How to Use Roland HandSonic HPD-20 with Superior Drummer 3?

[pacificm]

I have Superior Drummer 3 and a Roland HandSonic HPD-20.  The HandSonic is not included in the list of eDrums in SD3.  I would like to use the HandSonic  with SD3 as is shown in the immediate link below.  I am not sure how to do that.  Please advise how to do that.  Thanks!

Superior Drummer 3 version: 3.1.7
Operating system: macOS Mojave (10.14)

• This post was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by pacificm.

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[John]

Hi,

I am pretty certain that you would be able to start off with any of the Roland E-drums Presets but you most likely need to tweak it to how your HPD-20 is set up in terms of which pad you need to have for each drum and which note is sent, etc.

So I advise you to read up on how to customise your own MIDI Preset in the SD3 manual but start from a Roland Preset, it *should* set up the Hi-Hat basic stuff and main drum notes.

BR,
John

John Rammelt - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

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Thanked by: pacificm

[Boomwallah]

I use both an HPD-15 and an HPD-20. I make a patch on each Handsonic where I make all local sounds to be off, and then assign MIDI notes to each pad, ribbon controller or D-Beam that I want to trigger a given SD3 sound. Make sure that SD3 is receiving the MDI from your Handsonic device(s) in Audio/MIDI settings of SD3. SD3 receives the MIDI and plays the sounds. It works great!

 

Good luck.

Mark

Superior Drummer 3 version: 3.1.7
Operating system: macOS High Sierra (10.13)

[pacificm]

Hello,

I’m still struggling with how to do these things.  Please bear with me.

1. “I make a patch on each Handsonic where I make all local sounds to be off.” I’m in the User Kit area of HandSonic.  But, how do you make all local sounds off?
2. “Assign MIDI notes to each pad.”  How do you assign MIDI notes to each pad?
3. “Make sure that SD3 is receiving the MDI from your Handsonic device(s) in Audio/MIDI settings of SD3. SD3 receives the MIDI and plays the sounds.”  How and where do you check this?

I already wrote Roland and their response was to install the driver which I already did and:

“After you have the drivers installed, the HPD-20 will appear as a selectable MIDI (or audio) device within the software.
You can then match the MIDI notes for each of the pads to the SD3 note map.
Handsonic HPD-20: Assigning MIDI Note Numbers to the Pads

HPD-20: Default MIDI Note Number Map

Note that by default, the HPD-20 is on MIDI Channel 10, so you’ll want to make sure this channel is set the same in SD3.”

Please advise.  Thanks again!

Superior Drummer 3 version: 3.1.7
Operating system: macOS Mojave (10.14)

[Boomwallah]

Hi,

1. I am travelling and not near my gear or the Mac with SD3 on it, but you can look in the manual on how to assign SOUNDS to a pad in a patch on the HPD-20. When you do that, one of the options is to assign NO SOUND. Do that for every pad (plus D-Beam and external triggers if you’re using them) in the patch so there are no local HPD-20 sounds in the patch. In essence the patch becomes a MIDI note trigger patch.
2. On the HPD-20: Then, set MIDI notes to what you want based on the instructions Roland linked for you. You can choose what MIDI notes you want on what pd by looking at the MIDI note assignment chart (looks like a keyboard) that Toontrack provides for every SDX, EZX and the SD3 program itself. These are PDFs in your Toontrack sound folders or in the SD3 manual. The HPD-20 patch defaults to MIDI channel 10, and that usually works out of the box for SD3. Save the patch.
3. This is a menu setting in SD3. Again, I am not near my gear or Mac with the software to look it up and tell you but it certainly is in the SD3 manual and you can also probably figure it out just by going to the menu item in SD3.

Sorry I can’t tell you specific instructions to walk you through it, but this is all fairly rudimentary parts of the HPD-20 and SD3 and all instructions are available in the manuals or online. Perhaps someone else can give you a walk through if you need it. Best of luck. I get immense joy and musical satisfaction playing SD3 through the HPD-20 and hope you will too!

 

Cheers

Superior Drummer 3 version: 3.1.7
Operating system: macOS High Sierra (10.13)

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Thanked by: pacificm

[pacificm]

Thanks so much for your help!  The fog is beginning to clear on this thanks to your help.  I had another related question:

I got the HandSonic because I wanted to add some custom percussion sounds beyond what can be found in grooves.  My background is not in drumming or percussion although I am an avid fan of drumming and percussion.  As you know, the HandSonic has available additional pads and pedals that can be added to the HandSonic some of which can be seen in the video this thread started out with.  Are there any additional pads/pedals you have found to be of value to your work with your HandSonic?  Please let me know if you would recommend any.  Thanks again!

Superior Drummer 3 version: 3.1.7
Operating system: macOS Mojave (10.14)

[Boomwallah]

Hi,

I use additional pedals. They are the key to me using the Handsonics as kit drum replacement.

I have an HPD-15 and the HPD-20… so I have 4 inputs. I use a Roland HH pedal (again, from memory, its an FD-7 or something like that) and a Roland kick trigger (can’t remember model but is a kick pedal and small pad combo). I use a second kick trigger (I think from KAT) and the two kick pedals are summed by a function in the pedal (passes through second trigger through the cable) so I can do double bass patterns. Using an additional trigger pad that is more like a tom/snare pad is not useful as you play the Handsonics with hands and fingers, and the snare/tom pads work much better with sticks (FYI, never hit your Handsonics with sticks). In other words, adding the foot pedals (HH and kick) are great, while tom/snare pads not so much, IMHO.

One note, due I think to polarity of the cables, is that non-Roland brand HH pedals seem to not work very well with the Roland Handsonics, however any brand kick trigger probably works fine.

I can’t tell you how immensely fun it is playing  SD3 drum sounds using the Handsonics with HH and kick pedals.
Best of luck and let us know if you get things running to your satisfaction.

Cheers,
Mark

Superior Drummer 3 version: 3.1.7
Operating system: macOS High Sierra (10.13)

• This post was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by Boomwallah.

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Thanked by: pacificm

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