TD30 midi connections

[jammin777]

been thinking of venturing into trying triggering vst's via ez drummer 2. which is better? via usb port on the td30 or regular midi cable?
if midi cable is better then will this work and how good is it?
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/deta...xN3hoCewXw_wcB

[skinz]

better to use USB. Just simpler with one lead. Install the latest USB/Audio TD30 driver for your O.S. You might want to track whilst listening to the TD30 then use VST for playback as the latency of the VST will be annoying when tracking. The TD30 is only a couple of msec whereas VST is at least several times slower

[jammin777]

thanks, now when i track i start by having a drumless song on track one and then record drum tracks. will there be latency drum tracks to drumless track or just what i'm hearing while tracking?

[jammin777]

what is the max length of the usb cable for latency issues?

[mkok]

I don't think the USB cable would be the source of latency. I take it since you are using midi you are playing a vst instrument or are you recording midi and then playing back the td30? If a vsti then the soundcard drivers are the most likely culprit. If midi only then make sure you turn local off. Some DAWS you have to set a midi offset

[jammin777]

thanks but i dont have any issues yet. i just want to buy a usb cable to trigger ez drummer2 and want to know what the max length is before having issues with latency i will be triggering ezdrummer as well as record. sorry i'm am learning as i go and yes i will want to lay down some tracks 7 tracks via ezdrummer2 to drumless songs. keep them coming guys. i want to learn a lot lol!

[skinz]

mkok is right. The issue is more to do with your computer processing the vsti. If you are tolerant you may be able to put up with the latency whilst tracking, personally I'm not that tolerant ;-} also like mkok says, try the vdrums sounds themselves by sending the midi back out to the TD brain. You can then use vediting to tweak settings, swap sounds, ambience far more than you can with the VSTi and then save the kit so you have a great sounding kit to use when not connected to your computer. Just make sure you turn midi local control off in the TD system settings or else you'll hear the direct hit on the kit and the midi hit coming in which will result in a phasey/chorus sort of sound that can be annoying. Be sure to turn local back on when done with the computer or you'll just get silence from the kit.

[jammin777]

please bear with me as i am a total dummy when it comes to this midi stuff, so what you are saying is send the midi back to the td 30 so while i am tracking, i hear the td30 sounds while tracking vst's? to avoid hearing latency? also will the drum track be out of sinc with the drumless track im listening to that i have in track 1 while laying drum tracks? man i have a lot to learn! as much as i love the real sounds of the acoustic vst's it is much easier to track audio with the sounds of the module lol! thanks for your patients

[MS-SPO]

Hi jammin777,

for tracking I suggest giving a try to the free version of Studio One 2 ( http://www.presonus.com/products/studio-one/download ). SO2 claims having taken care of midi latency issues (see quantization). Even the free version can go a long way. E.g. you can record TD30 USB-MIDI and USB-Audio simultaneously to an instrument and an audio track.

It looks like you can also integrate ez drummer into SO2 somehow ( http://www.toontrack.com/faq/ezdrumm...-professional/ ).

What I recognized is that many music professionals seem to be excited about SO2's approach, even if it may be missing a few goodies other DAW's already do provide. As a hint: the Artist version sometimes is bundled to instruments, say a low-cost MIDI-keyboard (e.g. as input and editing device), i.e. it's almost free ;-) May be worth a thought?

Best regards and success,
Michael

[jammin777]

MS-SPO, thanks for the heads up! im a little confused, what do you mean when you say record usb-midi and usb audio simultaneously? please explain as i am an idiot lol!

[MS-SPO]

Hi jammin777,

sure, I'll try on the fly. On this PC I don't have the TD-30 attached, so I apologize some info is missing in the attached image.

First, USB-Audio seems to work anyway. Install the Roland USB driver on your PC and you can record drums in your DAW or replay your DAW through TD-30 and speakers (see below).

MIDI you may need to activate on TD-30. Somehow it works ... the part to fiddle with is MIDI Global (p. 141), see red part in image. TD-30 by default uses MIDI-channel 10.

As soon as that works USB transports both signals in either direction. It's a kind of magic ;-)

The other parts in the screenshot shows Studio One as an example. In the orange region I inserted two tracks, an instrument track (keyboard icon) and an audio track (analog signal icon). As I haven't attached the TD-30 here the instrument track needs the proper input assigned. Assignement is prepared through the green parts StudioOne/Options, where TD-30-MIDI would appear and can be conencted. (So next you can click on "None" and "All inputs" and do proper routing for MIDI-signals.) In Studio One you may need to select TD-30 as audio output in the "Audio Setup" (right to the left) to hear anything.

With a differnt DAW the steps should be similar.

Good luck, I needed a while, too. Michael

[MS-SPO]

Hi jammin777,

some add ons for you.

In TD-30's menu "midi global" my settings are, others may work as well:

midi in: on (midi+usb)
usb midi: on (midi out)
local control: on (drum)


The first image shows you my track settings (orange) and some ad hoc recording. The MIDI track is opened in the key editor below (purple). The time is just at its default value and certainly my beat wasn't 120 ;-)

The second image shows you how to replay the record via USB-Audio through TD-30 and speaker. "TD-30" seems to be the string the operating system finds from the Roland USB driver. Other options there are e.g. "Windows Audio" or "None".

Now that I connected my TD-30, it's also shown as "External Devices" in Studio One in image #3.

As an aside I attach the unedited audio track as mp3-file and the midi file from the instrument track. (Sure, this track could be mixed and mastered in a better way ;-)

What to do with the midi file, I don't know at the moment. In the DAW of course I can assign a different instrument, like a piano, and it will make stange noise. I can edit, shift, transpose all keys. May be I can monitor and improve my timing while drumming. Replaying this midi file on TD-30 may work, but I failed to do so today.

This is one way to make things work ;-)

Best regards, Michael

P.S.: struggling with the upload interface unfortunately I can't upload non-images. Sorry.

[MS-SPO]

[jammin777]

thanks michael for taking the time, i did download studio one last night, takes some getting used as i been a fan of adobe audition 3. will play with it more tonight. you gave me something to work with as a start and will post more questions as they come. thanks again.

[MS-SPO]

You are welcome and we can try to resolve issues together ;-)
As I don't know the program: Do you think Adobe can't handle certain tasks?