I have an old Simmons SD7K kit, which I’ve used to trigger drums in Cubase.
There are a lot of quirks with this kit; I’ve figured out how to get around most of them, but the hi-hat is still a problem, especially with SD3.
Apparently the Simmons SD7K hi-hat brain uses a proprietary method to produce the 5 sounds that the hi-hat controller can trigger (Open, half open, closed, pedal, splash).
When MIDI recording a Simmons hi hat performance into Cubase, the pedal produces a series of CC4 messages that are all 127; the hi hat itself outputs note on & velocity info, along with CC4 (always at 127), program change info (either 114 or 126) and occasionally CC108 (98 or 99).
I’ve analyzed the pattern or correlation to what is being done on the hi hat controller compare to the midi recorded by Cubase, and made some sense of it.
I’ve also figured out a way to map just the note number – note on messages to trigger different articulations, but I haven’t figured out a way to translate the combination of PC, note on & max velocity messages so SD3 can see them as the standard 127 – 0 CC4 messages it expects from an e-drum hi hat controller.
The really odd thing is when I plug the hi hat pedal into a Kurzweil and monitor the midi data, it does produce continuous CC4 data from 127 – 0.
Does anyone else have any experience with this?
Someone lent me this Simmons kit and I am not sure it is functioning properly; if what I wrote above differs from someone else’s experience, that would also help.
