Session Drummer

The Session Drummer is a MIDI Plug-in that allows the user to select, arrange and then play a MIDI drum pattern within a song in Cakewalk.  It is as simple to use as standard drum machine, but, unlike the hardware device,  it works within the program so no syncing is required.  It uses standard MIDI files, so users can easily create and add new patterns and styles.  And, best of all, users do not have to compose their own drum parts before doing their projects.

The Session Drummer can quickly generate drum parts for practicing, composing, or just playing. The MIDI drums can play back on the internal sound card, or out the MIDI port to any compatible MIDI device.

See the Session Drummer Reference for an overview of the Session Drummer dialog box.

NOTE: Use the Audition button to hear your song. The default audition time is 3 seconds. You can increase the audition time, up to 25 seconds, in the Global Options dialog box.

See Also:

Using Session Drummer in Real-time

Arranging  Patterns Into a Song

Creating a MIDI Drum Track with Session Drummer

Creating Drum Styles for the Session Drummer

Changing the Session Drummer Content Directory


Style

Various drum patterns representing different styles of music. The choices in the Pattern section vary according to which style you choose in the Style section.

See Also:

Arranging  Patterns Into a Song


Pattern

A variety of patterns appear in the Pattern section based on the style selected in the Style section.

See Also:

Arranging  Patterns Into a Song


Song

The drum parts you have selected in the Pattern section and added using the [image] button. When you have finished a song you can save your song as a preset or create a MIDI drum track in your project.

See Also:

Delete a Song

Arranging  Patterns Into a Song


Delete a Song

Click the [image]  button to clear all the patterns from the Song section.

Tip: It is a good idea to save your song as a preset when you have created a track you like.


Move Down

Select a pattern in the Song section and click the [image] button to move that section down one position.


Move Up

Select a pattern in the Song section and click the [image] button to move that section up one position.


Remove a Pattern from a Song

Select a pattern in the Song section and click the [image]  button to remove it from the song.


Add a Pattern to a Song

Select a pattern in the Pattern section and click the [image]  button to add it to the song section. Use the [image] and [image] buttons to put the new pattern in its proper place in you song.

See Also:

Arranging  Patterns Into a Song


Load Song from a File

Click on the [image] button to select from a list of previously saved drum tracks. In the Open dialog, select the drum track you want to open and click OK.

See Also:

Save a Drum Track


Save a Song to a File

Click on the [image] button to save the set of patterns in the Song field. In the Save dialog, enter a name for the drum track and click OK.

See Also:

Open a Drum Track


Session Drummer Reference

Click on a section of the graphic below to learn more about the Session Drummer dialog box.


Presets

Once you have made changes in the Settings dialog, you can save them as a preset for use with future projects. See Saving Your Settings as a Preset for more information.

See Also:

Deleting a Preset

Arranging  Patterns Into a Song


Saving Your Settings as a Preset

To Save as a preset…

1.	Click in the preset field.

2.	Type a name.

3.	Click the Disk button to save it

This saves your current settings as a preset for use with future projects.

See Also:

Deleting a Preset

Arranging  Patterns Into a Song

Using Session Drummer in Real-time


Deleting a Preset

To delete a preset, select the preset from the drop down menu and click the [image] button (to the right of the disk button).

See Also:

Saving Your Settings as a Preset


The Settings Dialog

Click the gear button to open the settings dialog. From here you can select the source folder for the drum style/patterns. This feature allows you to organize your patterns into different folders and still have access to them from within the plug-in. You aren’t limited to a single folder.

In addition, the settings dialog also includes a drum map. This allows you to map the General MIDI (GM) patterns to non-GM instruments.

Note: You can only use Standard (type 0) MIDI files with Session Drummer.

To change a mapping:

1.	Select a pattern from the list.

2.	Press the '+' key to move the map value up (from B4 to C5, for example), or press the '-' key to move the map value down (from C5 to B4, for example).

You can save your customized mappings as a preset for use in the future.

To save a mapping as a preset:

1.	Change the patterns to the mappings you want to use.

2.	Click OK

3.	In Session Drummer, enter a name for the new mapping in the drop-down list.

4.	Click the [image] icon.

You can delete a preset by selecting it from the drop-down list and clicking the [image] icon.

To set the Output Port:

1.	Open the settings dialog.

2.	Select the output port you want from the Output Port drop down list.

Note: If you do not select an output port, the default port is set at 1.

See Also:

Session Drummer

Default Settings


Default Settings

The following is a list of the default settings in the Settings dialog:

Port

The default port is 1.

Channel

There is no default channel set.

Instruments Drum Map

Note #	Note Name	Name
35	B2	Acoustic Bass Drum
36	C3	Bass Drum 1
37	C#3	Side Stick
38	D3	Acoustic Snare
39	Eb3	Hand Clap
40	E3	Electric Snare
41	F3	Low Floor Tom
42	F#3	Close Hi-Hat
43	G3	High Floor Tom
44	Ab3	Pedal Hi-Hat
45	A3	Low Tom
46	Bb3	Open Hi-Hat
47	B3	Low-Mid Tom
48	C4	Hi-Mid Tom
49	C#4	Crash Cymbal 1
50	D4	High Tom
51	Eb4	Ride Cymbal 1
52	E4	Chinese Cymbal
53	F4	Ride Bell
54	F#4	Tambourine
55	G4	Splash Cymbal
56	Ab4	Cowbell
57	A4	Crash Cymbal 2
58	Bb4	Vibraslap
59	B4	Ride Cymbal 2
60	C5	Hi Bongo
61	C#5	Low Bongo
62	D5	Mute Hi Conga
63	Eb5	Open Hi Conga
64	E5	Low Conga
65	F5	High Timbale
66	F#5	Low Timbale
67	G5	High Agogo
68	Ab5	Low Agogo
69	A5	Cabasa
70	Bb5	Maracas
71	B5	Short Whistle
72	C6	Long Whistle
73	C#6	Short Guiro
75	D6	Long Guiro
75	Eb6	Claves
76	E6	Hi Wood Block
77	F6	Low Wood Block
78	F#6	Mute Cuica
79	G6	Open Cuica
80	Ab6	Mute Triangle
81	A6	Open Triangle


Creating a MIDI Drum Track with Session Drummer

To Write the contents of the arrangement to the track:

1.	Arrange the patterns the way you want.

2.	Open the track view.

3.	Select a Track.

4.	Go to the console. Click the [image] button

5.	A dialog appears asking if you want to remove the plug-in from the track insert. This prevents the plug-in and the track data from playing the same thing unnecessarily.

6.	Now the contents have been added to the track.

Note: Session Drummer data always begins one measure into the track regardless of the Now Time.

See Also:

Arranging  Patterns Into a Song

Using Session Drummer in Real-time


Using Session Drummer in Real-time

To apply Session Drummer as a real-time effect:

1.	Start a new file

2.	From the main toolbar, click the Console view button

3.	Right-click in gray space below the Aux Buss area and choose Add MIDI Track.  A new module appears.

4.	Right-click in the Effects Patch area (the black window just below the text field at the top of the module).

5.	Choose Cakewalk FX – Session Drummer

6.	Double-click on the Session Drummer plug-in

7.	Choose a style from the top left pane.  When you do so, a list of patterns will appear in the pattern pane.

8.	Click on a pattern in the pattern pane.

9.	In the Cakewalk Toolbar, click the play button.

The selected pattern will repeat over and over (like a drum machine) as long as the play button is engaged.

Tip:  You can save yourself a few steps (1 – 5 above) by loading the Session Drummer template from the New Project dialog.


Arranging  Patterns Into a Song

Playing patterns from the pattern pane is as easy to use as a drum machine.  However, at some point you may get bored hearing the same pattern over and over again.  This is where the Song pane comes in.  You can add patterns to the song pane, control how many times and in what order they play.  When you are finished, you can save the arrangement as a preset, or you can print the contents into the track.

Creating a song:

1.	Select a style from the Style pane.

2.	Double click on a pattern in the pattern pane to move it to the song pane.  You can also use the Add (+) button in the toolbar.

3.	Click the Loop count field and type a + or – key to set the number of repetitions.

4.	Add other patterns using step 1.

5.	Re-order a pattern by selecting it and clicking the [image] or [image] buttons.

When you click play in the transport toolbar, the arrangement of patterns that you just added to the song pane will play back in order.  A dotted box shows you which pattern is playing so you can follow along.

To remove a pattern from the song pane, select it and click the “-“ button or hit the Delete key. To remove all patterns from the Song pane, click the [image] button in the toolbar.

See Also:

Creating a MIDI Drum Track with Session Drummer

Using Session Drummer in Real-time

Save a Drum Track


Changing the Session Drummer Content Directory

By default, Session Drummer Drum files are stored in directory called Drum Styles, which is located in the Cakewalk root directory.   Any compatible drum file that is placed in this directory will appear as a style in the Session Drummer’s style pane. The Session Drummer can only use one directory at a time.

You can point the Session Drummer to use a different directory from the Session Drummer Setup dialog.

To change the Active Drum Style Directory…

1.	Open the Session Drummer

2.	Click the Plug-in Settings button [image].

3.	From the settings dialog, click on the browse button in the Content folder  section

4.	Use the browser to select the new content folder

5.	Click OK.

See Also:

Style

The Settings Dialog


Creating Drum Styles for the Session Drummer

The Session Drummer supports standard Type 0 MIDI files so that you can easily create or add new styles and patterns to it.   Patterns are stored in a single track (10) and are separated by Markers.  When you see the patterns listed in the Session Drummer, what you are really looking at is a list of the markers in file.  These patterns are stored in a single file, called a style file.  The file name that is used when saving a style file is what will appear in the style pane of the Session Drummer.  A quick way to familiarize yourself with this is to open one of the drum style files using Cakewalk’s Open command.

1.	Click File/Open

2.	Open the Drum Styles directory

3.	Choose Alternative 080.mid file

4.	Scroll down to Track 10

5.	Open the Markers View.

As you can see, the style name in the Session Drummer is the Type 0 MIDI file name and the pattern names in the Session Drummer are the names of the Markers.

You can create your own style files for the Session Drummer in 4 easy steps:

1.	Create or locate a single track drum pattern that is voiced for General MIDI.

2.	Arrange patterns in a track, making sure to align them to the first beat of each measure.

3.	Create and name one or more markers aligning them with the beginning of each measure.

4.	Save the file as Type 0 MIDI file in the content directory of your choice. This file name will appear in the Style Pane of Session Drummer.

You can use Cakewalk to record or create MIDI drum patterns.  Or you can find lots of great drum patterns in MIDI files that you can download from the Web.  The quality of MIDI files varies greatly, so don’t be afraid to keep exploring until you find one that sounds good.

To create a Session Drummer Style file from an existing pattern

1.	Open a New Project.

2.	Choose an appropriate tempo.

3.	Locate the desired pattern, then copy and paste it at 1:1:000 in the Track view.

4.	Position the now time at 1:1:000.

5.	Click on the Insert Marker button from the toolbar or press the F11 function key.

6.	In the Marker dialog, type a name the represents the pattern.

7.	Click OK.

8.	Save the file in the Drum Style directory (or your own directory) using the name as you would like it to appear in the Style pane.

When you open the Session Drummer, you should see your new style pattern.  Click on it and you will now see the pattern you just created.  Now click on the pattern to select it and then click play from the Transport toolbar.

Since the Session Drummer plays the pattern over and over, it is extremely important that the pattern loops correctly.   You can check this before you save your Style pattern by selecting the clip in the track view and looping it using the loop toolbar.

Guidelines

•	Patterns should be voiced for General MIDI and be contained on a single track

•	Patterns can be of any length

•	Patterns must include a marker, located at the beginning of the pattern.

•	Make sure that the pattern is aligned to a measure.  Setting the snap to button to 1 measure is helpful to ensure this.

•	Make sure that the beginning and ending of the pattern does not cross measure boundaries.  Remember that the Session Drummer will loop and you want it to loop on measure boundaries.

•	Make sure that the volume of the pattern is constant, with no volume increase or decreases.