Manual

DrumMaps Creator

© 2018, Martin Jirsák

DrumMaps Creator allows you to make own drum maps for Cubase and Nuendo. These drum maps are not meant to be used with a drum sets. Use them with a harmonic and a melodic instruments. DrumMaps Creator is bridging the missing feature “write the MIDI Notes of the dedicated Scale / Chord / Modus only” in Cubase and Nuendo. After import your new drum map to Cubase/Nuendo’s Drum Editor you can see (and hear) only the “wanted” notes, close together. All other notes are sorted out and Muted (if you set it up this way).

You can set different naming schemes. You can show the MIDI Note Numbers, Frequencies, or other naming styles. Moreover, you can define your own set of MIDI Notes naming. You can also select dedicated range and of course the Scale, Chord or Modus you are writing your music in.

System requirements

• macOS X 10.6 and higher
• Windows 7 and higher

Naming Scheme

• Note Names: Here you can select the names of individual notes. The names are defined for one octave. All octaves use the same naming (apart from Upper-/Lower- case, see below) scheme.

If you select the Note Name, it will be added to the chain. So every single note can be named for example as “Note Name * MIDI Note Number * Frequency * Interval in C-major” (C * 60 * 261.1[Hz] * 0).

If you want to set the selected name exclusively, click Overwrite button.

• Separator: Allows you to select own separator among different schemes of the note names. In the example above we used “ * ” as a separator, which is the default one. If you want to change it, click to the field, write your favourite string and press Enter (or click out of the field).
• Musical Upper-/Lower-case Letters: Allows you to show the notes names by the musical manner. So the c’ (c-small) is using the small letter “c”, but C, (C-contra) is using the capital letter “C”. Names of all MIDI Notes with Pitch >= 48 will be affected, apart from the intervals names (to avoid m3 vs M3 – which would become m3 and m3 – confusion).
• Octaves Marker: Here you can set the octaves markers. By default, the MIDI range is set from octave -2 to octave +8. This is marked as “Numbers”. Some (old) instruments note names are shifted by one octave up, so the range is -1 to +9 octave – “Numbers Scientific”. Some user are used to use the lowest octave as 0. Then the range is from 0 to 10 – “Numbers alternative (0)”. “Musical” shows the octaves in the musical manner, so the range is from C,,, to g’’’’’. If you want to use the musical octaves, select “Music Helmholtz” option. “Music Traditional” settings marks the octaves by using traditional naming from subsubcontra to six-lined octaves marking. “Musical Numbers” settings shows “a’ “ note as “a1”. All other octaves are marked accordingly (from -3 to +7).
• Note-Octave Marker Separator: Allows you to define your own separator between the note name and the Octave Marker. By default “No Separator” is selected. If you want to change it, select relevant character from the list. If you use one of the bracket symbol, the whole Octave Marker is placed in the brackets, like (2), for example.

Ranges

• Range: Allows you to show notes in a specific range only. This allows you to write your music in the correct range for the real instruments and musicians. Even if your music is not scored, it just sounds right, if you use the correct instrument range. You can also select the “* Random” option, for the random range. The result is displayed immediately in the right zone (Result Map Preview), so you can see what range has been generated.

If you select “Custom”, two fields for inserting minimal and maximal values appear. Click and move mouse up/down or double-click and type the value to set your preferable range. The values show standard MIDI Note Numbers. The result is displayed immediately in the Result Map Preview.

• Scale / Chord / Modus: Select the notes, you want to show in the map. Here you can select different scales (like Major bebop, Harmonic Minor, Locrian, etc.), same as chords (major, 7, maj7, minor, aug13, etc.). To set the root note of your Scale / Chord / Modus, use the Root Note menu below. You can also select the “* Random” option to get a random modus. The notes of the selected Scale / Chord / Modus are displayed on the virtual keyboard. The result map is displayed in the right zone immediately.

If you select “Custom” you can set your own modus by using the virtual keyboard. Click to the keys to add the pitches to your preferable modus. To remove the key from your modus, click the key again. Same as it is with other Scale, Chords and Modus, you can transpose your custom modus too (see bellow) by using Root Note. On the virtual keyboard the source modus is always shown.

• Root Note: Allows you to choose a root note of your Scale, Chord or Modus. So if you want to make a map of all notes in the D-major chord, set “Scale / Chord / Modus” to “major”, and “Root Note” to “D”. If you select Root Note “* All”, 12 files will be created at the end. Every single file for every single root note. In this case the C Scale / Chord / Modus is shown in the Result Map Preview.
• Transposed Instrument: allows you to change the naming of the notes regarding to a transposed instrument. Imagine you are scoring for Bb-clarinet, which is transposed -2 semitones. Set Transposed Instrument to -2. Then you will play C note in Cubase/Nuendo, but it will be shown as Bb in the Note Name of the Drum map. This is where the Transposed Instrument parameter is usefull.
• Show Name of MIDI Notes out of the Range/Scale/Chord too: By default the notes which are out of your interest (for example are not in the C-major chord, you selected) are not named. The name is set to “-”. This makes your map more clear in Cubase and you can easy distinguish your notes of interest from the reset. But if you want to show the names out of your interest anyway, enable this option.
• Mute MIDI Notes Out of the Range: By default, all notes are played back. Even if you insert a note out of your interest in Cubase/Nuendo, these are played back too. If you want to make sure only the MIDI Notes in your focus are played back in Cubase/Nuendo, enable this option. Then, even if you insert a note out of your interest in Cubase/Nuendo, this note will not be played back.
• Notes Order: Here you can set the order of the Notes in the Drum Editor.
  • Highest Note on Top: This orders the notes the same way, how it is in the Key Editor. Your wanted notes are on top, and the notes out of the focus are bellow. So this respects the logic high pitch is on top.
  • Highest Note on Bottom: This orders the notes the same way, how it is in the Drum Editor by default. So the highest note is on bottom. Your wanted notes are on bottom, and the notes out of the focus are above.
  • Lowest Note on Bottom: This is mixture of previous options. The list is divided to the wanted and the notes out of the focus. This is similar to the “Highest Note on Top” option. But the group of wanted notes is placed on bottom.
  • Lowest Note on Top: This is another mixture of the options above, and the latest possible combination. The group of wanted notes is on top. The notes in the wanted notes group are sorted so the highest note is on bottom of the list in both of these lists.
  • Note Number 127-0: This is exactly the same settings as Key Editor by default. All (“wanted” and “unwanted”) notes are mixed up together in one chain. The highest MIDI Note (127) is on top.
  • Note Number 0-127: This is exactly the same settings as Drum Editor by default. All (“wanted” and “unwanted”) notes are mixed up together in one chain. The lowest MIDI Note (0) is on top.
  • Octaves Note Order allows you to group all octaves of the pitches together. So you can see a list of all octaves of one pitch, then all octaves of another pitch, etc. The groups of wanted and unwanted notes are ordered with the same manner as explained above.
  • Octaves - Highest Note on Top: Pitch of all octaves are grouped together. The group of wanted notes are on top, and the rest notes are bellow.
  • Octaves - Highest Note on Bottom: Pitch of all octaves are grouped together. Wanted notes are on bottom, and the rest notes are above.
  • Octaves - Lowest Note on Bottom: Pitch of all octaves are grouped together. Wanted notes are placed on bottom.
  • Octaves - Lowest Note on Top: Pitch of all octaves are grouped together. The wanted notes group is on top. The notes in the wanted notes group are sorted so the highest note is on bottom of the list.
  • * Random: This allows you to make a new, unpredictable melodies or harmonies. The result is displayed immediately in the Result Map Preview.

Result Map Preview

In the Result Map Preview section, you can immediately see the result of your settings, how will your Drum map look like in Cubase/Nuendo. This section is preview only, you cannot edit the parameters here.

Buttons

• Reset: Resets the settings of all parameters to the default settings, so you can start to make a new map.
• Create Map: Set the file name and the path. Relevant *.drm extension is added automatically. The file(s) is/are exported, and you can use it in Cubase or Nuendo. In case you selected Root Note “All”, multiple files are created at once. The name of the Root Note is added as an appendix to the file name, to distinguish different files with different Root Note.

Function menu

In the right top corner you can find the function menu, where you can Save DrumMap Settings or Load DrumMap Settings. This is useful if you want to save your complex settings for a later use. For example if you want to just change a scale or range later and export another map.

About

On the left side of the Drum Editor, you can see the names of the MIDI Notes the same way, you created in the DrumMaps Creator. Most probably only the notes of the wanted scale/chord/modus are displayed with the name, and you can start to write your music without a fear the notes will not fit. You can use the Drum Editor features the same way you are using the Key Editor.

If you want to change the Drum Map (while the chord or scale changes), load another Drum Map in the MIDI Track inspector or directly on the left side of Drum Editor and select it.

Custom lists

For the most of the lists, you can define your own values. In your favourite text-editor open relevant config_*.JSON file, and modify it. Before you start to modify the file, it’s recommended to make a back-up of the original JSON file, which comes with the factory settings of the original installation. The author of the DrumMaps Creator application disclaims responsibility of damaged JSON files, and subsequent non-functional DrumMaps Creator application.

If you want to use a separator line in the list, use “<separator%> : []” as the value and the key in the JSON file, where the % is a unique ID of the separator.

If you want to use a header of a section in your list, put the header to the brackets, like this “(%) : []” as the key in the JSON file, where % is your header name. The value of the key is an empty array.

• config_NoteNames.json defines names of one octave only. So the value array must contain 11 items (from C note to B note; integers or strings).
• config_Octaves.json defines name (marker) of all 11 octaves from the lowest one to the high one. So the value array always must contain 11 elements (integers or strings).
• config_Ranges.json defines the range of the instrument(s) by using the lowest possible MIDI Note, and the highest possible MIDI Note. So the key is the name of the item, and the value is the array of 2 elements (integers).
• config_Scales.json defines the scale, chords, modus. The key is the name of the Scale / Chord / Modus, the value is array of numbers. The numbers represents the intervals of the wanted note, from the root note. So the maximal value in the array is 11, and the maximal length is 12 (integers). In all cases 0 is present, as the root note.

© 2018, Martin Jirsák