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A few months back I picked up a used Alesis DM10 for a song (guy was practically giving it away, and it's totally intact). I've been just having a blast on it, initially using the built-in drum brain, but now that I've tried using it with EZDrummer, there's no going back, it's like a dream. Unfortunately, EZDrummer doesn't have hi hat control in it's plugin form (it does in it's standalone form, weird). This is a major problem because, suffice to say, real hi hat pedal control is pretty much required for any realism with eDrums, but trying to route a standalone app back into a DAW is a major drawback... I can't process outputs separately, it's a pain, just a bad workflow in general.

I also have NI Studio Drummer and some Abby Road Drums as well, but I'm not clear whether they can be set up for hi hat control or not (CC4 in this case). I'm reading all kinds of reviews that say that Studio Drummer makes Superior Drummer look like child's play, so I'm eager to give it a shot.

Anyone have any experience this area?

Several years ago I was working with a songwriter who had EZDrummer. He tried to use the MIDI tracks that I recorded using a TD-20 to trigger EZD, but if I remember correctly, the open and closed hi hats wouldn't work, and much of the hi hat track sounded too open overall.

I eventually got a copy of EZDrummer so I could try and figure out the problem, and didn't really like the way it interpreted the CC4 info. I wound up editing hi hat parts using the Drum Editor in DP, and deleting the CC4 because I liked certain sounds better when assigned manually than the notes the TD-20 was selecting. It took very little time to shift notes or remap them, and I got very good at drawing in the notes for open/closed sounds.

I've always liked the Drum Editor, and this is one of its better features. I no longer use EZD and have replaced it with Superior Drummer 2, but I still edit some parts the same way.

I don't mind the drum editor, but it's a little featureless. I especially don't like the fact that it's 2014 and they STILL haven't created a decent drum mapping system. I'm also not crazy about the fact that there isn't an optional view to see notes not exactly on the grid. I know there's the piano roll for that, but then you lose the simplicity the drum editor offers.

Scratch that, I do mind the drum editor, I think it's probably the feature MOTU has let slide for the longest time. Most other DAWs (and especially EDM software) have far more comprehensive drum editing systems.

Really hoping they give it a good overhaul with DP9.

I was just trying to make the point that I was able to achieve a very useful hi hat part using the Drum Editor. I don't have any other suggestions, but for me it was a good solution to the hi hat problem.

Original problem solved! Thanks to a post by a user called "Noah" back in 2009. He describes creating a "Custom MIDI Map" (something I didn't even know existed) in the Transpose window, then using it inside a "Transpose" MIDI insert plugin to remap MIDI coming out of a track. Works like a charm!

I get the feeling that most drum VIs have expression-based HiHat control, but all e-drums use slightly different maps, and many aren't very editable (my DM10 allows drum mapping for many things, but not HiHat or other cymbals). This is incredibly handy in remapping MIDI coming off an e-drum to fit the parameters of various drum VIs.

I can imagine many DAWs don't have a feature like this, I wasn't even sure DP did until just now! Way to go MOTU!

Don't forget EZdrummer 2 will be out any day now, with many new features!

For years I have used a Drumkat-based kit with all the major drum soft synths, EZD, BFD, NI Studio Drummer, etc. The programming for kit setup, hi hat etc. takes place within the Drumkat screens.

Prime Mover wrote:I'm also not crazy about the fact that there isn't an optional view to see notes not exactly on the grid.

Set the Drum Editor Display Mode into the "Free" setting. Shows notes like the MIDI Editor does.

Use the Group option for all the notes that map to your hit hat.

Mapping: the Drum Editor will map any row in the grid to anything on any device DP can see, will group, quantize, name, play enable, offset, etc. What's missing?

I agree the Drum Editor is difficult to figure out, but I think what it needs is some streamlining of the setup process to make it easier to use with VIs. And the manual section needs to be updated.