Drum Maps In Cakewalk - In Depth

[Colin Nicholls]

Here's everything I know about using Drum Maps in Cakewalk.

Blog Post: Drum Maps in Cakewalk

Feel free to let me know about errors, or other posts I should link to, or indeed anything.

EDIT: I've already added some additional notes, and fixed some errors.

Edited May 5, 2021 by Colin Nicholls

[Hank Spielberg]

Thanks I looked at your Blog Post. Excellent !

[scook]

One tool to speed up simple drum map creation is ins2map.

From the old forum http://forum.cakewalk.com/SONAR-Cakewalk-by-BandLab-CbB-Resources-and-Utilities-m3392713.aspx#3481456

Quote

Ins2map.zip (Listed Nov 18 2015)
ralf (Ralf Sesseler)
This tool will convert an instrument definition (ins file) into a drum map for Cakewalk SONAR. (Essentially, any text file with a mapping from midi note number to drum instrument name can be used.) The created drum map uses default values for most parameters and is not linked to a particular virtual instrument, so it's mainly the first step and may require enhancements to be done in SONAR directly. 
Download and Further Information http://dis.sesseler.de/ In the left menu area, click on “Cakewalk SONAR”. Then select “Instrument to Drum Map” to download the file.

 

[Hank Spielberg]

Thanks for keeping this topic alive. Colin I will read it in detail. and scook I know you are always on top of all things Cakewalk. I am a beginner so it's taking me a while to get it together. Making progress, but with a 1802 page Reference Manual it'll be a while. I can Record, and make mp3s for my music friends. Starting to learn to Edit Waveforms, Learning the Izotope Community Appreciation bundle(I really like it ! Especially the AI and the digital aspect) I'm not an Analog person except for restoring my totally analog 1951 Dodge 1/2 ton pickup. (Not a computer chip in it).(I am frustrated that I can't seem to get the Pads on my Arturia Mini Lab mk2 to play the SI-Drumkit (but working on it  Been in Pandemic Music Studio Prison for over a year now. I've attached a Track & Waveform Zoom cheat sheet that you guys probably have already memorized. But there must be someone that will find it useful. 

Cakewalk Keyboard Zoom Short Cuts.pdf

[Red Four]

I just now read this, and had to comment to say that it's maybe the single most useful thing I've ever read about Cakewalk. Thank you! I spent some time orienting myself on drum maps a couple years back, but there were some things about them that I just couldn't quite grok, like how the saved presets and the maps in a project were connected (or weren't). Your article finally makes it make sense for me -- how the presets pull those settings into a project but from that point on the map in the project doesn't relate back to the preset at all (unless a map with new settings is saved with the same name, overwriting the old preset).

The way Cakewalk does this is still a bit counterintuitive for me, but now that I understand the concept, it all fits together so much better.

To help justify commenting nearly a year after the last comment, here's an updated link to the Drum Map section of the manual (which will probably change again once the manual is next updated, but until then): https://bandlab.github.io/cakewalk/docs/Cakewalk Reference Guide.pdf#G19.1089104. It's good documentation, but is missing the conceptual explanation from your piece that is essential in my mind. Cheers!

[John Vere]

Had to laugh because you used the word Grok. I think that’s a word not many people will have a clue what it means but I sure do! What was that dang book though? You got me thinking about it

Edit. Ok now I see it’s like a classic SI Fi term coined buy Robert Heinlein.  Actually a Martian term. 

Edited May 23, 2022 by John Vere

[Colin Nicholls]

Grok - to fully understand something completely, like drinking it in. Sounds like downing a full mug (grok grok grok....)

[Тимур Гиев]

Привет народ! Помогите пожалуйста, у меня проблемы со ссылкой на Ins2map??

Это не работа?

Может быть, у вас есть установочный файл и вы пришлете его сюда вместе с сообщением? Пожалуйста, это очень важно, очень нужно)