazing, i do wonder if i will ever know cakewalk completely ????? thanks for another great video mike
Another great, clear video Mike!
Thanks Mike - an easy to follow tutorial - always wondered if I could mix and match drum kits, makes workflow easier. Added bonus of installing pro drum, which has a great sound!!!
Thanks Mike. I never knew you could use a drum map to trigger more than one kit.
Great info and presentation.
Nice one Mike, very helpful. Thanks for your work, also i would like to say that you’re an excellent teacher.
Thanks Peter - its really fun for me to do it!
Thanks Mike, been hanging out for this tutorial for a long time. Brilliant as always.
Super useful and straight forward.. as usual. Thanks.
Thank you :)
Another great video Mike - clear and to the point. Cheers!
I feel like I always end up learning something new from your videos that I did not click on the video to learn
Haha! That's awesome thanks you :)
You are a great man . Thanks for all you knowledge
My pleasure
Merci beaucoup, j'attendais une vidéo comme celle là depuis longtemps
Thank You Very Much... Reall a big help for a beginner like me...😀
Different Midi In/Out! Oh My God! Genius! If this works, it will make my life easier and save me a ton of time! One card for everything instead of different ones) Thank you Mikeee! I'm Very Grateful for you! You're my Cakewalk MasterHelper😂❤🎉⌚😁👍😅😅😅😅😂😃🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏👏🤣🤓🎊💁😎👌🤩🤪🤠
Mike, you are so helpful, thanks for all your hard work.
Very cool! Thanks Mike!
Is it possible to remap certain drum plug ins this way or are we stuck with their initial mapping? Particularly when using the pads on the controller?
Another brilliant and very informative video Mike. One thing I have always found very annoying is the fact that on a keyboard the snare and tom tom keys are so far apart which makes it impossible to play something like , say a triplet fill round the snare and toms. Moving the drums closer to each other will make it a whole lot easier. Once again I have learnt something new! Thanks. Mike.
Another very useful video very well done. Thank you.
Hey I'm back!!! I'll start binging on the channel again. Somehow YOutube messed up my frequent suggestions and I got lost. HAppy to have found you guys again.
Welcome back!
Sooooo, so useful! Thanks Mike!
A great and informative video as usual. Thanks as always for your help.
Super helpful. Exactly the kind of advice i was looking for.
I finally understands drummap.. lol, I just use the piano roll which is not very efficient. Thanks mike, this helps alot.
Helpful as always, thanks Mike!
You are a cool guy. This is helpful
I never understood this Thing before, a big thanks to you!!
Mike, I found this very helpful. I now have my rack mount drum kit triggering the Si drum kit. I would like to have a separate track for each drum so that can eq and add effects to them individually. Do you have a video on that subject?
Good Info, Mate!
Profuse thanks! Extremely useful!
Cool! Got it and thanks!
No problem!
Great Video, Thanks a Lot.
Man,that's so usefful thank you!
Great as always Mike. I've found the 2-octave discrepancy happens in a lot of sampler plugins, so maybe it's Cakewalk that's odd, or maybe there are just 2 different conventions for the numbering scheme of octaves. Do you know a handy way to trigger (for example) a kick in 2 plugins at the same time from the same note? Drum maps in CW by BL don't seem to allow this. Obviously we can duplicate the midi track, but if you are not super disciplined, that can get messy.
Hi Mike. Thank you. Question: Is there anyway to programme a drum map so when in Step Squencer, etc, the drum name shows up rather than the note name. Eg, 'KIck' rather than 'F#3'? Thank you.
Thank you very much!
Thanks for another nice video Mike
-Preston
Mike, can I insert for instance, 8 copies of the same drum kit so that I can assign each drum or cymbal to its own channel on the mixer? That way I can apply effects and EQ individually to each drum/cymbal.
Where can I download the preset in concerning the SI DRUM KIT
Great video Mike. Very informative.
This might be a silly question:
When you set the out (in the drum map) to the kick drum sound from a different vst, (Drum Pro), is that a work around for a kit that only has 1 stereo out?
For example: if you were using MTPowerDrums, (8 separate outs) but wanted the kick from Drum Pro, (w/ only L&R outs) will the kick still show up at the kick output (track) for MTDrums?
Not sure if I explained my question very well.
And thx again for all the info.
I went rogue and used my NI "Studio Drummer" as I walked through the video with you Mike. Everything went very well (mapped the in/out keys, names and output ports for 27 instruments) . When I selected the output for the track, the whole thing popped up beautifully in the piano roll view! I hit play and there was no sound (but the signal was coming through on MIDI).
The fix: changed the MIDI out on my VST (NI Studio Drummer) to omni and whammo! sound! How do I send this VST signal on the "right" MIDI channel (vs. omni)?
Also, is there any way to change the silly color scheme in piano roll so that the contrast (e.g., instrument names column) is better?
p.s. HUGE fan of yours now - in one (vacation) week you've enabled me to elevate my Cakewalk skills tremendously. Keep the videos coming!
Great video Mike! I have a question regarding drum mapping and using an edrum as a midi controller. I have a Roland TD17 KVX kit and when I connect via USB MIDI my hi hat does not trigger correctly (missed hits, open vs. closed issues). If I connect via audio 1/4 jack through my interface I get the full audio drum sound. Any suggestions? Thanks for your great videos!!
Sir i just wanna ask.. i did this also.. multiple drum kits and drum maps but i cant saved it in .mid or midi format..
It says "this project has one or more drum maps..
Im using the sound canvas va and
AD2 vst plugins.. i successfully get the separation of output triggers to each other to my cantabile as a vst host.. but my midi file im editing uses a drum map i made which is separated output for the sound canvas va and ad2.. but i cant save the output that has the custom drum map i made
I just have one question, can I assign a different color to each note in the drum map? For example, the kick will be green, the snare will be yellow, and the hi-hat will be orange? In the video they are all orange and I know you can customize the overall color, but is there a custom color setting? This would simplify the editing even more, especially if there are many different options for one drum, for example, as in Superior Drummer 3)🤓👍 This would help to identify everything into groups not only by midi but also visually, by color🤠😃👏🤩👌🤓👍
So cool!!😎
When load and Icon its has no pictures available. How do I put the icons back in the folder.
Might you have a drum map specific to Roland V-Drums and their MIDI notes? When recording via USB/MIDI the stock CW Drum Maps don't trigger the correct hat, crash, ride, snare and tom MIDI notes. Plus all my pads are dual zone/dual trigger which adds further complexity and mapping headaches :-( Was hoping either CW, Bandlab or someone out there may have configured one? Thanks!
Hello, maybe someone here who can help me. I can follow the steps exactly to 12:30. But when I click f.e. on "Kick", the signal is only on the MIDI Tack, but not on the first track, so I can't here anything. MIDI Track has the Input "Omni" and the Output to the Drum Map, which has the Output to (in my case) Kontakt 1. The Virtuell instrument (the first track) has the input "Kontakt 1" and the output "Master". Does anyone know or has an idea what I do wrong? Greetings from germany
HELP !!!
Sometimes when I make a drum map in Cakewalk I do or change something that says I need to save presets and that I've made changes to the map. I cannot figure out how to save my drum map changes correctly. I end up losing the whole drum map. When I go to "Drum Maps" in the C drive the name of my file is there but all content is lost. Have you got any idea of what I'm doing wrong? This happens when I am closing Cakewalk and saving project. Up to that point everything works great.
Thank You.
Greg in Seattle.
Awesome video. I'm wanting to record with my Elesis Dm10 electronic drum kit. The SI drum kit in cakewalk only has a 8 piece kit. So 3 of my pads make the same sound or no sound because the SI kit does not have a place for it. How do I fix this
Thank you, Thank you , Thank you , Thank you
Mike, should you be so kind helping me out with a doubt: what if I want to send a drum map that I have created or receive it from someone else (or just save it, because I need to format the HD)? Is there a way to do it? If so, how should I procede to install the received/backed up files?
Once again thanks. The real pity from my point of view in Cakewalk these are “Drum Maps”. You cannot use them to set the keys up for other instruments (AmpleSound Guitar for example.). In Reaper for example it is easy to create a template that allows one to setup “maps” for the keyboard. Naming whatever as it is a text file. Pity Cakewalk limits the note length or it would be possible. Just a thought. Thanks again Tony
In the PRV you can enable Notes -> Show-Durations-in-Drum-Grid and disable Notes -> Display-Velocity-Tails -in-Drum-Grid to have standard PRV behaviour. And you get to list Keyswitches as well.
Hey Mike! I have searched and searched the internet. I have drum wav samples that i’ve had for years. Is there a way to make a drum kit on cakewalk that i can create myself? The drums on cakewalk are alright, they’re not as malleable as i would like. I’m trying to see if i can import them to a kit and use the sequencer to make my beats.
Very helpful!!!!!
I need how to add drum pro in cakewalk vst2
hello, can i ask something? why is my ride and hi hat in si-drumkit so distorted?
Thank you so much. I'm going to try it with Sitala and MT-Power Drum kit. But, could you, if it is not so much to ask, give us the notes and their numbers on the keyboard. Thank you again. Thank you, a lot.
Tq
My pleasure!
Hey again!
A line that will never get old: “If you didn’t like this video, make sure you hit the dislike button twice."
(How did one person screw that up?)
how can I find the list with all the keyboard shortcuts for the daw?
Here you go: help.cakewalk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360036997613-Keyboard-Shortcuts
I never saw a legend corresponded the keyboard note number and name So I can make a map
Does anyone have drum map for Addictive drums 2? Could you share it please?
I'd name mine Mike's Drums too :D
LOL
So do I. And I don't even know anyone named Mike!
I'm working on a post rock song and need to get the drums done. I am not a drummer. This is cumbersome...
why doesn't anyone talk about external synths?
... 👍 !!
I never understood this Thing before, a big thanks to you!!