Separated Channels Recording with Nord Drum.

[podenco]

Hi!
I'm considering of buying a Nord Drum. My main use would be producing and recording at home. I'm a drummer, so I'd play it as an instrument. I'm looking for something more organic and intuitive to build my beats. So my doubt is the following:
Can each sound (pad) be recorded in a separate channel? Mainly for mixing reasons, I want to be able to have the control of each sound individually in the DAW (Logic).
Thanks for your attention.
Enjoy your Sunday.
Cheers,
Antoni

[podenco]

Hi Podenco!
No, the Nord drum2 and 3p models have 2 outputs: Left and Right, each drum sound can be panned. So by panning to the extreme left or right, you could record the bass drum on one track and the rest on the other, for example. So there’s less to do in post, requires a little bit more preparation to get the sound and dynamics you want.

Cheers,
Albert

[podenco]

Hi Albert,
thank you very much for your quick response!
I've done a little research, and found a template that can transfer each sound pad into different MIDI channels... That could be a solution? It wouldn't be an audio signal, but I'm assuming I could trigger the sound from the synthesizer (and use it more like a sampler). What do you think about that?
Cheers,
Antoni.

[podenco]

Hi Antoni,

Ah, ok I thought you wanted to edit and tweak recorded audio per channel, you can of course do that if you record the audio tracks one by one, (which I forgot to mention in my previous post).

This is how I would do it:
-You can start by recording or programming a drum pattern on a MIDI track in Logic using the ‘Global MIDI’ channel as set on the Nord drum. If you prefer playing the pads to create this pattern, connect MIDI out of the Nord drum to a MIDI input on an interface. The drum pattern will be recorded on the MIDI track in Logic.

-Connect MIDI out of the interface to the MIDI in of the Nord Drum, if you play back the MIDI recording, the beat will be played by the Nord Drum. If you want, you can still quantize notes and change velocity values in Logic, or pick a different kit on the Nord drum, that is one of the advantages of recording MIDI.

-You can indeed control the sound parameters with MIDI (Nord Drum2 and 3p only), by setting up an ‘individual’ MIDI channel for each sound. Then setup a MIDI track for each to program/record the ‘control changes’ you want to send to the Nord Drum.

-if you’re satisfied with the result, you can record the audio from the Nord drum onto an audio track in Logic.

Hope this answered some of your questions,
Albert

[podenco]

Hi Albert,
thanks again for your time and feedback. Much more clear now, but still not 100% sure. Sorry for my inexperience.
I don't want to have only 1 audio channel with all my drumbeat recorded there. I want to be able to have it in different channels (snare, bassdrum, hi hat, etc), so I can play with volume, pan and other things when mixing. I now I can record each sound separately, but I would loose the organic experience of the performance.

-Connect MIDI out of the interface to the MIDI in of the Nord Drum, if you play back the MIDI recording, the beat will be played by the Nord Drum. If you want, you can still quantize notes and change velocity values in Logic, or pick a different kit on the Nord drum, that is one of the advantagse of recording MIDI.

When you say that, I'm assuming I'll be able to have each sound in a different MIDI channel, right? Nord would be capable to assign the sound from the pad to the MIDI channel, then I could export the 6 MIDI channels to audio.
Thanks again for your time.
Cheers,
Antoni.

[wartaler]

Hi Antoni,

When you’re playing the pads of the Nord Drum 3p, it will (only) output MIDI notes on the ‘Global’ MIDI channel, this Global MIDI channel is set in the MIDI menu of the Nord Drum. You can record these notes on a (one) MIDI track in Logic. Each pad (sound) is coupled to one MIDI note number, so the MIDI recording will consist of these notes only.

If you want to record the Nord Drum in one take, and then want to edit the audio for each drum sound seperately you will have to be a bit creative, because unfortunately the Nord Drum 2 and 3p only have 2 audio outputs (left and right). Therefore I think you should start by recording your session on a MIDI track. One way to then get the audio of the different drum sounds onto different audio tracks, is to split the MIDI recording you made into 6 MIDI tracks. One track with the bassdrum notes, one with the snare notes, etc. If you then play back these tracks one by one, (each time muting the other 5) you can record the audio for each drum sound seperately, track by track.

The MIDI channel that you can set for each drum sound can (only) be used to control sound parameters. You could use this to your advantage, because you can control level, pan, in fact all sound parameters of each drum sound. I agree having separate audio tracks has it’s advantages but it is a little bit of a hassle, therefore I suggested using this functionality first..

Hope this helped
Cheers,
Albert

[podenco]

Hi Albert,
thank you very much. I think I get it now, you've been super clear!
Finally, bought one.

If you want to record the Nord Drum in one take, and then want to edit the audio for each drum sound seperately you will have to be a bit creative, because unfortunately the Nord Drum 2 and 3p only have 2 audio outputs (left and right). Therefore I think you should start by recording your session on a MIDI track. One way to then get the audio of the different drum sounds onto different audio tracks, is to split the MIDI recording you made into 6 MIDI tracks. One track with the bassdrum notes, one with the snare notes, etc. If you then play back these tracks one by one, (each time muting the other 5) you can record the audio for each drum sound seperately, track by track.

I'll try this method for my recordings, but as you pointed, this is an instrument and has to be played with all the intention and sensitivity, meaning that you even could not need to tweak anything in mixing.
I'll keep you posted.
Thanks again for being so nice!
Enjoy your Thursday.
Cheers,
Antoni.

[wartaler]

Great to hear! have lots of fun playing experimenting & recording!
Cheers,
Albert