Old 03-02-2017, 12:01 PM   #1
DongleHater
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Default Free new drum to MIDI converter plugin

After searching for a free drum to MIDI converter plugin for my needs with no real luck (yes, I know Stillwell's drumtrigger JSFX, see below), I finally decided to write my own. In the good tradition of all the other JSFXs, it's a freebie. In the even better tradition of other open source initiatives, it's also GPLed, so you have full freedom of also changing it for your own needs.

So what's wrong with the other drum to MIDI solutions available? There are three classic solutions for doing this:

1. Dynamic split -> only usable for recorded drums, but not for live trigger, no velocity
2. ReaGate -> live triggering possible, but still no velocity support
3. Stillwell's drumtrigger JSFX -> allows both live triggering and velocity extraction, but the generated velocities need additional treatment because they are typically much too low and the velocity curve is strictly 1:1 which rarely fits

To have an easy solution for both drum replacement/triggering on the basis of recorded drum tracks as well as for live drum triggering, and all that with very good velocity support and tweakability (without losing velocity resolution as with the Stillwell's drumtrigger + post-processing approach), I created drum2midi which you find in the attachment. Installation is as usual: unzip it and copy it to the Effects folder in Reaper's installation directory -> re-scan for new plugins and you're ready to go.

Due to drum2midi's tweakability based on well-documented parameters (all in the drum2midi JSFX file itself, together with the extensively documented source code), it is very well suited as an input FX together with a real drum pad. This couple is an incredible input device for recording drum sounds! Once tried, you never want to go back to keyboard-based drum recording and also not to the usual drum pads, not even MPC's. Used together with not too rubbish hardware, e.g. cheap from ebay, or as the luxury edition with a mesh-head pad like e.g. Roland PDX-100 plugged directly into one of Reaper's audio inputs, you can also record playing techniques not possible to capture with keyboard or trigger pads such as flams or rolls. Even just recording hand tapping on the table, recorded with a microphone, works great as a fun way of recording drum parts! With drum2midi's velocity gain and shape controls (the latter works as a velocity expander/compressor), it is easy to use the full velocity range of the triggered drum sound source with almost any percussive audio source.

Just try it out and have fun! And it would be great to hear from your experience with it in this thread.
Attached Files
File Type: zip drum2midi.zip (3.9 KB, 1844 views)
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Old 03-02-2017, 02:36 PM   #2
ashcat_lt
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Haven't tried it. Can't even look at it at the moment cause of work firewall. The velocity response of the Stillwell thing has always been a big hindrance for me, and if you've solved that problem, I'm going to owe you a whole lot of thanks and probably some other stuff, too.
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Old 03-02-2017, 02:43 PM   #3
Fergler
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Thanks, I'll try this out. I agree with you on the JS drum trigger setbacks.
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Old 03-02-2017, 03:01 PM   #4
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Thanks!
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Old 03-02-2017, 03:27 PM   #5
onewayout
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DongleHater View Post
After searching for a free drum to MIDI converter plugin for my needs with no real luck (yes, I know Stillwell's drumtrigger JSFX, see below), I finally decided to write my own. In the good tradition of all the other JSFXs, it's a freebie. In the even better tradition of other open source initiatives, it's also GPLed, so you have full freedom of also changing it for your own needs.

So what's wrong with the other drum to MIDI solutions available? There are three classic solutions for doing this:

1. Dynamic split -> only usable for recorded drums, but not for live trigger, no velocity
2. ReaGate -> live triggering possible, but still no velocity support
3. Stillwell's drumtrigger JSFX -> allows both live triggering and velocity extraction, but the generated velocities need additional treatment because they are typically much too low and the velocity curve is strictly 1:1 which rarely fits

To have an easy solution for both drum replacement/triggering on the basis of recorded drum tracks as well as for live drum triggering, and all that with very good velocity support and tweakability (without losing velocity resolution as with the Stillwell's drumtrigger + post-processing approach), I created drum2midi which you find in the attachment. Installation is as usual: unzip it and copy it to the Effects folder in Reaper's installation directory -> re-scan for new plugins and you're ready to go.

Due to drum2midi's tweakability based on well-documented parameters (all in the drum2midi JSFX file itself, together with the extensively documented source code), it is very well suited as an input FX together with a real drum pad. This couple is an incredible input device for recording drum sounds! Once tried, you never want to go back to keyboard-based drum recording and also not to the usual drum pads, not even MPC's. Used together with not too rubbish hardware, e.g. cheap from ebay, or as the luxury edition with a mesh-head pad like e.g. Roland PDX-100 plugged directly into one of Reaper's audio inputs, you can also record playing techniques not possible to capture with keyboard or trigger pads such as flams or rolls. Even just recording hand tapping on the table, recorded with a microphone, works great as a fun way of recording drum parts! With drum2midi's velocity gain and shape controls (the latter works as a velocity expander/compressor), it is easy to use the full velocity range of the triggered drum sound source with almost any percussive audio source.

Just try it out and have fun! And it would be great to hear from your experience with it in this thread.
Hey Thanks DongleHater!

I'm trying to install it and I have unzipped the file and put it in the FX folder, the Effects folder and the Effects folder in roaming and it isn't showing up; I did downloaded it twice too....Anyone else having that issue? Am I putting it in the right place?
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Old 03-02-2017, 03:30 PM   #6
onewayout
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Quote:
Originally Posted by onewayout View Post
Hey Thanks DongleHater!

I'm trying to install it and I have unzipped the file and put it in the FX folder, the Effects folder and the Effects folder in roaming and it isn't showing up; I did downloaded it twice too....Anyone else having that issue? Am I putting it in the right place?
OOPs, I found it...it is still a JS file....aaaah I see...sorry 'bout that! (-;
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Old 03-02-2017, 09:06 PM   #7
Sanswizzy
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Wow! I will be trying this
Thanks
I hate dongles too although some of us are stuck with them if you take my meaning sir
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Old 03-02-2017, 11:14 PM   #8
mschnell
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DongleHater View Post
1. Dynamic split -> only usable for recorded drums, but not for live trigger, no velocity
Dynamic split does feature velocity, but in fact it did not work decently for me (see mail in the bugs forum).
Quote:
Originally Posted by DongleHater View Post
Just try it out and have fun! And it would be great to hear from your experience with it in this thread.
Great !!!
please do provide it via ReaPack, so that it easily can be found and installed.

-Michael
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Old 03-03-2017, 03:00 AM   #9
X-Raym
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Thanks for sharing !

Any video demo of the results ?
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Old 03-07-2017, 10:06 AM   #10
dug dog
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Anybody give this a go yet?

I'm hoping to have a chance to take it for a spin within the next week or so.
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Old 03-08-2017, 10:47 AM   #11
ashcat_lt
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I played with it a bit yesterday, and while I'm not sure I understand what everything is doing (haven't pushed the Edit button yet), I was able to get some really usable results.

My use is a bit different in that I'm feeding it a guitar signal and listening for the way it retriggers and follows the envelope of that audio. I found that by using PM to change the hold-off time based on the audio input (very small strength, negative direction, from a fairly low baseline) and triggering a kick sound through some distortion I could get a very convincing approximation of something like an engine revving along with my guitar. B)

I figure from as well as it seems to work for this, it's probably pretty great for actual drums!
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Old 03-08-2017, 02:38 PM   #12
dug dog
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Here is the result of a quick test I did. (It took a lot longer to get the image uploaded than it did to do the test. Ha ha.) I had to play with a few of the settings in order to get this and I'll post a pic or link to the settings shortly.

All in all, it looks to have done a bang up job. A pretty good looking velocity replication. Nice work, Don.

[IMG][/IMG]
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Old 01-13-2020, 12:13 PM   #13
chandso
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Default Awesome, thanks!

I was deperately seeking something like this! Works great!

I'm just wondering if you know a way to visualize the threshold and hysterisis settings' impact on midi output from you tool. Sort of like the Dynamic Split/Set transient sensitivity tool? (I had to try many different settings and then "Apply FX to new take", before finding one that gave me clean results.)

Thanks again!
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