Cymbal choking Midi recording TD-30

Hi everyone,

I’m trying to record drums via MIDI into Cubase using a Roland TD-30 kit, and the sound source is Addictive Drums 2. The crash pad is a CY-12R/C.

Here’s the issue:
When I play live, the cymbal choke (grabbing the edge of the crash) works as expected — the sound stops correctly. However, when I record the MIDI and play it back, the choke is too short — it cuts off almost immediately and unnaturally.

Some details:

The MIDI map in Addictive Drums 2 is correctly set to “TD-30”.
I suspect the choke is controlled via aftertouch or a MIDI CC, but I can’t find any such data in the recorded MIDI in Cubase.
I’ve read that cymbal choking can involve a combination of a note-off or stop-note and a control signal, possibly similar to how hi-hat openness is handled via CC messages.
Addictive Drums 2 shows a “Cymbal Choke” note for each crash in its map. I can manually insert that and get a choke effect — but it doesn’t replicate the natural choke behavior I get when playing live.
Interestingly, even though I hear the choke when recording, I don’t see any corresponding MIDI data (e.g. no stop-note, no aftertouch, no CC) that would explain how the choke is being triggered.
My question:
Where is the control signal that determines the length of the cymbal choke coming from? And why can’t I find it in the MIDI data recorded in Cubase?

Thanks in advance for any insights!

Hi and welcome to the forum,

Ensure, there are no After Touch MIDI data on the track, please.

Does your Cubase have the List Editor in the MIDI menu? This one should display all MIDI data.

I had the td30 and used it with Cubase with SD3. Choke worked perfectly. I think it uses polyphonic aftertouch. Check there are no playback filters present in Cubase. To be honest there not on by default as I’ve never had a problem. Have you checked on addictive drums what it expects from midi for a choke?

I now use a td50x with sd3 and have no problem recording and playing back choke.