Planning to go soft with my A to E converted kit

[hcantu]

Hi.....
I notice smile and JrummerJ (and probably others too) made an A to E kit conversion.
About a year ago I did the same thing, using mesh heads instead of real heads, pintech acoustic triggers, and pintech electronic cymbals, plus I bought a TD20 module.
Lately, I've been interested in VSTi.........
But my concern is how will the acoustic triggers work with DAW.
Can you guys tell me from your expierence?

Also, what hardware and VSTi do you recommend?
I have a laptop with Vista Home Premium, AMD Turion 64 X2 1.60 GHz, 894 MB of RAM, and 100GB of free space.
Do I need more (besides the ASIO drivers)?

I also have the EMU XMIDI 1x1 midi interface.
Will all these make it?

Thanks.

Hector

[jem454]

EZdrummer for sure would run fine on your computer. Edrum Monitor for your trigger setup and midi mapping to ezdrummer, and you will also need a good soundcard. (this is most important)

I cant recommend a soundcard as I am looking for one myself for my new laptop. Anyone recommend one? I need usb, and under 6 ms latency.

[hcantu]

Yeah...I was afraid I would need another soundcard.......
I got interested on Superior 2.0 after I saw their NAMM video. It's pretty a pretty awesome piece of software. When DFHS 2.0 comes out? Will I be able to run it on my laptop?

What is Edrum monitor? Its a software I would need to install too?

[JrummerJ]

I don't see why you would need e-drum monitor, but I am not that familiar with its capabilites.

I use my ddrum 4SE module along with a Roland TMC6 to send midi to my M-Audio FW410 interface (external, low latency sound card). On my macbook pro I either run Toontrack Solo or Pro Tools to host EZdrummer. No midi mapping software needed with EZdrummer with these hosts, just set the midi note on your module to match the EZdrummer map and you are good to go.

In my opinion, you would need a decent external sound card, firewire preferable over USB. You might want to think about going up to 2GB or more of RAM, especially for Superior 2.0, which has more kit pieces and 24 bit samples.

Some cheap-ish interfaces:

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Inspire1394/

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/FirewireSolo/

And with midi I/O built in:

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/GO46/

http://www.zzounds.com/item--MDOFW410

J

[hcantu]

How about my CPU processor? It'll work fine, right?
I'll definitely buy an extra 1 GB RAM.

The DAW I currently have is Magix Music Studio.....This:

http://www.magix.com/us/music-studio/detail/

Will this work fine?

Before your post, I was thinking on something like these (because of the price)

http://www.emu.com/products/product.asp?category=610&subcategory=611&product=17511

I was thinking I would connect the TD20 to the PC (through the interface) using MIDI...How come the first two interface don't have MIDI. How would I connect everything with these?

Thanks.

[jem454]

I run bfd 1 on my audio optimized xp desktop 1.8 gig with 2 gig ram and bfd pushes it to the max. I really dont think your laptop is up to par for superior, Especially running vista, and definately not with a gig of ram.

You really dont need edrum monitor, but it is a great free program. You use it to run more than one instance of ezdrummer. If you want a kick from one ezx, a snare from dfh, cymbals from nashville, etc. It also gives you complete control over trigger settings, velocities, and mappings. I also use it for its velocity control settings. I can play my single zone ride lightly for the ride sounds, when I play it harder it will trigger the bell. All the settings can be saved to templates for different kits. Very cool program, worth checking out and learning.

I love bfd, and use it for recording, but for live use ezdrummer is really glitch free and hard to beat.

[JrummerJ]

How about my CPU processor? It'll work fine, right?
I'll definitely buy an extra 1 GB RAM.

The DAW I currently have is Magix Music Studio.....This:

http://www.magix.com/us/music-studio/detail/

Will this work fine?

Before your post, I was thinking on something like these (because of the price)

http://www.emu.com/products/product.asp?category=610&subcategory=611&product=17511

I was thinking I would connect the TD20 to the PC (through the interface) using MIDI...How come the first two interface don't have MIDI. How would I connect everything with these?

Thanks.

I think that the processore will be fine. I have never used that DAW, but if it will let you use VST plugins, you should be fine. You'll have to look into that.

The reason the first two didn't have midi is because they are entry level interfaces, and you mentioned that you already have a midi interface, correct? So, you connect your TD-20s midi out to the EMU midi interface, and then in your DAW or host select the interface as the soundcard, run your headphones or audio out from that. Set the sample buffer as low as you can with no crackles or pops.

If you get one with midi I/O then you won't need the EMU midi device.

J

[hcantu]

Well, if money permits.....I may buy a new laptop.........
But I'll probably just add 1 gb of ram to the laptop I have right now.

Final question:
Is there a big difference between USB 2.0 and Firewire?

Thank you all for your help. I appreciate it.

[hcantu]

What do you think of this one?

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Echo-Indigo-io-2Channel-RecordPlayback-Card-?sku=247018

[hcantu]

Another final question hehehehe.......
(Add this to my other two previous posts).

What if I only want to record the drums, but not play live?
For live, I use acoustics.
Do I still need an audio interface or good soundcard, and more ram?

Because if it is for recording only, I don't need to playback while I'm playing. I can just record to my TD20 sequencer, then transport this midi data to the laptop with my midi interface, and finally use this midi data with DFHS, etc.....and export it to mp3 or wav.
Am I completely wrong with this?

[JrummerJ]

Well, if money permits.....I may buy a new laptop.........
But I'll probably just add 1 gb of ram to the laptop I have right now.

Final question:
Is there a big difference between USB 2.0 and Firewire?

Thank you all for your help. I appreciate it.

No problem! I prefer firewire due to the higher faster sustained transfer rates.

What do you think of this one?

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/produ...rd-?sku=247018.

I really have no idea. Sorry.

What if I only want to record the drums, but not play live?
For live, I use acoustics.
Do I still need an audio interface or good soundcard, and more ram?

Because if it is for recording only, I don't need to playback while I'm playing. I can just record to my TD20 sequencer, then transport this midi data to the laptop with my midi interface, and finally use this midi data with DFHS, etc.....and export it to mp3 or wav.
Am I completely wrong with this?.

I do not know much about the TD-20, but what I would think would happen is that you are going to prefer the sounds of whatever VST you go with and you will wish you had the interface to use those sounds all the time. I haven't used the sounds from my ddrum module in years, just EZdrummer, and soon to be Superior 2.0. I would just get a firewire interface with or without midi and be ready for anything!

J

[jem454]

Another final question hehehehe.......
(Add this to my other two previous posts).

What if I only want to record the drums, but not play live?
For live, I use acoustics.
Do I still need an audio interface or good soundcard, and more ram?

Because if it is for recording only, I don't need to playback while I'm playing. I can just record to my TD20 sequencer, then transport this midi data to the laptop with my midi interface, and finally use this midi data with DFHS, etc.....and export it to mp3 or wav.
Am I completely wrong with this?

If your not going to play live, then you dont need the soundcard, but I still dont think you will be able to take advantage of all that superior has to offer.
You should check with the toontrack forums and see if your computer is up to par. Remember the minimum specs posted does not mean it will run flawlessly. Just dont want to see you waste your money.

[hcantu]

Thanks......
Okay....if not playing live, I don't need a soundcard then....
Jem454.....when you said I would not be bale to take advantage of everyhting that superior offers; are you talking about my computer, or about the lack of soundcard?

Hey JrumerJ, from what part of Texas are you?

[JrummerJ]

Thanks......
Okay....if not playing live, I don't need a soundcard then....
Jem454.....when you said I would not be bale to take advantage of everyhting that superior offers; are you talking about my computer, or about the lack of soundcard?

Hey JrumerJ, from what part of Texas are you?

I live north of Houston, The Woodlands area.

Just to continue the above discussion, I disagree that you only need the interface for playing live. I don't play any gigs with my e-kit, it just sits in my home studio room. The reason to have the interface is so that you can utilize the fantastic sounds of these sample libraries all the time, not just when you record. You have to have low latency to play those kits in real time. To me, having all those great sounds and only being able to hear them after you have played and recorded the midi would suck! I would want to use them all the time, forget about the mediocre sounds that come on any of the modules out today.

J

[hcantu]

Yeah you are right.....those are definitely better sounds. I'll probably end up buying an audio interface, but probably later.
Right now, I use a TD20 with the Vexpression packs, and they sound very good. Probably not as good as VST, but almost there. For now, I think I can live by using the Vexpression kits on my td20 for midi recording. Then, edit the midi with the VST sounds and mics for the final product. At this point, as Jem454 said, I don't need an audio interface; but I'll may acquire it anyways in the near future.
Have you heard the TD20 expansion kits? They are pretty decent.
There are audio samples in here:

http://www.vexpressionsltd.com/td20.html

I use the Studio kits 2 and Master Picks 2.

By the way Jem454.....my laptop processor is 1.8 GHz, but its dual core.
According to this page:

http://www.toontrack.com/s20.asp

The minimum requirements is 1.8 GHz but normal (not multi core like I have)
In fact, AMD multicore is on the recommended side for Superior 2.0. I just need to add the RAM, and I can get 2 GB for $50.