Maybe this can´t be done from Cubase side only but how is it possible that in 2023 I load a vsti and I have to create it´s corresponding drum map or expression map note by note?
For vendors it takes nothing to add it somewhere in the Vst3… As in Kontakt intruments one can see the keyboard with this info but I can´t see it in Cubase key editor…
One should open any vsti and instantly have the corresponding drum map in key editor without having to build the map and then selecting it from a map list.
I know there´s an option to “Create the drum map from instrument” but in none of my plugins works.
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It is part of the VST specification, but it’s up to the developer to implement. Outside of Steinberg the only folks I know who support this feature is BFD3.
But you shouldn’t need to be rebuilding Maps all the time either. First a bunch of Maps have been posted online for most popular drums. Once you’ve got a Map setup on a Track to your liking you can save the Track as part of a Template, as a Preset, or even use File>Import>Tracks From Project (my preference) so you don’t need to recreate anything.
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I don’t know. Toontrack used to have them but removed them for unknown reasons. However the Toontrack drum maps for SDX and EZX are readily available if you look around. But even then, for example if you purchase a new SDX, you are going to have to do it yourself because it most likely won’t be in the pack that you just downloaded because its…new.
There are 3rd party developers who have expression maps. You didn’t say what you were looking for?
While not expression maps, this one with EWHO Opus has saved me a lot of time.
If you scroll down that page he has some pretty nice track icons if you’re into that type of thing.
In a perfect world, yes. Until then, the user spends some initial time/customization, and then with templates, track export, and import from project…they are ready to go for future use. Think of it as an investment.
I just load my saved drum maps which I created myself. I haven’t built a new drum map in a long time. There is no need to build each time you open the vsti.
Hi,
I agree with the written above. Apart from using Project Templates, you can also use Track Presets.
I have many drum and expression maps many of which I have built myself and can load the corresponding one for each track I create or save 50 track presets but this is what feature requests are for: to improve workflows.
Why we use key commands, macros, etc if all the functions are there in the menus ? we could all still be using Cubase 5…
I still think that this is something it has to be included and be transparent for the user, there is no reason not to have it by default.
I shouldn´t have to be searching through the web, downloading files and creating presets for each new plugin I get , same for expression maps which most of the users don´t use because they are not user friendly…
I think these areas have been forgotten by developers and are oudated.
Thanks for the suggestions anyway!
You need to make that feature request with the plugin developers. The functionality is there, Cubase can use it, but only if it is implemented in the plugin.
( I can understand the plugin developers, though, having to support several plugin formats and many many DAW, all of which behave somewhat differently when it comes to plugins, and not all support all features of the plugin API. It is a problem that won’t be solved anytime soon…)
Plugin developers just have to implement a standard map (i.e. the one included in Vst3 protocol) and each DAW has to develop how it shows this data (i.e Cubase translates that to .drm format) it doesn´t seems to be so complicated but maybe you are right…
Has anyone tried asking chatGPt to create a drum map for Cubase?? 
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hahah not bad
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Outside of the very limited General MIDI (GM) Drum Map there isn’t any such thing as a Standard Map. The developers can freely assign any drum to any MIDI Note Numbers (yes plural) as they see fit.
The plug-in needs to tell the DAW which drums are currently mapped to which keys. If the VSTi doesn’t provide that info (and most don’t) there is no way for Cubase or any DAW to magically know what those mappings might be. It’s like if I asked you to tell me my own phone number - you’d have no way of knowing (or do you…?)
Not a Drum Map, but I did get it to write a Logical Editor Preset. Took a handful of revisions to finally get there, but eventually it did. I started off seeing how it did answering common questions that crop up on this forum before trying the LE.
by standard map I mean a map in the standard format needed to comply with plugin requirements.
The question would be why developers wouldn´t provide this data, and why isn´t mandatory to provide this simple info among many many other requirements that they do fulfill to develop a plugin.
I´ve asked ChatGPT to create a PLE preset and the instructions that provided seemed to be logical and using “Cubase language” but when I tried to replicate it in Cubase there where menus and options mentioned that do not exist in PLE, weird.
Yeah it will totally make up stuff. For the LE it did finally write, the 1st attempt was wrong and I told it that using “value 1” was wrong - which it changed to something that probably would have worked if it only existed. Starting with this second attempt the only feedback I gave was that I’d tried the latest attempt and XYZ happened.
But what got me was when it finally wrote an LE that worked correctly it also had an extra useless step in the top section. So I told it there was an extra unneeded step and could it find that step? Sure enough it did.
When I open MDrummer in REAPER, for example, I get the drum names displayed properly, but Cubase doesn’t seem to recognize it. Is there a new API for drums that needs to be implemented additionally.