V9 Custom drum maps

[RaveyDavey]

Hi,

I have a question regarding custom drum maps in Mixcraft 9.
In the help file it says:

Fill in the following fields and save the document:
 Map File The name of the file you just created, ie: “Big And Dumb Drums.txt”.
 VST GUID This is a special value uniquely identifying the VSTi. Open up your Log file after having used the plug-in to get its VST GUID. Your log file will be located at %appdata%\Acoustica\Mixcraft.
The following example shows how to find the GUID for the Bass Synthesizer VSTi.
128
15:39:16 [635 mils] : VST: C:\Program Files (x86)\Acoustica Mixcraft 9\ VST\3rdParty\Alien 303 Bass Synthesizer.dll”
15:39:16 [635 mils] : VST found in registry.
15:39:16 [635 mils] : {4A2F286F-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}
 VST Name If there isn’t a GUID, use the exact name from the log file.
 Preset # This is the preset the drum patch resides on.
 Comments No need to keep those comments to yourself; put them here.
Once you’ve defined the above parameters, save the file and load the virtual instrument


My question is how do I locate the GUID? - I cannot see anything for the drum plugin that I am using
(LiquidRythm64) nor can I find a GUID for Bass Synthsizer

[Acoustica Greg]

Hi,

Open up your mixcraft-log.txt file and press Ctrl-F to search for the name of your plugin.

To find the mixcraft-log file, highlight the following line and press Ctrl+C to copy it:

Code: Select all

%appdata%\Acoustica\Mixcraft\

Press the Windows Key+R to pop up the Run box in Windows. Click in the Run box and press Ctrl+V to paste in the line from above. Finally, click OK to go to the location of the mixcraft-log.txt file.

Greg

[RaveyDavey]

20:52:32 [962 mils] : Starting up on 12/01/2019!
20:52:32 [962 mils] : Load Address: 0x0000000140000000
20:52:32 [962 mils] : SizeOfImage: 7151616
20:52:32 [962 mils] : Entry Point: 00000001403F20C0
20:52:33 [ 90 mils] : Language in use: English
20:52:33 [ 90 mils] : Mem in use percentage = 15 %
20:52:33 [ 90 mils] : Free physical : 28169.02 MB, Total physical : 33409.35 MB
20:52:33 [ 90 mils] : Free paging file : 32103.86 MB, Total paging file : 38390.08 MB
20:52:33 [ 90 mils] : Free virtual : 137434584.95 MB, Total virtual : 137438953.34 MB
20:52:33 [ 90 mils] : Cur Process -> Working Set Size : 17.07 MB
20:52:33 [ 90 mils] : Cur Process -> GDI Objects In Use: 8
20:52:33 [ 90 mils] : C:\ has 182054.55 MB free.
20:52:33 [ 90 mils] : CPU Speed: 2.208000 GHz
20:52:33 [ 90 mils] : Turning Logging OFF

[RaveyDavey]

Tried a second time - in both cases midi data copied from the plugin could be played in MX9.

[Acoustica Greg]

Hi,

Go into Mixcraft's Display preferences and enable logging.

Greg

[Mark Bliss]

I do wish this info could be presented in a manner that made sense to (most of) the rest of us.
I would like to be able to edit and create drum maps. But honestly, I look at this and scratch my head, moving on quickly to safer territory.

To be clear, I dont understand the query or the replies.
Non-programmer language please.

[RaveyDavey]

To Greg,
Thanks a million - all working now. I had forgotten to reset the option as you pointed out.

I will create a Kayako ticket tomorrow re documentation as I think a quick note in the documentation might be useful.

Mark,
I shall answer your point tomorrow and hopefully it will become clearer.I have been using MX9 solidly for the last 12 hours so I'm a bit tired right now.

[RaveyDavey]

Mark,

I hope what I have written below makes sense but if not let me know.

What is a custom drum template?

A custom drum template allows you to associate an individual drum instrument with a specific MIDI note.
A collection of drum instruments is known as a drumkit.

Mixcraft comes with a number of drum templates which you can see and use in the Mixcraft midi step editor.
One such template is for the Acoustica Studio Drum kit. If you click on Studio Drum kit in the step editor
you will see all the instruments defined for that particular kit Snare off, Low Tom Rim etc.

Out of the box, Mixcraft supplies basic templates for other drum instruments ie Mtpowerdrumkit 2, EZdrummer, Addictive drums.

What if the drum package you use is not in the list?

Mixcraft allows you to create your very own custom template.
The process itself is documented in the helpfile under Custom Drum Template

IMPORTANT - make sure that you have logging enabled in your Mixcraft Project settings.

Basically, it boils down to creating one new file and amending an existing Acoustica file.
I wanted to include a custom template for a vst that I use called Liquid Rythm.
There is a drum kit called DnB in the vst.


To tell Mixcraft about it, I closed down Mixcraft first then created a file Liquid-DnB.txt in folder C:\ProgramData\Acoustica\Mixcraft\drum-maps7


Contents of Liquid-DnB
(the kit name is Liquid-DnB and you can see the instruments whick make up the drumkit below)

35 DnB Kick
36 DnB Kick2
37 DnB Sidestick
38 DnB Snare
39 DnB Clap
40 DnB Snare2
41 DnB Fuzz Tom
42 DnB Closed Hi-Hat
43 DnB Floor Tom
44 DnB Pedal Hi-Hat
45 DnB Low Tom
46 DnB Open Hi-Hat
47 DnB Mid Tom
48 DnB Hi Tom
49 DnB Crash
50 DnB Crisp Tom
51 DnB Ride

At this point, I have told Mixcraft what my drum kit is but I now need to tell Mixcraft where the drum kit is.
To tell Mixcraft where the drum kit, I have to edit an existing Mixcraft file called Default-Drum-Mapping.csv
(Following the Help file instructions, I added the following entry
Liquid-DnB,{57444E41-0000-0000-0000-000000000000},Liquid DnB Instruments,0,Liquid-DnB


57444E41-0000-0000-0000-000000000000 is the guid you get from the Mixcraft logfile.
It will be different from computer to computer so you need to find it in your log file.
The format of a guid will look the same but the number parts will be different - a bit like a registration key.

Run Mixcraft, look at the step editor and you will see your drum kit.

[RaveyDavey]

Mark,

Thinking about what you said, I think a few tweaks to the documentation is all that is needed. Personally, I think this is the easiest thing for Acoustica along the lines of "software development should be easy"

I think it would be overkill to supply an app or add the functionality into Mixcraft. How often would someone want to do this in all honesty? Given that Acoustica have to prioritise, I would rather they work on something else more important whatever that might be.

[Mark Bliss]

Thanks for the clearer explanation. I think there are potentially others who would appreciate and use this info.

And for the record, I whole heartedly agree with that last part about prioritization.

But heres the thing, in my specific case. I for example use EZD2 and sometimes Superior drummer. The included maps cover the basics as a starting point, but if you have drum set expansion packs, many of the map associations are wrong or missing. Many times a user needs a specific map for each expansion pack version.

I would suggest that yes, the documentaion/explanation needs to be far clearer on this, and that some expansion of the included maps would be nice, AND that perhaps a solution somewhere between that and an full blown built-in app would be very useful to a number of users.

Programming your own with cryptic guidance? Not good.
I honestly have just limped along, missing a bit of the full potential.
I CAN do this, but jeesh......

[RaveyDavey]

Mark,

I have several drummers including EZdrummer and Addictive Drums and get what you are saying and here's the but
Acoustica have given us a means to create those drums - it means that we get to define what we want and Acoustica do not have to worry about supporting products and expansion packs they have no control over.

It's not ideal, I grant you, but with tweaks to documentation and perhaps a little outreach to those companies, it's workable.