Drum triggers/MIDI?

Submitted by anonymous on Tue, 07/17/2007 - 09:55

Hi guys, apologies if this has been asked before but I have tried searching the forums and haven't found an answer yet.

I'm (like a lot of people) on a budget and doing recording in my basement. So far, I've been having luck recording guitars and basses DI and using software like GuitarRig to get the sounds instead of Micing my amps. With enough tweaking, I've gotten a pretty good sound and I'm convinced that for me this is the way to go.

Now I need to start recording drums. Our drummer insists on playing his drumset. That's fine, but it's a bitch to set up to record (deadening my basement walls specifically) and to get a professional, polished mix and sound. I was wondering if I could do something similar to what I did for guitars: do as much as possible in software.

Now for my question. I've seen the http://www.drumdial…"]Drumdial analog drum triggers[/]="http://www.drumdial…"]Drumdial analog drum triggers[/] which hook into a module to produce the sound. I was wondering if there was a way to turn these analog drum triggers into MIDI output to run into my computer (I already have an interface), or if there is another product which attaches to the drumset and can trigger MIDI data.

Also, if there is a sample library that you feel is an exceptional value, I'd love to hear about it.

Oh, and I may be on the complete wrong track...please let me know if I am!

Thanks!

Pete

Comments

You say you searched but I don't believe it, unless your search criteria was the word Jabberwocky...and even that search would have returned at least one post.

There are MANY posts on this subject.

In short, what you need is a device to convert the trigger into MIDI data. On the cheap you can look for something like an Alesis D4. They work well and have some good sounds to get you started. When you are ready to upgrade the sounds there are all sorts to choose from. DFH, BFD, Battery, the list goes on and on.

Alternatively, you don't even need MIDI. You could use the recorded audio from the drum as a trigger. The program Drumagog can do that. It can also convert the drum audio into MIDI data if you wanted to do that.