Hit postition! Yes! But how?

Hi,

Apologies if this should be (or is) obvious, but I don’t understand how to change from Stick to Bell or Mallet (or Choke).

Only Stick is triggered by MIDI notes, and there is no change in sound when I move the Hit position slider (I’m on latest Live on Mac OS 12.4).

However, I can trigger Bell or Mallet or Choke by clicking the little squares next to the words, which then light up red (and sometimes light up yellow on mouseover, but not always), even as the Stick sound is simultaneously triggered by the MIDI notes.

Seems weird. I really like the Bell and Mallet sound and would love to be able to use them.

How’s this working for you?

Hello Kim,

The different sounds are triggered by different Midi notes. So

  • Note 60 (C3) is Stick,
  • Note 61 (C#3) is Bell,
  • Note 62 (D3) is Mallet,
  • Note 63 (D#3) is Choke

and this pattern repeats, so 64 (E4) is Stick again.

Does this work for you? Which DAW are you using and are you absolutely sure that you are triggering different notes? Maybe there is a stuck note?

Best wishes,
Clemens

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The variation with hit position is very subtle. On the left and right side, the resonances are a bit more blurry or washed out, whereas the resonances are more stable when hit in the center.

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Hello, Clemens, and thank you for the quick reply!
That makes perfect sense, and works exactly as you describe.

I’m using Ableton Live, and I simply dropped my cymbals into a Drum Rack and thought no more of it. That’s why nothing but Stick was triggered.

Now I just have to find out how to change the note value of individual pads in a Drum Rack! (Any quick tips are very welcome!)

And yes, I hear the subtle change in the hit position variable. It was just confusing to me, as I couldn’t find out how to trigger the bells and mallets, I assumed they might be connected to the hit position (bells…) slider.

Anyway, thanks so much for the clarification!

Edit So for anyone else with the same question – it’s very simple: On the drum rack you have to toggle the little I-O switch all the way to the left, to fold out the whole view of the Drum Racks Chain. There there is a column called “Play” where you can scroll to assign which note the pad should play!

Sticks, bells, mallets galore. (And chokes, of course, although they won’t do much when the Cymbal is used in this way. But there’s probably a way to make one pad choke another, although I haven’t figured that out yet.)

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