Disable drum track note length? Not ratchets

[Tommy DownParticipant]

Why is there a note length value on drum tracks?
Obviously now it modifies ratchet spacing but why does it output note value control?

I ask because this is interfering with my drum machine – choking the beat at the note length.

If this is just me then I shall hush – or fiddle with the drums themselves.

Thanks

[alien_brainParticipant]

this can be useful for slices of a loop inside a sampler for instance

[Tommy DownParticipant]

Controlled via Zaq drum track? how do you prevent the zaq choking the sample you’re using then?
Hohum…
One answer to the contrary is enough for me to retract and back off – but I’m interested to know how others manage things.

[alien_brainParticipant]

i mostly use the note type of track and havent used the drum type much. but a lot of my stuff gets bounced down to my mpc or sampled.

i wasnt offering a contrary position, just making a suggestion about how it might be useful to someone.

[Tommy DownParticipant]

Nope, your suggestion was good enough for me.
I just to find a way of disabling it for my purposes and when I do – share it with those that need it too.

Why would a drum machine respond to note off anyway!? Should be triggers only.
Bah drumbug!

[ChristianKeymaster]

Hi Tommy,
I was not aware of a different Midi practice for drums that only uses Note On and not Off.
Quickly Googling the info I´ve found this page though:
https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~music/cmsip/readings/MIDI%20tutorial%20for%20programmers.html

Every NOTE ON message requires its corresponding NOTE OFF message, otherwise the note will play forever. The only exception is for percussion instruments, where it can happen that only the NOTE ON is sent, as the percussion note stops by itself automatically. But it is better practice to send the NOTE OFF in every case, because you are not sure how it could be interpreted by the synthesize receiving it.

So I guess both is possible for drums.

I´d like to follow that explanation above, and use the “better practice” as the Note Off message actually gives you more control over the sound (and now, as you mentioned is also intertwined with the ratcheting function). I could imagine it being useful to some, where they might also trigger some sort of bass tones in the drum machine. That´s something I´m not using personally but I´ve seen it being done.

Anyway, can you please describe again what bugs you about it? I did not quite understand it from your first post. Is it only that the Note Off chokes the sample before you want it to stop? Can´t you just use a longer Note Length then?

Also, can you maybe check your drum machine, and how it reacts to Note OFf? Would make sense to be able to adjust that in the sampler.

[Tommy DownParticipant]

Hello,

Short answer is my problem has been solved by the custom firmware elves at LXR HQ, my zaq can now happily control my LXR. The LXR onboard sound no longer respond to note off messages – but does transmit them thru for onwards sequencing.

Long answer is the LXR responds to both ‘note on’ (obviously) and ‘note off’. This is a problem because overlapping notes on one drum track creates a choking effect as the ‘note off’ interferes with the drum sound envelope triggered by the ‘note on’.
Even if I increase the note length beyond the next note on the note off still chokes the sound.
The solution is to either to allow prevention of note off at the source (hence my request) or modify the LXR (which is what has happened).
My limited experience of hardware drum synths is that they like to be triggered as opposed to ADSRed. Sometimes the note off is read as an additional trigger – sometimes for the good, sometimes for the bad.

[Author]

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