Percussion mapping with a midi pad controller

Dorico
1

I’m trying to get pads on a Akai MPD218 controller to work with Dorico (16 pads that have 3 banks -48 notes that can be selected - and I can manually select the note each pad does in the MPD editor software). If I go into playback mode for a drum kit (used the jazz trio for instance), then click on VST and Midi, there are two show instrument options. If I select the first one, HALicon Sonic (just to provide background info), it brings up the HALicon Sonic 7 window and I can play a chromatic scale starting at C2. If however, I show the Groove Agent SE 5 window, which shows the keyboard at the bottom to represent different percussion functions, the pads do not follow the keyboard at all. Right now, if I go chromatically:

[bank A] pads 1-14 and 16: nothing, pad 15: hihat.pedal (shows G#0 but should be D3)

[bank B] pads 1-10, 12, 13, 15, and 16: nothing, pad 11: exact same as pad 15 from bank A, pad 14: kick (shows C1, but should be F4)

[bank C] pad 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 11, 13, 15, and 16 nothing, pad 2: Tom C (shows G1 but should be A5), pad 5: snare (shows D1 but should be C6), pad 7: Tom B (shows B1 but should be D6), Pad 9: Tom A (shows C2 but should be E6), pad 10: Ride.bow (shows D#2 but should be F6), pad 12: hihat.tip closed (shows F#1 - yes it shows it going lower, but should be G6), pad 14: crash A (shows C#2 but should be A6).

I’ve tried using the Groove agent (as above) and making my own percussion maps, all unsuccessfully. I just want to be able to use it as a note input device and switch between different percussion instruments quickly. Even when I plug in my midi keyboard controller, it does not follow the keyboard on the Groove Agent window.

Thank you

2

Hi, and welcome to the forum!

There are several settings that need to be checked out, in order to make Dorico work the way you need. Especially, Preferences>Note input>Percussion. There, you can choose whether you use your MIDI keyboard (I suppose your Akai device is seen by Dorico as a MIDI keyboard) to enter notes as if it were a G clef staff or a F clef staff, or if you want to rely on the percussion map (which would probably by my choice). There are settings about the middle C, which can be very important if there’s an octave shift with Dorico’s default.

You should watch some videos from Tim Buell about notating drums in Dorico, especially the one of the series which describes those options :wink: