I added 12 unpitched percussion instruments named "trigger pad 01 - trigger pad 12 and starred them. I also created a percussion map for them named “Minilab Triggers” and used them to make a percussion kit (Actually I divided them into three kits in the example project. The percussion map uses the same midi notes as the pads on the minilab keyboard.
The goal was to compactly organize layered sound design elements and make them conveniently playable. Normally I’d rename Trigger Pad 01 to “soft riser” or whatever made sense, but I left the names alone in the example project to make looking at the possible issues easier.
First weird thing - I made the triggers by creating a trigger pad 01 instrument, and then made copies of it. I confirmed that each new instrument was in the family of "unpitched percussion. But now 09-12 are somehow no longer in that family (they aren’t in any family actually, but it does still allow me to put them in a percussion kit.) And I can’t seem to edit the family.
The second possibly related weird thing is that trigger pads 5-8 are marked as “in score” even though they are starred.
The third thing is probably a feature suggestion (or as always it could be something that I don’t understand): Any notes that you enter manually in the percussion kits play back correctly - but you can’t play them in using the minilab pads. Or more specifically, the staves don’t seem to be receiving anything but the “b” apparently from the one minilab pad that is mapped to ‘b’. Which sort of makes sense to me I guess with percussion staves - but I wish it worked with the pads.
Comments or ideas?
The "Triggers in Bass Clef uses the same map, just as a tonal / Base Clef instead of percussion stave. The minilab pads play them just fine this way.
There’s a bug in the current version that results in instruments sometimes being removed incorrectly from families when they are edited. This will be fixed in the next update, which will also provide you with a comprehensive way to edit families, including creating your own if you wish. In the meantime I’m sorry for the inconvenience.
I’m not sure what you mean by “the minilab pads” – does that refer to some pads on an external MIDI device that you have attached to your computer?
Yes, the pads on the external midi keyboard just output midi notes C1 through G#1. I think that is common but configurable? Anyway, I have a VST set up so that C1 triggers one unpitched instrument, C#1 to a different unpitched instrument, and so on.
If the Dorico staff is pitched, you can play them in using the pads as in my Bass Clef example. It is somewhat inconvenient though to look at the score and remember what D#1 was meant to trigger. Plus it gets ugly when you layer them in and out.
The percussion kit layout is great though! You can see what’s happening, you have good labels, and you can layer easily. The percussion map makes one instrument in the percussion kit sends C1, another sends C#1, etc. and the playback is perfect.
The one thing you apparently can’t do, is to use the pads to play them in using the percussion staff. It makes sense to me that it would not - the midi note to instrument mapping is on the output after all, not the input. But I wish it were possible. Especially so as to be able to play in more than one at a time.
Yes, exactly right: you can input notes using the output notes, or their staff positions, but you can’t create a further mapping between an arbitrary input pitch and a specific entry in the percussion map.
