Addictive Drums 2 cymbal crashes velocity problems

[Jeremy Jensen]

I've got a weird one for you, and I don't know whether this is a problem with Cakewalk or a problem with Addictive Drums 2. I've got a project where, intermittently, cymbal crashes are very quiet/non-audible. I can see in AD2 that the software is receiving some signal from Cakewalk for each of these crashes, so it must either be the case that Cakewalk is sending AD2 a very low velocity note, OR AD2 is, for some reason, playing the note very quietly even though it's been sent the correct velocity. It's not the case that the note isn't being sent at all or that AD2 is not receiving the note.

So, yeah, kind of a weird one. I'm not sure where to go from here other than to rebuild the project track by track and see if the problem still exists. Anyone experience any issues like this?

Edited July 16, 2019 by Jeremy Jensen

[57Gregy]

So, what are their velocities?
In the cymbal MIDI track's Piano Roll View with velocities enabled, look for a velocity that is the volume you want, then raise the velocities of the other cymbal hits.

[Jeremy Jensen]

The velocities vary. The problem I'm experiencing is that, for example, a velocity of one of these notes might be set to 115, but you play it back and can't hear it. But only sometimes. You'll go back and play the exact same note later and it will play as 115, like you'd expect. The problem is that, randomly, the velocity seems to go down to 0 or 5 or something even though it's set at 115 in the PRV.

In fact, it may not be a velocity problem at all. All I know is that AD2 always registers receiving a note, but randomly (not every time) either doesn't play the note or plays it so quietly you can't hear it in the mix. It may be that AD2, at random intervals, just randomly shows that it's receiving the note, but doesn't actually play the note. I'm not sure.

[Jeremy Jensen]

Also, just so I don't get too obtuse about this, here's the symptom, described as simply as I can:

When my song plays, sometimes, at random, a crash cymbal decides not to play. Then you play the song again and that exact same crash cymbal WILL play.

The only thing that makes me think it might not be Cakewalk is that in the AD2 software, in the view where you see the individual drums, it shows that the cymbal is struck, every time, even if you can't hear the cymbal.

I hope that makes sense. It's kind of a hard thing to have to describe.

[msmcleod]

Try increasing your MIDI buffer from 250 to 750:

[Jeremy Jensen]

Will do! Thank you! I'll let you know how it goes.

[Billy86]

16 hours ago, msmcleod said:

Try increasing your MIDI buffer from 250 to 750:

This. I was having MIDI note weirdness and increased the buffer size to 2500 and haven’t had a problem since. If your buffer’s too low notes can get passed by unprocessed. 

[scook]

It is difficult to provide an exact value for the MIDI playback buffer for all users.

Fortunately, too high a buffer does not cause problems. A high value may be noticed as a slight delay when starting the transport.

To deal with dropped MIDI notes, start at 500 adding increments of 250 until the problem goes away. Some get by with the default, some at 500, some at 750, some use values in the thousands.

[Jeremy Jensen]

I don't think it's skipping notes. I see an indicator go off in AD2 every time I'm expecting to hear the crash cymbal. It's just not audible. I'll still try increasing that buffer and seeing how it goes though for sure. I'm crossing my fingers. I haven't had a chance yet to try it, but will tonight.

[lapasoa]

Do you know that crashes and all the other cymbals gain in AD2 depends on OH slider in the kit view?

[Jeremy Jensen]

Yes. It's not the slider. The problem is intermittent. Sometimes the crash cymbal, say, at 1:37 plays and sometimes it doesn't. 

[razor7music]

I used to have to deal with synth polyphony. When the maximum number of notes was met, the first note played would drop out. Not the same--but reminded me of that.

[Jeremy Jensen]

I increased the buffer and it didn't fix my problem. I'm in touch with XLN support, so I'm hoping they can help me. 

[Jeremy Jensen]

I've swapped out these crash cymbals for other crash cymbals in AD2 and it appears to have fixed the problem. Weird. Thanks for your help everyone.

[abacab]

I was going to suggest testing with another kit selection. Perhaps some samples have issues in the particular kit you were using.

A Review of Addictive Drums 2

https://www.warpacademy.com/addictive-drums-2/

"Addictive Drums 2 employs round robin operations when handling sample playback."

"A whole bunch of drum hits with different nuances are grouped together and are triggered either randomly or sequentially, this is where the real beauty in Addictive Drums 2 lies."

Future Music - Round Robin Sampling

"How does Addictive Drums 2 incorporate round robin sampling and other multisampling techniques?"

https://www.pressreader.com/australia/future-music-9629/20160114/283841507414196

 

EDIT: You can also turn on/off  alternate sample hits in the "Kit Piece Selection" of the AD2 Edit Page. See page 20 of the user manual.

 

Edited July 18, 2019 by abacab

[Jeremy Jensen]

Yeah. I've got to think that one of the samples in the kit selection I was using was messed up somehow, and, that, when the messed-up sample's turn came up in the round robin, I'd not hear the cymbal.

I'm sending XLN my project for them to look at. Maybe they can fix whatever it was that caused my problem and fix it in future versions.

Edited July 18, 2019 by Jeremy Jensen