sends on virtual instrument 'output' tracks

[tedats]

Hi!

I watched a video saying that its good to have every drum going to a send track with a compressor, so you can have the same compression on all the drums without them effecting eachother. Like so the kick doesn't dip the trail of a cymbal when the kick is hit after the cymbal.

I'm using superior drummer and it creates all the individual drums in like, submix tracks or child tracks under the parent vst track. I think they're called 'output' tracks though, but they're indented like submix tracks..

So! That's pretty sweet, but it looks like I cant use sends on these tracks. I could apply compression to the parent track but this would compress the drums as it were one file wouldn't it?

Quite new to mixcraft really. Any advice for me on this?
Thanks!

[Pete Stobbs]

I think you are right there. You can apply effects to each invidual drum tracks in Mixcraft on a track by track basis.

[Mark Bliss]

With multitrack recorded drums it would be very common to process the individual tracks differently, yes. And using sends would be a way to sculpt the kick sound with a compressor setting you don't want applied to your cymbals, or add additional reverb to the snare you don't want on the rest of the kit, etc. (for examples.)

As you have discovered, using a multi track output VSTi in Mixcraft results in child tracks or lanes instead of individual tracks, limiting your ability to easily do this.
While there are workarounds, and hope that changes to come in Mixcraft 8 may improve this, keep in mind using EZDrummer/Superior drummer isn't exactly the same as using dry multitrack recordings. The sounds are generally "pre-processed" to some degree with the intention of getting close to the sound you desire before output to the DAW tracks, reducing or eliminating the need for the previously described processing.
Depending on your version, the VSTi can be used to manipulate this. I haven't personally used Superior, but from what I have seen in tutorials and overviews, it is made to be especially flexible for tweaking to your individual tastes and desires in this manner.

However, while tedious- if you do still wish to break out the individual tracks you can cut/paste the midi line for say for example just the kick drum to a new track and use another incidence of the VSTi.
Trying to do it for every track however can quickly lead to computer resource issues due to the multiple instrument incidences, which defeats the purpose of a multi-output instrument in the first place.......
But you shouldn't really need to do that anyway.

If you do choose that path, maybe some of this content will help too: http://blog.acoustica.com/off-beaten-path/

Note that (depending on style and tastes) another common but possibly advanced trick is to add (for example) a kick sample timed with the original and blend the sounds for the desired result.

[Pete Stobbs]

This is interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROwaumy-IlY

[Rolling Estonian]

MC automatically creates child tracks for EZD2, you just have to go into EZD2 mixer and select multi channel output, this will put each drum in it's own track. Some kits are obviously different so you'll probably have to renumber the track and delete a few of the child tracks in MC if there're too many.

It is nice to be able to control settings of the individual drums but as Mark stated, they're pretty much pre processed as is. They do sound great though!

M

[tedats]

Thanks for reply's!

Mark in particular. Great help, despite not being the "here's how you do that" I was hoping for.

Thanks for the attentive response!

[Mark Bliss]

Well, a "here's how you do that" answer would be nice, but sometimes there's just too many variables to offer that IMO.

The first point would be to refer back to the tutorial you were relating to.
Was this about recorded drums, or was this about Superior (etc.) drums?

Besides the difference I mentioned in my previous reply, I would have to say the description of a "compressor send on all tracks" seems a little misleading to me either way. But then, it depends on the style and genre I guess, but your description doesn't sound typical to me.

But either way, more specific information might lead to better tips and suggestions I think......

[tedats]

In a perfect world!

Seriously though thanks for the input. Was helpful!

The context is metal music. To make the drums sound nuts without doing any unnecessary damage I guess lol.

[Rolling Estonian]

Not familiar with Superior Drummer but it seems like there're a ton of different metal packs in EZD2 so you should have no issues finding beats!

M

[Mark Bliss]

Wide range of Metal sounds:
https://www.toontrack.com/product/the-m ... undry-sdx/

And some more rock/metal sounds:
https://www.toontrack.com/product/metal-machinery-sdx/

There's also preset packs and assorted MIDI packs, depending on the needs of the individual user.

Like I was trying to explain, these virtual instruments are designed with the intention of getting the sounds you want within the plug in, but in the end everyone has different methods.

[tedats]

Thanks guys. The sounds are pretty great to be honest. It's just about adding in a bit of character, at the touch of a slider.

Here's the vid I'm talking about:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5sH9zPA94U