BabunessHi everyone,
I’ve got a Roland TD-17 module plugged into my HP laptop running SD3 via USB. Using the ASIO driver for the module. Local control for the module is switched off. I have no problems triggering anything. All drivers are up to date. Listening back to everything through headphones from the module.
So, I can’t find any preset that I think sounds good, and so I decide to record a few seconds of MIDI into SD3 and loop it so I can mix everything myself.
Then boom, I play back the midi I recorded and it sounds amazing. I tried increasing and decreasing buffer size and the same results.
So my question is, what do I have to do to get SD3 to sound good for live playing? Would getting an audio interface solve this issue?
Thanks in advance for any help
Mark KingI can’t work out what the issue actually is from your post. What do you mean it doesn’t sound right? Is it latency or something else? If it sounds ok with midi playing it then when you play from the td-17 it is still just midi and playing exactly the same as when you record. What headphones are you using? Do they isolate well enough so you are not hearing the pad noise? If not, pad noise definitely changes your perception of the sound. To be clear what is generated by sd3 is no different with it being played by recorded midi or midi coming in.
So as far as latency is concerned (this can make playing feel not quite right if too high) have you gone into the control panel in windows and adjusted the td-17 driver to the lowest buffers it will go to? The Roland built in audio interface is ok but doesn’t get low latency like some dedicated audio interfaces (note I said some as not all audio interfaces have low latency). If you think the problem is latency then how much do you want to spend on an audio interface?
SD3 with older sdx,s plus Rooms of Hansa and Death & Darkness. Cubase and wavelab current versions. Roland TD50x using all trigger inputs for triggering SD3 only. Windows 11 computer. Various keyboards and outboard gear as well as VST instruments. Acoustic drums: Yamaha 9000 natural wood and Pearl masters. Various snare drums. RME BabyFace Pro FS and Adam A7X monitors
BabunessSorry for not being clear, the issue isn’t latency. The issue is the sound “quality?”
It’s like everything is somewhat muffled, like there’s no attack, when playing live. Lots of ambience, not really clear and punchy. And overall quieter as compared to replaying the midi I just recorded. Perhaps like it’s compressed with 0 attack, or more maybe more accurately like a couple initial milliseconds are gone from the samples.
I just watched a recent video from Toontrack’s youtube saying that for live playing the sample rate should be set to 44100Hz, and I’ve pretty sure mine’s at 48000Hz. Perhaps changing that will help.
MuellercraftWhy are you listening through the Roland module? You should be listening to SD3 output from your computer (ideally through an interface.)
Muellercraft
Composer, performer, producer
Black & Whyte Studio
Muellercraft.com
SD3, Rooms of Hansa, Indiependent, Roland TD-17 KVX, Mac Studio M1 Ultra, UA Apollo Twin X, HEDD Type 20 monitors
Mark KingSo the sound can not actually be any different as mentioned in my first post. If you are using the same preset, then whether it’s played by the midi from the td17 or recorded midi from the td17 it will be exactly the same. Are you using something different to listen to the recorded midi as opposed to when you are actually playing the kit? Have you set up the triggering correctly on the td17? I ask as many don’t and it makes a big difference. The Roland modules are very forgiving with bad trigger settings. SD3 has a better dynamic range and will play whatever velocity is sent to it. Make sure you set your triggers for hard hits go hit a full velocity midi value of 127.
Also turn effects off when playing and drop ambience to get a more natural sound. I use my own presets for playing but then may swap for a different one for mixing.
SD3 with older sdx,s plus Rooms of Hansa and Death & Darkness. Cubase and wavelab current versions. Roland TD50x using all trigger inputs for triggering SD3 only. Windows 11 computer. Various keyboards and outboard gear as well as VST instruments. Acoustic drums: Yamaha 9000 natural wood and Pearl masters. Various snare drums. RME BabyFace Pro FS and Adam A7X monitors
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Thanked by: Scott Eshleman and Babuness
drumjack52Sorry for not being clear, the issue isn’t latency. The issue is the sound “quality?”
It’s like everything is somewhat muffled, like there’s no attack, when playing live. Lots of ambience, not really clear and punchy. And overall quieter as compared to replaying the midi I just recorded. Perhaps like it’s compressed with 0 attack, or more maybe more accurately like a couple initial milliseconds are gone from the samples.
I just watched a recent video from Toontrack’s youtube saying that for live playing the sample rate should be set to 44100Hz, and I’ve pretty sure mine’s at 48000Hz. Perhaps changing that will help.
There’s precious little difference between the 2 rates you mention. What will make a difference is 16 bit versus 24 bit bit depth. SD3 can operate with either with 24 bit taking more ram space. What you have to pay attention to is whether your drum brain supports 16 or 24 bit audio. Really if you want decent audio you need to have a separate audio interface connected to your computer and listen through that. Also decent headphones and/or powered monitor speakers and not some little computer speakers driven off a computer’s audio output.
Jack
aka musicman691 on other forums
Superior Drummer 3.4.0
Area 33 1.0.0
Death and Darkness 1.0.1
PT 2021.6
OSX 10.13.6
3.46 GHz hex core 2012 MacPro 48 gig ram
BabunessOk, progress has been made! All trigger settings are fine, but after picking the basic kits with no effects or processing, it’s working correctly. So, I picked a large preset and started disabling some effects and ambient channels and got the RAM requirement down and at a point the live play and the playback of the midi sounds the same. This laptop has 8GB of RAM but it’s a pretty low tier. I’m thinking this thing probably can’t handle SD3 to it’s full potential.
If this is the case, would getting an audio interface help? Or would a more powerful laptop be needed?
drumjack52Ok, progress has been made! All trigger settings are fine, but after picking the basic kits with no effects or processing, it’s working correctly. So, I picked a large preset and started disabling some effects and ambient channels and got the RAM requirement down and at a point the live play and the playback of the midi sounds the same. This laptop has 8GB of RAM but it’s a pretty low tier. I’m thinking this thing probably can’t handle SD3 to it’s full potential.
If this is the case, would getting an audio interface help? Or would a more powerful laptop be needed?
A more powerful computer will definitely help as will as an audio interface. 8 gig of ram will only allow you to have SD3 in streaming mode which is bad enough but if your SD3 samples are on the system drive that adds to your problems. SD3 minimum specs are just that – a bare minimum to get you functional but that’s it. You’re going to want at least 16 gig of ram, samples on a separate drive and a separate audio interface. You don’t need a full-on studio setup. Keep in mind that commercial off-the-shelf computers have a bunch of crud running on them (especially Winboxes) that sucks the life out of doing anything much other than email or surfing the net.
You haven’t given us your system specs but it’s safe to say your machine is struggling.
Jack
aka musicman691 on other forums
Superior Drummer 3.4.0
Area 33 1.0.0
Death and Darkness 1.0.1
PT 2021.6
OSX 10.13.6
3.46 GHz hex core 2012 MacPro 48 gig ram
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