FXpansion BFD Supplemental - Manual (Page 17)


Important note about cross-talk
It is very common to experience cross-talk symptoms when using e-drum systems, due
to vibrations being transmitted to other pads when one is struck. This is often made
worse by the fact that most e-drum systems are supplied with a single ‘frame’ mounting
system, resulting in less isolation for each pad. In practice, this is not such a huge
problem, as it reflects what would happen with a real drumkit to some extent. However,
when using BFD, it can lead to much more data being streamed from the hard disk. As
well as this, you may experience problems when using MIDI Learn for note assignment.
Please consult your e-drum system documentation for information on how to minimize
cross-talk.
It can be more effective to use manual note assignment when assigning your e-drum
system to BFD’s sounds. In order to do this, you need to know which note is sent out by
each pad, or by each part of the pad. Sometimes the brain itself will have setup pages
which provide this information, while it can often also be found in the manual. There will
be situations, however, when you may have to examine the MIDI output from the drum
brain, either using a MIDI monitor or by recording the output and viewing the recorded
events.
Mapping different types of pads/triggers
Kick and Toms
Use MIDI Learn to assign all the straightforward types of triggers, such as the toms and
kick. It’s up to you whether to assign the kick trigger to the hit or no snare Hit types. It can
be a good idea to unload the unused Hit type in order to free up resources.
If you know which notes your drum brain sends out, you can enter the values manually.
Snare
For the snare, most e-drums use a pad with triggers for the head and the rim. The most
useful way to assign these is to the hit and sidestick Hit types although you may, of
course, map them to anything you wish.
Be very careful with MIDI Learn with snare pads, as the cross-talk between the head and
rim can be quite substantial. It may be best to assign these triggers manually.
Cymbals
Many e-drum cymbals have 2 zones which can produce hit and bell notes. On a multi- On a multi-
zone cymbal, it can be quite difficult to hit the correct part of the cymbal when using MIDI
Learn, and there may be substantial cross-talk between zones. It may be best to assign
these triggers manually.
Most drum brains send choking information as polyphonic pressure (aftertouch) signals.
If this is the case, enable the Choke with aftertouch option in the Page 1 tab of the Hit
Options panel.
BFD supplemental manual Chapter 4: Using BFD with electronic drums