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What it sounds like. 3-4-23 - empirical labs.wav What it looks like. Same note...alternating octaves. Been that way since the first vocal tuning software came out...and basically has always meant that I have to get it right without help most of the time. ?

If you've mapped to SSD5, you're getting sounds, and you've routed those sounds to individual tracks - I'm having a hard time understanding why you're not recording yet. Why you'd route out of SSD5 with 48 mono channels is completely lost on me. I route out of SSD5 with 7 channels total. I can't imagine a scenario where you'd need more than that to do the things you want to do. And certainly not more channels than you have actual pads. I have a distinct feeling that you've been conflating some terminology and have a misunderstanding some of the tips you've been given. Not hard to do if this is all new to you. The best way to show you this stuff would be a phone call in conjunction with a Team Viewer session. If you want to do that, message me and we can work it out. I should be free this afternoon...or I should be able to block out a window for you this coming weekend.

Let see exactly where you are...I've lost track. Do you have your kit talking to Slate? Do all of your pads trigger the correlating Slate sample - kick for kick, snare for snare, etc? Do you have Slate sending kick to a kick channel, snare to a snare channel, etc. on the Cakewalk mixer?

I've always found that taking a break and listening from the next room is important, even with a good mix environment. The mix will always sound different from there and may clue you in on something obvious that you're totally missing. Or, at least, show you something you might want to check on. I find that listening from another room allows me to listen like a normal person again...lol. Not so hyper-focused on any one thing in the mix. More of a big picture thing. But the groove and timing? No way. That doesn't change. If the groove sounds off, the groove is off.

You asked a specific question about the info provided in that video that you say you've watched 70 times.

BTW...I still feel like a monkey watching magic when I sit down and all this stuff just works when I open my template. It's really pretty ridiculous. If I had these tools when I was 15 instead of bouncing sounds back and forth between two cassette boom boxes and laying in new tracks via the built-in mics....I'd be so famous that 20 people would know who I am instead of 10. ?

96khz sampling rate isn't crazy high. But I use it because my system sounds best at that sampling rate. It also has the added effect of helping to keep latency very low. I've worked at 96khz since about 2005 or so. I wouldn't concern myself with it if you're not having issues with the latency you're experiencing. I also wouldn't get too concerned with saving EQ presets. You're building a project and saving it, right? You 'll save that as a template eventually. That project, and subsequent template, will save all those settings in it. You can always tackle saving presets later if you want. What would really help you is a good team-viewer session with someone who can set this up while you watch. Honestly, it seems like you're about 7 mouse clicks away from having this whole thing figured out....lol

FYI - I've used Cakewalk since 94. All audio, all the time with countless live drum kits and full rock bands. I never even touched a VST instrument until spring of 2022 because the bands I worked with didn't have any use for them. I learned from YouTube how to make SSD5 work. Granted, a lot of the videos are a little vague and not SSD5 specific. But all the secrets are there to be had. I asked a couple questions here as well. I felt like a monkey trying to understand magic. And then....it worked. The slots on the side of the SSD5 screen where you build a kit - those are to stack sounds on top of the sounds you already have assigned to the drum pads. Add another snare (in any one of those slots) and it'll trigger simultaneously every time you hit your snare. Generally speaking, add a kick and SSD5 knows to trigger that additional sound along with the one you drop on top of the kick. Add toms, and they'll trigger with toms. Watch this video:

And yes, you can combine your toms to one channel if you wish. Here's a snapshot of my drum break out. I send all toms to one stereo channel. All overheads to the same stereo channel. And one for rooms.

With a 22ms round trip I can't imagine you're not experiencing that as latency already. This is typically what I prefer, but I can usually live with anything less than a 10ms round trip with drums. In my experience, adding tracks so that the VST can route drum sound to different channels won't add to a latency problem.

When you get to the end of this you'll see that everything you were told you can do - you CAN do. You just have no understanding of what you're doing...yet. When Tim gets you THERE...you see how the puzzle fits together and you'll be sad you didn't know all of this for all the years you've been recording audio off your drum module.

I'll bow out here and let the others handle it. Might be simpler without the crosstalk. Good luck.

You've found the VST instrument. Cakewalk knows it's there. That's good. You need to watch this. Between the manual, this video, the previous two videos and the videos you referenced by Creative Sauce, you should be able to figure it out. This video shows you how to get the VST instrument into a track and how to set it up. Not Slate...but same basic idea.

This will also come in handy.

You'll find Slate Drums shows up in Cakewalk as instrument or a soft synth - not your typical plugin, like an effect. You have to load it like you would a VST instrument. Info on that is in the manual and there are loads of videos on YouTube that can assist. I realize this is all a foreign language to you. It was to me too at one point. It looks like a long, dark road...but it's not as long as you think. I promise - if you get it set up and save it as a template your problems will be solved and you can just get on with making music. This video will be relevant when you get there:

Yes. Greg's method will get you the sounds you're used to from your Roland brain. A VST will probably require you building a kit that you love. There are a lot of great VST drums in the wild that people swear by. I just happen to own the Slate Drums - which works great for me. I think any VST3 drum kit will allow you to send all sounds out to individual tracks where you can mix traditionally. If you're using an electronic kit, I can't imagine not using a VST for simplicity and flexibility all the way through songwriting, tracking and mixing.

No. I think what he's suggesting is that you record your part until you like it. Then you can send the midi data for each drum back to the drum brain, one drum at a time, and record the sounds coming off the brain, one at a time to individual tracks.

But to further answer your question. You'd would need to create a map for your kit and the VST drum plugin of your choice. Creating a map sounds daunting, and indeed is, the first time if you've never done it. I learned how on YouTube...just like you're trying to. I prefer the VST because your midi events are still triggering samples. You can change your mind (and sounds) easily as the mix progresses. The drum sounds that you think work great for live performance may not sit in a mix the way you think they will when it comes to a studio recording. You never know...and options might be your friend.

David...Greg's way would definitely work for you if you wanted to go that route.

To boil this down, you want to be able to record midi drums and then control each sound individually, on individual tracks....right? 100% possible with Cakewalk...people, myself included, do it every day. You'll record all the midi to a single track (you can still edit every single midi hit on any drum from there in the midi editor) and assign outputs from your drum VST to additional tracks where you can compress, eq, pan, use sends for aux fx busses, etc. All that. The best of both worlds....the ability to edit a live drummer. It's fantastic. And I know you say you have no need for quantizing. But you can do that too. I use Steven Slate Drums and have it set to output sounds to individual tracks for kick, snare, toms, HH, ride, OH and rooms.

Interesting. When I built this PC (late 2022) I also purchased an Apollo X6 to go with it. I had non-stop computer crashes with the Apollo on Thunderbolt. Change sampling rate...blue screen. Change buffer size...blue screen. I sent the Apollo back and picked up the Lynx Aurora - and I've been stable since.

I am as well with a Lynx Aurora 8 and an Asus add-on thunderbolt 4 card. The add-on card was a little tricky to get running, but it has proven solid.

Maybe you'll use it if you buy it again.

Yeah. That's the job of 3rd party plugins. ?

ugh...yeah...