Drum Parts
Return to Links to All Articles
Overview
To create a working drum part there are two main things you must do.
- Create a PART as TYPE DRUM
- Route DRUM voices to external device
Create a PART as TYPE DRUM
- Only PART 5 through 8 may be configured as DRUM (or CHORD) TYPES
- Go to the PART page, select the PART you wish to modify
- Press GLOBAL then NEXT
- Use E1 to dial to the PART you wish to modify
- Use E6 to dial to DRUM (other options are MONO and CHORD)
- Press SHIFT and CLEAR
- Press NEXT to execute, noting that this will delete any contents already held in the PART
- The PART screen will now display TYPE DRUM above encoder 6
- You must also map your drum voice destinations as described below.
Routing DRUM voices to external devices
There are many different ways you can route drum voices, and the below instructions describe a few common options
1. ROUTING DRUM PARTS - Using Triggers on the Jack Expander
This is an easy way to get going, and consumes only one TRIGGER OUT from the JE module per drum voice. You can also steal a VELOCITY OUT from another PART if you want to manage velocity per step.
Because there are 8 TRIGGER outs on the JE module, you can easily build two DRUM parts (so, 8 voices total) within your project.
- Make sure you have already configured a DRUM PART per the above instructions.
- Go to the GLOBAL page and use E9 to move to the J-EXP TRIGS page (5/10)
- Decide which TRIGs you wish to use (for example TRIG 1 to 4 , or TRIG 5 to 8)
- Use the SHIFT KEY and the appropriate ENCODER (in this example, E5 through E8) to scroll through the options.
- Dial right to the end of the list.
- To assign a TRIG to a PART you must select Dx.y where x = the PART number, and y = the DRUM Voice (from 1 to 4).
- Example. D8.1 means PART 8, Drum voice 1. D5.3 means PART 5, Drum voice 3
- I usually select D8.1, D8.2, D8.3 and D8.4 for TRIGGERS 5 through 8
The above picture shows my standard setup. I use PART 7 and 8 as DRUM PARTS, but keep two trigger outs for standard triggers not routed from a DRUM PART. You can do it any way you like, but this is my starting point, usually.
- TRIG1 - 7.1 - PART 7, Drum Voice 1
- TRIG2 - 7.1 - PART 7, Drum Voice 2
- TRIG3 - 7.1 - 16th trigger
- TRIG4 - 7.1 - Whole note trigger
- TRIG5 - 8.1 - PART 8, Drum Voice 1
- TRIG5 - 8.2 - PART 8, Drum Voice 2
- TRIG5 - 8.3 - PART 8, Drum Voice 3
- TRIG5 - 8.4 - PART 8, Drum Voice 4
Note - take care as you dial through the list. If you dial too fast you can confuse the Vector. The SHIFT key helps with this as it increments in larger steps through the available options.
Applying Velocity to Triggered Voices
The limitation of using Trigger outs is that you are sending an ON/OFF gate per step which does not provide the capability for dynamic volumes. If you have a VELOCITY out free from another PART, then you might want to canibalise that and use it to apply volume for a triggered drum voice.
For example, if you are using a synthesiser voice that does not have a velocity input, you could use the VELOCITY jack from that PART to control a drum voice. You will need to set this up in the routing page.
2. ROUTING DRUM PARTS - Using Gate and Velocity outs
This will consume one Gate and Velocity OUT for each drum voice. It will enable you to apply different volume settings per step.
- Go to the GLOBAL page
- Use E9 to move to the correct CV OUT page
- Use the encoder underneath the GATE you wish to configure (eg E2 or E6)
- Dial to the PART you have created as TYPE DRUM
- You will see NAME V1 for a DRUM enabled PART
- Use SHIFT and the same encoder to select NAME V1 through NAME V4 where Vx corresponds to the VOICE within the DRUM PART
- Do the same for the VELOCITY configuration useing E3 or E7
- You will need to do this for every DRUM VOICE you wish to enable, remembering that you will be assigning various NAME Vx attributes to different CV sets.
3. ROUTING DRUM PARTS - Using Midi Outputs
- Go to GLOBAL then press NEXT to find ROUTE page 1/10
- Scroll using E9 to find the correct MIDI OUTPUT which might be the TRS MIDI, JE MIDI or USB MIDI connections
- Change the white block text variable for CHANNEL using SHIFT and E1 to E8 to match the MIDI IN channel of the connected device
- Select the PART which will be routed to the MIDI destination by using E1 to E8
- Select the DRUM PART and press CONTROL to go to SEQ CTL
- Use E9 to dial to the SEQ CTL - DRUM MAP page
- Use E1 to select the drum voice being 1 through 4 and assign appropriate variables
- Use E2 to select the MIDI note which will be sent to your connected MIDI device
- You can use E3 and E4 to name the voice with a 2 character abbreviation