Dynamic mapping: - Audio track to midi control

[Matthew W]

Looking for guidance on dynamic mapping: Audio track to MIDI velocity control

I'm trying to learn how to take the dynamics from an audio track (like a guitar recording) and use them to control a MIDI track (like drums). I believe this is called "dynamic mapping" or envelope following.

Specifically, I want to:

Capture the volume/intensity changes from my guitar track

Apply those dynamic changes to control my MIDI drum track in real-time

. Does anyone know of good tutorials or resources that explain this process? Video tutorials would be especially helpful.

Any tips on the best approach or plugins to use would be greatly appreciated!

Edited June 20 by Matthew W

[Mr No Name]

an upside down version of what you want, might work if you reverse it?

 

you might be able to use a sidechained gate effect also.

Edited Saturday at 08:28 AM by Mr No Name

[mettelus]

On 6/20/2025 at 6:44 AM, Matthew W said:

Capture the volume/intensity changes from my guitar track

Apply those dynamic changes to control my MIDI drum track in real-time

Can you explain this a little more, please? At first read this came across as "audio ducking" to me, where one audio source is compressed to allow the other to be heard. If this is the case, that is not controlling the MIDI on the other track but rather the audio via a side-chained compressor on the audio output (the input to that side-chain is the controlling track, which is your case is the guitar).