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I have only recently purchased EZ Drummer 2 and I am really enjoying it. But I have a question about it or actually about MIDI drums in general. In EZ Drummer I have several kits included and I noticed some kits have more drums (multiple floor toms, rack toms, etc.) than others. When I demoed MIDI patterns that were included with a drum kit with more drums I see the additional drums being used in the pattern. Then when I load a more basic kit and use the same pattern I see the drum parts for those additional drums have been remapped to a compatible drum. For example, a MIDI pattern that uses multiple rack toms, when played on a simpler drum kit, will change to keep playing all of the hits but now they play on a single tom. The sound is not as interesting but at least no hits are dropped out. At least, I think this is how EZ Drummer is working!  Anyone can confirm? But this brings me to the rest of my question which is, what happens when I buy MIDI drum packs from Toontrack? Or from GrooveMonkee? Will those patterns simply drop out hits that are played on non-existent drums? Or do they automatically remap to use available drums in a chosen kit? And how does this all work with drum kits like those in Kontakt such as Studio Drummer? As you can see I know almost nothing about drums and I don't wanna usae patterns with missing parts if I don't have to! I guess I can manually remap them but that is a bit above my pay grade as well! Any general advice on effectively using MIDI drums will be greatly appreciated!
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You can download Groove Monkey MIDI packs that are mapped specifically to work with EZ Drummer or mapped to work with the General MIDI (GM) specification. FYI Band-in-a-Box drum mapping follows the GM specification. +++ Groove Monkey FAQ +++Also, Groove Monkey has some +++ FREE +++ GM specification MIDI drum loops you can download and try.
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.....................
But this brings me to the rest of my question which is, what happens when I buy MIDI drum packs from Toontrack? Or from GrooveMonkee? Will those patterns simply drop out hits that are played on non-existent drums? Or do they automatically remap to use available drums in a chosen kit?
And how does this all work with drum kits like those in Kontakt such as Studio Drummer?
As you can see I know almost nothing about drums and I don't wanna usae patterns with missing parts if I don't have to! I guess I can manually remap them but that is a bit above my pay grade as well! Any general advice on effectively using MIDI drums will be greatly appreciated! I have a number of drum kits and all of them will drop parts that they do not have. The issue here is mostly that GM drums contain kits AND percussion parts. Most all drum programs do not have percussion parts, just the kit parts. To solve the percussion issue I purchased the Brio percussion ensemble : https://www.indiginus.com/brio-percussion-ensembleBe aware that this requires the full version of Kontakt. There are probably others like programs that don't require Kontakt that you might want to investigate. Another issue is that some tracks contain more kit drums then the kit you are using. If that happens you have to find a kit that contain all of the drums, mostly toms, needed. In many drum kits you can add additional drums, again most likely toms. Another thing as you are just getting into MIDI drums be sure that your software has a GM drum map. That will save you a lot of time in finding out what drums are missing. My SSD-5 drum kits are not GM compatible so I start out in GM, separate each individual drum or cymbal to individual tracks (note in my DAW, Studio One Pro 5, each track will carry the GM drum map name), then I load my SSD-5 kit or parts of kits matching the GM label to the SSD-5 kit's drums or cymbals. Once you starting using MIDI drums I'm sure you will like it as there are a lot of edits you can do in MIDI that you can't do with RDs. If you need help feel free to ask. {edit} typo
Last edited by MarioD; 04/27/22 08:37 AM.
Principal: Your child always causes trouble in school.
Me: My child causes trouble at home, do I ever call you?
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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Your play-back engine has to map each note to something (a drum sound). Obviously, Toontrack is smart enough to re-map known notes that do not exist in a simpler kit to some obvious alternative - they are, after all, their kits. If you get some wild MIDI file that uses notes outside what your particular sound engine maps, they simple will not play. As I recall, you use Studio One. If you play with Impact (even a little), you should be able to get a good feel for how it all works https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XqXPnP3e-Y
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You can download Groove Monkey MIDI packs that are mapped specifically to work with EZ Drummer or mapped to work with the General MIDI (GM) specification. FYI Band-in-a-Box drum mapping follows the GM specification. +++ Groove Monkey FAQ +++Also, Groove Monkey has some +++ FREE +++ GM specification MIDI drum loops you can download and try. Jim brings up a good point as GrooveMonkee is an excellent source for MIDI drum loops and in fact I own most all of them. I have a GrooveMonkee drum loop maps for SSD-5, GM, and Addictive Drums 2. Their loops are not quantized so their grooves are a lot like RDs. Also you purchase a GrooveMonkee package you get all of the drum maps. They have even contacted me when new maps are available that I can DL for free.
Principal: Your child always causes trouble in school.
Me: My child causes trouble at home, do I ever call you?
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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...purchased EZ Drummer 2 and I am really enjoying it JJJ. Good to see you this far down the rabbit hole and still enjoying it. A whole lot deeper than RDs, right?  Dan
BIAB – 2026, Reaper (current), i7-12700F Processor, 32GB DDR4-3200MHz RAM, Motu Audio Express 6x6 - My SoundCloud.
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The only drum synth I'm remotely familiar with is Jamstix. I got it originally because it was AI and could create a track based on a number of factors. One of the interesting features about it was that no matter what you inputted for it to play, it was intelligent enough to not try to play a 3 armed drummer part. It even factored in stick travel based on which arm was holding the stick and the distance to the drum depending on what the other hand was doing. In other words.... no impossible to play parts. Of course, there was an override switch to allow you to write impossible drum parts and it could play them. I never got into it deep enough to see what it would do with the same part on larger or smaller kits.
As long as the drummer held the groove in the pocket.... what else really mattered?
Once I found BB, I stopped using practically all synths.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
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Band-in-a-Box 2026 for Windows Special Offers End Tomorrow (January 15th, 2026) at 11:59 PM PST!
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Season's Greetings!
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The office will be closed for Christmas Day, but we will be back on Boxing Day (Dec 26th) at 6:00am PST.
Team PG
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