Adding your First Drum Track
Adding your First Drum Track
Embedded Files
1. Connecting to Track 1
1. Connecting to Track 1
Add Prism to a MIDI track.
Add your favorite drum AU to an audio track in your preferred host: We're using "London" from Gadget.
Connect Prism to the audio track and filter the MIDI input input to channel 1 as we’ll use track 1 in Prism for our drums.
2. Opening a Drum Track In Prism
2. Opening a Drum Track In Prism
3. Drum Profile Setup
3. Drum Profile Setup
Use the Drum Profile Setup menu to load, edit, or create Prism drum profiles.
What’s a drum profile?
It tells Prism which MIDI note to send for each of the 16 drum pads—along with the label displayed for each pad.
To edit a pad, simply tap it on the keypad then use the GUI "Label" & "Output" params to configure its settings. Once it plays the correct sound, you can:
Save the profile for easy access in future projects
Or press SEQ to use the setup just for the current project
Factory Presets
Prism includes a selection of pre-mapped drum profiles—just select one and start playing. If you'd like to request support for a specific drum machine or setup, feel free to email me!
In this example, we’ll be using the London drum profile included with Prism. You're welcome to use your own drum instrument—just be sure to follow the steps above to ensure proper MIDI mapping.
When you're ready to continue, press SEQ on the left or tap Done.
4. Adding Trigs to the Sequence
4. Adding Trigs to the Sequence
First we'll add a kick drum on every quarter note
Next we'll select a new drum pad to edit
I'm switching to pad 4, which is mapped to the snare drum.
Let's reduce our trig input velocity before we added any notes to the sequence.
Now we'll add a snare hit on the 2nd and 4th beats
Finally, some hi hats on on the off beats
Now you can hit play and relish in your creative genius - "Hello, World!"
Note: The host needs to be playing for Prism to play. To change Prism's tempo simply set it in the host.
5. Setting the Sequence Length
5. Setting the Sequence Length
Sequences always begin with a default setup of 1 bar in length and a 1/16 beat resolution. These two settings — length and resolution — can be adjusted independently.
Length determines how long the sequence is, measured in bars. Increasing the length adds more time to the pattern, allowing for longer musical ideas.
Resolution controls how the sequence is visually divided — it sets the grid size for steps (e.g., 1/8, 1/16, 1/32). It does not affect the actual timing or playback of the notes.
If you record or input notes at a finer resolution than what's currently shown, those notes will still play back correctly but may not appear on the grid. To reveal them, simply reduce the resolution (e.g., from 1/16 to 1/32) to match the granularity of those hidden notes.
Configuring the Sequencer
Configuring the Sequencer
Press the wrench button in the lower left corner.
Change the sequence length to two bars
Change the sequence length to two bars
Pressing the [4x4] keypad matrix, which reconfigures itself with helpful controls during sequence setup, lets you quickly set the number of bars.
Pressing the [4x4] keypad matrix, which reconfigures itself with helpful controls during sequence setup, lets you quickly set the number of bars.
Alternatively, you can adjust the Bars parameter directly in the GUI.
Alternatively, you can adjust the Bars parameter directly in the GUI.
6. Navigating Sequence Pages
6. Navigating Sequence Pages
Press the wrench graphic or 'SEQ' to go back to the main sequence state.
Select the drum pad you want to edit.
Use the right half of the page graphic to navigate to the second page of sequence steps. The trigs will be empty as they cover the new bar we just added.
You can also use the page navigator in the GUI screen to set the current page.
Add some trigs to your liking. Rinse and repeat for the other drums we've added thus far.
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