Interface advice...

    Hey All,


    I am trying to use e-drums to trigger SD3, so far i get that i will be going from the Roland TD-25 head via USB to the Macbook which will trigger the sounds in SD3 but i need to come back out and go to a desk.


    Now ideally id like to have control on the desk over every element of the kit (i.e tom 1, tom 2, snare etc), so do i need to come out of the Macbook via USB into an interface, then split the signal from there to multiple outs assigned to each of the triggers and into the various channels on a desk like you would with a real drum kit's mic's?


    TIA

    Of course this is one way to do it ... within the limitations of Superior Drummer 3. SD3 gives you a total of 16 stereo outputs so it's unlikely that you will have access to each and every element of your kit individually. Even the internal mixer of SD3 "only" has 22 channels max. If you plan to make use of all the features of SD3 (e.g. stacking, bleed, ...), then you'll quickly notice that you can't route each and every element of your kit to an individual output. So you'll end up with "groups" and part of the mixing will happen in SD3 and part will happen on your desk.

    okay, so at the moment the kit consists of :


    -- Bass drum
    -- Snare
    -- 2x rack toms
    -- 2x floor toms
    -- Hi-Hat
    -- 3 crash cymbals
    -- Ride


    I am trying to get some of the 80's style drums going, sort of rick allen style processed drum sounds and i would like to trigger some other samples (reverse snares and backing track sections) but they don't have to be done through SD3, they can be done through the DAW.


    When you say stacking and bleed, how does that have an effect on how many outputs you have?
    Apologies for my limited knowledge on this, I am only just getting in to music production and SD3 I have had for all of a day! :)


    Thanks for the advice @lightbox

    Quote from MOCMunkeh

    When you say stacking and bleed, how does that have an effect on how many outputs you have?

    It doesn't have an effect on the outputs. :) Just wanted to make you aware that there's no way to e.g. send 3 stacked snares to individual outputs. So you will have to mix the stacked snares (or any other stacked SD3 instruments) inside SD3. It can be a bit awkward to try mixing the drumkit on your desk because you will likely jump back and forth between your desk and the SD3 screen. But I'm sure you'll figure out what suits you best.


    By the way, you can also import and trigger custom samples inside SD3 (using stacks). It's pretty easy to do. :)

    Ahh okay i get you, as i said i am not up to scratch on this stuff so i'm learning as much as i can from folks like you!


    I hear latency mentioned a lot and i have no idea what has a negative effect on latency so if you have any advice on that too that would be great, is there anything i can do that will lower the latency?


    The Macbook I am using is old so i don't imagine that's going to do me any favors.

    Our setup goes: edrums to laptop via USB - laptop to Behringer xr18 via USB. The Behringer acts as the soundcard and we can assign the desk channels to multiple drum groups. To save on channels we run kick on channel 1, snare on channel 2 and the rest stereo linked to channels 3 and 4.


    There is minimum latency and the setup time is quick.

    Hey @mauritzSA thanks for the advice!


    What is the benefit of using the Behringer over something like a focusrite scarlett 18i20?


    And what e-drum module does your drummer use? only reason i ask this is you are limited as to how many triggers you can have plugged in to a single drum module, and i know you can slave a secondary module in to a master module to expand the number if trigger inputs you can use but sadly i'm using a td-25 which doesn't have midi in.


    I know you can get certain devices that will allow you to connect 2 modules with midi out together but what i want to know is, is there a module out there that has more that the (what seems to be standard) 10 trigger inputs.


    Try to get some of these drum splitters. I'm guess you don't need rim sounds on a lot of the pads.
    http://www.drumsplitters.com/

    My vote would be for an RME Digiface USB and a couple of ADAT interfaces. Great reliable drivers, excellent routing, and USB so it won't be obsolete for the near future.


    http://www.rme-audio.de/en/products/digiface_usb.php


    The downside is having to buy the ADAT interfaces, but if you found a couple of old M-Audio Profire 2626 for cheap, and configured them in stand alone mode you'd pretty much be there. 16X16 with an excellent stable driver.


    My $.02 and worth every penny.

    The benefit in our setup is that we use the Behringer as our main desk so we don't need to add another component to setup time. As the laptop hooks up directly to the desk via USB there is no need for extra cables and there is no extra audio converting. Our drummer uses the headphone output as his in ear feed and we use the remaining Auxes. Each channel has its own EQ, Gate, compressor,. The desk also a massive amount of excellent effects. But we just used the gear already available to us. The desk was not bought with the eDrums in mind. We on occasion still mic up his acoustic kit and I must say the midas preamps and available processing works like a charm.


    When we do shows without using our desk/ for FOH I'll still use the Behringer for the drums and can effectively send 8 outputs. Main left/right, Aux 1-6 (But like I previously mentioned we usually only send kick and snare separate and the rest are grouped in a stereo output). In this case the Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 might be a better option because it has more outputs available.


    Our drummer uses a Roland td-11 which I believe he is planning to replace at some stage. I'm not as knowledgeable in drum modules myself.