DrumComputer MidiFX - what's the point?

kirmesteggno

Hi,

I'm trying to use it as a sequencer in AUM but can't find a way to set a midi channel, all receiving Tracks/apps in AUM only trigger through channel 1.

Is there some hidden sub menu or another trick to get it working? 😵‍💫

Shiloh

As far as I know it only transmits through CH1. You can use the mapping / zones to select the midi note to send per pad

kirmesteggno

@Shiloh said:
As far as I know it only transmits through CH1. You can use the mapping / zones to select the midi note to send per pad

Ok thanks, it's working now finally.

The mapping / zones is hidden below the rainbow button, and it can be cumbersome to map the zones due to the abysmal UI (of that section) and the lack of iPad tutorial videos showing the interactions.

Pxlhg

I've many time just connected DC to whatever else percussive in a project but I have never thought of having it as a dedicated midi sequencer. Just hooked it up with BeatHawk and having a lot of fun, it really is an awesome sequencer.
Thanks for the inspiration.

kirmesteggno

@Pxlhg said:
I've many time just connected DC to whatever else percussive in a project but I have never thought of having it as a dedicated midi sequencer. Just hooked it up with BeatHawk and having a lot of fun, it really is an awesome sequencer.
Thanks for the inspiration.

You're welcome. The sequencer is killer because most controls are directly accessible or just one tap away, downside is only 8 slots but that's enough for me because I generate a lot of percussion through side effects with Replicant and other tools in a glitch bus.

Being able to bring in other instruments into the sequencer (like Drambo racks) and the same pattern is a big relief and wil probably lead to much more usage of AUM. My goal is to use no more than 2 sequencers at the same time, one for drums and Drambo for synths.

I was thinking about giving Octachron a shot though.

Shiloh

The other thing to consider if using DrumComputer as just a sequencer is that it is a pretty high cpu load compared to something like Octachron. DC sits around 40-45% while Octachron sits around 5%. This is on my iPad Air 3. Both sequencers are fantastic and very useful.

kirmesteggno

The note ranges in AUM that I have to dial in to isolate the tracks don't correspond to the zones in DrumComputer. C0 isnt C0 etc.

You can't map a drum pad from Cx to Bx and then set the corresponding note range in AUM, something is off.

Fingolfinzz

I’ve kind of got it to work a few times but it’s not very intuitive and a little overwhelming. It’s definitely fun when I seem to have it working properly though

kirmesteggno

There are too many downsides with DC, sloppy coding. Unusable in Drambo due to high latency, and the terrible performance..

Fingolfinzz

@kirmesteggno said:
There are too many downsides with DC, sloppy coding. Unusable in Drambo due to high latency, and the terrible performance..

Yeah, I agree it could use some optimizing. I don’t use it as much as I want to because of it. I also don’t get why the app shot up so much in size after one of the updates. It’s too bad because the concept of it makes it one of my favorites but the execution of it makes it collect dust often for me

MonkeyDrummer

@Shiloh said:
The other thing to consider if using DrumComputer as just a sequencer is that it is a pretty high cpu load compared to something like Octachron. DC sits around 40-45% while Octachron sits around 5%. This is on my iPad Air 3. Both sequencers are fantastic and very useful.

For sure this.

If you’re not using DC’s synth, Octachron can be configured to do everything DC’s seq can do, EXCEPT for clock division per track. And with Octa, you have complete control over the randomization. But it is missing randomization of parameters. So I guess that’s two things. 😏

kirmesteggno

I> @Fingolfinzz said:

@kirmesteggno said:
There are too many downsides with DC, sloppy coding. Unusable in Drambo due to high latency, and the terrible performance..

Yeah, I agree it could use some optimizing. I don’t use it as much as I want to because of it. I also don’t get why the app shot up so much in size after one of the updates. It’s too bad because the concept of it makes it one of my favorites but the execution of it makes it collect dust often for me

The sequencer with the faders below could inspire other apps. The synth section also grew on me after being overwhelmed initially, seeing the attack and decay curves helps a lot. Glad I found the SB init preset rather quickly, imagine undoing all the crazy defaults just to load and play your own samples haha.

UX wise they remind me of Steinberg, in some ways brilliant and in other ways just kafkaesque proto Germans.

@MonkeyDrummer said:

@Shiloh said:
The other thing to consider if using DrumComputer as just a sequencer is that it is a pretty high cpu load compared to something like Octachron. DC sits around 40-45% while Octachron sits around 5%. This is on my iPad Air 3. Both sequencers are fantastic and very useful.

For sure this.

If you’re not using DC’s synth, Octachron can be configured to do everything DC’s seq can do, EXCEPT for clock division per track. And with Octa, you have complete control over the randomization. But it is missing randomization of parameters. So I guess that’s two things. 😏

Is Octachron just for drums or can you also draw shapes for filter automations etc. like in Drambos automation view? One sequencer for everything would be the dream.

MonkeyDrummer

@kirmesteggno said:

If you’re not using DC’s synth, Octachron can be configured to do everything DC’s seq can do, EXCEPT for clock division per track. And with Octa, you have complete control over the randomization. But it is missing randomization of parameters. So I guess that’s two things. 😏

Is Octachron just for drums or can you also draw shapes for filter automations etc. like in Drambos automation view? One sequencer for everything would be the dream.

You can set it up to send any cc you want. You can have it repeat the cc message per step as wel.

Personally, Octa is the go to drum seq and Cykle is the go to melodic seq if you’re looking for performance oriented, or “generative”

They are so similar I’d be willing to guess the devs are twins separated at birth.

Shiloh

As a drum synth DC is fantastic. Octachron for me is a much quicker “get up and go” sequencer.

Fingolfinzz

@kirmesteggno yeah the synth in it is really impressive, it’s like Factory for percussion with all the parameters available and some really ingenious implementations. I really like using the wavetable features and creating some otherworldly percussion

wim

@kirmesteggno said:
The note ranges in AUM that I have to dial in to isolate the tracks don't correspond to the zones in DrumComputer. C0 isnt C0 etc.

You can't map a drum pad from Cx to Bx and then set the corresponding note range in AUM, something is off.

Different apps name octaves differently as there's no standard for octave naming in MIDI. Always check one octave up or down when having midi mapping disconnects between apps.

I agree the note mapping thing is cumbersome. But on the bright side, you can save mappings for different apps once you do get them down.

uncledave

@wim said:

@kirmesteggno said:
The note ranges in AUM that I have to dial in to isolate the tracks don't correspond to the zones in DrumComputer. C0 isnt C0 etc.

You can't map a drum pad from Cx to Bx and then set the corresponding note range in AUM, something is off.

Different apps name octaves differently as there's no standard for octave naming in MIDI. Always check one octave up or down when having midi mapping disconnects between apps.

I agree the note mapping thing is cumbersome. But on the bright side, you can save mappings for different apps once you do get them down.

Exactly. I began with Music Studio, which uses C4 for middle C, and was baffled when I got an IK keyboard using C3. AUM uses C4 for middle C, but many app developers are certain that C3 is correct. So you always need to be uncertain until you determine the notation used by a given app.

kirmesteggno

@MonkeyDrummer said:

@kirmesteggno said:

If you’re not using DC’s synth, Octachron can be configured to do everything DC’s seq can do, EXCEPT for clock division per track. And with Octa, you have complete control over the randomization. But it is missing randomization of parameters. So I guess that’s two things. 😏

Is Octachron just for drums or can you also draw shapes for filter automations etc. like in Drambos automation view? One sequencer for everything would be the dream.

You can set it up to send any cc you want. You can have it repeat the cc message per step as wel.

Personally, Octa is the go to drum seq and Cykle is the go to melodic seq if you’re looking for performance oriented, or “generative”

They are so similar I’d be willing to guess the devs are twins separated at birth.

I have Drambo which seems quite similar (the automation view has these bars for all kinds of parameters as well).

In Drambo you can define the snapping steps in the x and y coordinates which makes it easy to manually overlay and sync the shapes on top of the drawn in notes of the sequencer.

For pads and stabs I often use only two chords and then use filter curves/shapes to add more melodic/rhythmic layers on top.

@Shiloh said:
As a drum synth DC is fantastic. Octachron for me is a much quicker “get up and go” sequencer.

The cool thing about the DC sequencer is that you can see the dialed in swing and humanization because by design the steps are resting on those rails and can move along them. And it's easy to create call and response patterns with everything so directly accessible.

For quick drum patterns I often use DC in standalone with the initit preset and get somethign going, save it and recall it later in AUM when I want to record stuff. It just fails as a part of larger jamming setup for me, on its own it's great.

@Fingolfinzz said:
@kirmesteggno yeah the synth in it is really impressive, it’s like Factory for percussion with all the parameters available and some really ingenious implementations. I really like using the wavetable features and creating some otherworldly percussion

Yeah that's a good way to to put it, a great factory for loops which you can then use within other apps.

@wim said:

@kirmesteggno said:
The note ranges in AUM that I have to dial in to isolate the tracks don't correspond to the zones in DrumComputer. C0 isnt C0 etc.

You can't map a drum pad from Cx to Bx and then set the corresponding note range in AUM, something is off.

Different apps name octaves differently as there's no standard for octave naming in MIDI. Always check one octave up or down when having midi mapping disconnects between apps.

I agree the note mapping thing is cumbersome. But on the bright side, you can save mappings for different apps once you do get them down.

I had the 8 pads mapped from C0 to C7 and unfortunately it doesn't go higher than that inside DC, at least it's not visible what it is as soon as you scroll along the slider below the zones. That's what got me so angry about the UI.

Gonna give it another go in the coming days, I want to map the Sub808 plugin to the lower octaves because I'm using it a lot for toms/rumble kicks on offbeats lately.

tpj

DC is amazing. I just do not understand why the biggest track buttons are there for ONLY previewing the sound

You can't record on the fly.

Then they have a tiny version of the same button in the center of the UI to do the actual track selection.

Then there are the tiny arrows for next and previous sounds which almost every time triggers the list instead of next/prev sample.

And zero midi for UI navigation. You can map pretty much every parameter but basic track selection can't be done.

With 5% effort it could be twice as good.

Other than that its amazing 😆

kirmesteggno

@tpj

Yeah, they just made the desktop version that was designed for DAW workflows iPad compatible, not iPad friendly. I hope the sequencer view and functional design inspires other apps.

Such a bummer that most still copy the rigid hardware approach with 16/32/64 fixed slots instead of the more flexible one from DC to show the actual offset/swing of the notes in real time. It's something hardware drum machines can't do and super useful for groove oriented music.

MonkeyDrummer

@tpj said:
DC is amazing. I just do not understand why the biggest track buttons are there for ONLY previewing the sound

You can't record on the fly.

Then they have a tiny version of the same button in the center of the UI to do the actual track selection.

Then there are the tiny arrows for next and previous sounds which almost every time triggers the list instead of next/prev sample.

And zero midi for UI navigation. You can map pretty much every parameter but basic track selection can't be done.

With 5% effort it could be twice as good.

Other than that its amazing 😆

I love SB’s stuff, but the lowest ever effort porting desktop app to iOS from any dev has gotta be Thesys

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/thesys/id655513441

The UI is sooooo painful. A pen is almost a prerequisite

wim

@kirmesteggno said:
In Drambo you can define the snapping steps in the x and y coordinates which makes it easy to manually overlay and sync the shapes on top of the drawn in notes of the sequencer.
...
For pads and stabs I often use only two chords and then use filter curves/shapes to add more melodic/rhythmic layers on top.
...
The cool thing about the DC sequencer is that you can see the dialed in swing and humanization because by design the steps are resting on those rails and can move along them. And it's easy to create call and response patterns with everything so directly accessible.

For quick drum patterns I often use DC in standalone with the initit preset and get somethign going, save it and recall it later in AUM when I want to record stuff. It just fails as a part of larger jamming setup for me, on its own it's great.

Great points. Thanks for those ideas.

I had the 8 pads mapped from C0 to C7 and unfortunately it doesn't go higher than that inside DC, at least it's not visible what it is as soon as you scroll along the slider below the zones. That's what got me so angry about the UI.

If you're using DC in AUM or Loopy Pro, you can use transpose in the host midi input settings to adjust octaves.

yellow_eyez

With DC fills, is there a way to set it to play every X bars?

kirmesteggno

@wim said:

@kirmesteggno said:
In Drambo you can define the snapping steps in the x and y coordinates which makes it easy to manually overlay and sync the shapes on top of the drawn in notes of the sequencer.
...
For pads and stabs I often use only two chords and then use filter curves/shapes to add more melodic/rhythmic layers on top.
...
The cool thing about the DC sequencer is that you can see the dialed in swing and humanization because by design the steps are resting on those rails and can move along them. And it's easy to create call and response patterns with everything so directly accessible.

For quick drum patterns I often use DC in standalone with the initit preset and get somethign going, save it and recall it later in AUM when I want to record stuff. It just fails as a part of larger jamming setup for me, on its own it's great.

Great points. Thanks for those ideas.

I had the 8 pads mapped from C0 to C7 and unfortunately it doesn't go higher than that inside DC, at least it's not visible what it is as soon as you scroll along the slider below the zones. That's what got me so angry about the UI.

If you're using DC in AUM or Loopy Pro, you can use transpose in the host midi input settings to adjust octaves.

You're welcome. I've switched back to the non MidiFX version in AUM and can still trigger the other instruments with the midi mapping. I think I got the hang of the mapping now. I'm not an AUM expert and until recently wrongly assumed that I have to use the midi plugin on a midi track to sequence 🤦🏻‍♂️

One of the tracks is a Tom layered with the Sub808 plugin on an external track which I've mapped to the first two octaves. Quite nice to be able to switch the notes while it's playing, so the midi UI isn't that bad as it turns out 🥳

kirmesteggno

@yellow_eyez said:
With DC fills, is there a way to set it to play every X bars?

It's not automateable afaik. The fills feature, like the pad triggers seem to exist for performances on top or alongside an ongoing recording.

wim

@kirmesteggno said:

@yellow_eyez said:
With DC fills, is there a way to set it to play every X bars?

It's not automateable afaik. The fills feature, like the pad triggers seem to exist for performances on top or alongside an ongoing recording.

Yeh, it's either manual, every four bars, or every two bars.
With the vast amount of other features in DC, this is a sort of surprising limitation.