Cymbal Samples choke Help.

[Mark Farrell]

Hi guys, Over the last few years i’ve been tampering with my main studio drumkit preset improving it all the time. Somewhere along the lines tho recently, i seem to have made some sort of global adjustment which has meant now all cymbals choke early and wont sustain the full sample. I have no idea how ive managed to do it, but to load a much earlier preset (which is almost 6 months old) to bring back the sustain would mean ive lost 6 months of work that i couldnt possibly replicate. Does anyone have any suggestions? I’m sure its a simple thing but for the life of me i cant figure it out.
It doesnt appear to be:
-Envelope and offset (its off anyway, but even enabled with sustain 100% no difference)
-There is no gate anywhere on the mixers i can see, or in my DAW
-Nothing looks wrong with bleed sliders.

I’ll upload an MP3 showing the cymbal tail choke. Appreciate your time.
Cheers.

Superior Drummer 3 version: 3.2.4
Operating system: Windows 10

Topic

[José Sanguino]

Make sure the MIDI track has no MIDI Channel Aftertouch #CC messages. If you find some, delete those. When MIDI Channel aftertouch messages are received by Superior Drummer, I think all cymbals are choked. If you happen to be recording your beats by using a regular MIDI Keyboard controller, each time you hit a key you might be generating MIDI Channel Aftertouch messages which will be recorded in your track. Any black or white key in your keyboard will do that. Just check the contents of your Superior Drummer 3 MIDI track and if you find any Channel aftertouch messages, delete them. (And if you wanna make sure, after deleting, add ONE single MIDI Channel Aftertouch message at the beginning of your track, with a value of zero).
Another user has made the same question recently. And let me add this to my answer: If you use a regular MIDI keyboard controller to record your beats, you should either use (if available) your controller’s pads. I think those do not send Channel Aftertouch messages. There is another possibility. In your DAW there has to be a way to filter out any type of MIDI messages. Just block “MIDI Channel aftertouch” in the input of your Superior Drummer 3 track. – I use Cockos Reaper, and Reaper has an internal plugin to filter any kind of MIDI messages: JS MIDI Filter. You just have to load it in the “input fx” section of your Reaper track and set it up to filter MIDI Channel aftertouch messages sent by your keyboard. When recording your beats, those messages will not be recording (or even received) by Superior Drummer 3.
If you ever have the need to choke a cymbal hit, just edit your MIDI track and add the Channel aftertouch messages yourself – Do not forget to add a zero value message after that hit, so that the following cymbal hits will not be choked. – I think there are also MIDI notes which are assigned to a “choke” function inside Superior Drummer 3. Check the key assignment for your kit.

[Mark Farrell]

Thankyou so much for the detailed reply!
I dont use a keyboard I use a TD20. Im a proper drummer, not one of those keyboard pretenders
You may be on to something here tho as i do remember recently wondering why i couldnt choke the cymbals on my TD20 when playing SD3, I use pro tools HD and vaguely remember messing around with the MIDI input filter and changing it to record all?? which then gave me cymbal chokes back, which was what I read somewhere. So i’ve just messed with the input filter but still having the choke.
Ive checked the recorded MIDI track but cant see any aftertouch data? But truthfully i dont really know how to find that. I’ve had a look at ‘velocity’ ‘pitchbend”mod wheel’ breath control”mono aftertouch’ data etc etc is that where it would be? But theres nothing obvious there that i can see. I also cant see any strange MIDI note like a keyswitch note anywhere in the MIDI track.
Also ive moved the cymbal note around and no matter which cymbal sample it triggers the end still chokes off early.
Its a shame about cymbal chokes if i have to edit them in post, but spose i’ll gladly disable it if it gives me back the cymbal sustain.

[MintberryCrunch]

I can look into your issue and fix it. Get in touch via FB if you’re interested

The Software Drumming Forum - tips & tricks + discussing drum samplers

[Mark Farrell]

Sorry not on facebook, got off that ride about 2 years ago, fully recommend it.

[MintberryCrunch]

Maybe try via YT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_jx2es4F2U

The Software Drumming Forum - tips & tricks + discussing drum samplers

[Mark Farrell]

Thanks for the vid, but right now i want to concentrate on preventing the cymbal samples from fading out, i just want them to sustain and cant figure out how i managed to change it.

[Mark Farrell]

So i changed the Pro Tools input filter to record all except for mono and polyphonic aftertouch. However when re-recording the drums do the same thing.

[MintberryCrunch]

Mark Farrell wrote:

Thanks for the vid, but right now i want to concentrate on preventing the cymbal samples from fading out, i just want them to sustain and cant figure out how i managed to change it.

Use the YT contact e-mail.

The Software Drumming Forum - tips & tricks + discussing drum samplers

[Mark Farrell]

I take it back. Thankyou Jose, i changed the Input filter and removed aftertouch, it didnt seem to work. However I restarted pro tools, opened the session again and tested. It still choked the cymbal sustain. However, i then quantized the track, and for whatever reason it seems that reset it somehow. Now the sustain is back and all is right in the world. Thankyou.

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