MOTUnation.com

Hello everybody,

I've added a little mock-up of two popular songs to MIXOSAURUS.com:

Mock Me!

Regards, uwe

Welcome back,

zed wrote:I, for one, would certainly be interested in reading more about the creation of that sample and Piet's kit presets.

sorry Zed for the delay, and thanks for the kind words! Here's a link to a discussion on Sonikmatter:

About Piet DeRidder's MIXOSAURUS demo

And here's the latest addition to MIXOSAURUS.com:

---snip-----------

Dear MIXOSAURUS users and friends,

I'm happy to announce that "MIXOSAURUS Noises" is available as a free download on MIXOSAURUS.com.

It contains 103 samples of drummer-generated "auxiliary noises" like breathing, throat-clearing, putting down/picking up sticks, snare-strainer on/off, clothes rustling etc. (zipped, 201 MB).
Coming from the original recordings of the MIXOSAURUS KIT A sessions, they allow you to take MIXOSAURUS' realism even further.

The archive includes the multitrack samples, the instrument patches and a short PDF description of where to put and how to use them.
The instrument patches as well as the samples are not encrypted and thus can be used in any sampler or setup.

Kontakt users (v2.2.3 or above) can load the included K2 patches to experience how MIXOSAURUS' controls work and feel.

---------

Kind regards,
uwe
[/url]

MIXOSAURUS wrote:breathing, throat-clearing, putting down/picking up sticks, snare-strainer on/off, clothes rustling etc.

You've got to be kidding...

monkey man wrote:

MIXOSAURUS wrote:breathing, throat-clearing, putting down/picking up sticks, snare-strainer on/off, clothes rustling etc.

You've got to be kidding...

Why? I have a satin finish (cheap) ukulele that creates breath like/diffuse percussive (think brushes) rhythm along with the strumming. Stuff like that creates atmosphere! If I knew how to mike it I would have a lampshade that resonates nicely with toms. I have also put a snare near a speaker for that kind of ambience.

The colours you mentioned are all just that - enhancements to the actual audio, and they vary according to playing technique.
I agree that they're useful and add interest.

These sounds, however, are separate entities in and of themselves.
Check the list quoted; you'll see what I mean.
I'd suggest anyone in need of these sounds tries to produce them first, with very little effort and a microphone.

monkey man wrote:The colours you mentioned are all just that - enhancements to the actual audio, and they vary according to playing technique.
I agree that they're useful and add interest.

These sounds, however, are separate entities in and of themselves.
Check the list quoted; you'll see what I mean.
I'd suggest anyone in need of these sounds tries to produce them first, with very little effort and a microphone.

I see where you••™re coming from. And of course you••™re right. But there••™s still a benefit to having these odd sounds all miked at the actual drum sampling session. It would ensure the same processing. Mic placement, mic choice, room - the whole shelf.

Agreed, Kawentzmann.

The only scenario I've been able to imagine where one might "need" these things is one where a "rough and ready" recording is to be simulated.
A grunge band in a garage in a movie comes to mind.

Professionals wear "quiet" clothing, don't plunk their sticks around clumsily, cough into their clothing or away from mics or even not at all, etc.

monkey man wrote:

MIXOSAURUS wrote:breathing, throat-clearing, putting down/picking up sticks, snare-strainer on/off, clothes rustling etc.

You've got to be kidding...

How about the sound of setting your beer can on the floor tom, or the drummer cursing when he knocks it over and spills it on his floor tom? That's what the floor tom is for, isn't it? A place to set your beer.

Rick Averill wrote:

monkey man wrote:

MIXOSAURUS wrote:breathing, throat-clearing, putting down/picking up sticks, snare-strainer on/off, clothes rustling etc.

You've got to be kidding...

How about the sound of setting your beer can on the floor tom, or the drummer cursing when he knocks it over and spills it on his floor tom? That's what the floor tom is for, isn't it? A place to set your beer.

...

Yeah, '6, why not?

I'd have thought it more relevant than coughing, clothes rustling and layin' down sticks sounds.

Hello everybody,

MIXOSAURUS.com now has more information on the production and the gear used - there's a number of pictures in the flash movie as well (and you can click it to watch enlarged, in a scalable window).

Regards,
Uwe

Hello everybody,

great news - I've run first tests with two e-drum systems and they turned out a lot better than I had expected:

Compatibility
The first two e-drum units of which I analyzed the MIDI implementation are Roland's TD-3 and Yamaha's DTXpress. Both use MIDI CC #4 to control the HiHat's foot pressure. The great news is that both send continuous values between 0 and 127. This means that although these rather lo-budget models have a very limited foot pressure resolution, they still are able to adress the full range of MIXOSAURUS' 7 foot pressure levels (even with the basic FD-8 type pedal). With simple 2-zone-pads you can trigger both "Tip" and "Shank" (e.g.) articulations for each of these 7 foot pressure levels, plus 2 "open" articulations and the "foot down" articulation. The DTXpress even can address the "foot splashes" articulation. Implementing the "e-drum translation" in the MIXOSAURUS patches is VERY managable - however it will take some time because there are many patches to update and I want to include all or at least most of the popular e-drum models (more on this at the bottom).

Realtime Performance
The forthcoming MIXOSAURUS update will have another helpful feature apart from the e-drum implementation: To reduce CPU and streaming load, you will be able to disable mic tracks for each instrument individually. So if you choose to disable the HiHat's PZM and ROOm tracks, each MIDI note will trigger 2 instead of 4 stereo voices, effectively halving the load (or increasing the performance by 100%).

During my analysis of the TD-3 / DTXpress I have not yet run a complete "full-kit" test. However, when playing around with the HiHat (see below), the CPU and Streaming meters looked so relaxed that I'm confident that realtime playing should be possible with a top computer setup (my own test setup wouldn't qualify as the cream of the crop by today's standards anymore, se below).

Here's the little example. I changed the audio buffer from 512 samples (the buffer value I usually work with and at which MIXOSAURUS manages to play >200 stereo voices) to 128 samples, edited the script in the MIXOSAURUS HiHat patch to make it TD-3 compatible, hit RECORD in Logic and just drummed away. Please note that I am NOT an experienced e-drum user. Although quite skilled on acoustic drums, I am not at all familiar with the PD-85 pad (and its poor rim-trigger-dynamics!?) and especially not with the FD-8 foot pedal. In fact, I've had them for no more than one day to do the MIDI analysis. An experienced e-drum pad player will likely be able to get even better results.

The setup used: Roland TD-3, PD-85 pad, FD-8 pedal, PowerMac G5 2x2GHz, 6GB RAM, OS X.4.10, Logic 7.2.3, Audio Buffer = 128 samples, Emagic Unitor8 MkII. MIDI note # of the pad's center was mapped to "Tip" articulation, MIDI note # of the rim trigger was mapped to the "Crash" articulation.
The MIDI data was NOT edited but remained exactly as it was recorded from the TD-3's MIDI output. After recording, I saved the project, then restarted the computer, launched Logic, loaded the project and immediately performed a realtime bounce. During the actual recording, there were a few more crackles audible in the sample playback than in this bounce, but the difference was marginal really. The performance was definitely good enough to monitor a live-recording of a drum performance in Logic.

Bottom line: Yes, you will be able to use e-drum hardware to record MIXOSAURUS drum tracks for your productions.

http://www.MIXOSAURUS.com/audio/hihat_c ... Tracks.mp3
http://www.MIXOSAURUS.com/audio/hihat_c ... _HH+OH.mp3
http://www.MIXOSAURUS.com/audio/hihat_c ... HHonly.mp3

What I need now are further e-drum models to analyze. According to the various bits of information I found in the respective manuals, the other models' MIDI implementations should be equally easy to translate - but I'll need to see their MIDI output data, especially for positional sensing. I'm aware that nobody will send me his/her TD-20 . The e-drum manufacturers and distributors aren't too keen on helping me establish their own competition neither... thus:

If anybody...

- owns an e-drumset other than TD-3 or DTXpress I
- can (and would like to) explain his/her model's specific implementation of articulations to me
- can (and would like to) play several articulations/playing techniques then defined by me
- can (and would like to) record the e-drum's MIDI output to a sequencer
- can (and would like to) email me the resulting sequence as MIDI file

... please contact me.

Thanks a lot, and best regards from Berlin!
Uwe

Dear MIXOSAURUS friends,

a Happy New Year is supposed to start off with a Happy New January, and so it does:

From January 17th to 31st 2008, MIXOSAURUS DAW Drums Kit A will be available in our online store for almost half the price - at a 40% discount! Don't worry though: what you'll get is nothing less than 100% of "fantastic" sound, forming "the Holy Grail of drum sampling" (Sam Inglis, SOUND ON SOUND review, January 2008 issue).

Shipping remains free (worldwide), and yes, this offer will definitely end by January 31st.

For more information, new audio demos, the latest FAQ and whatnot, please visit MIXOSAURUS.com.

Kind regards from Berlin/Germany,
and a Happy New January to you and yours!

Uwe

5 days to go: Happy New January will end on the 31st.

I'm also happy to announce the launch of the MIXOSAURUS Support Forum. It has only been activated a few hours ago so there isn't much to read yet, but if you have questions you'd like to have answered by other MIXOSAURUS users, then that's the place to go.

Kind regards,
Uwe