Newsgroups: bit.listserv.emusic-l
Date:         Thu, 16 Apr 1992 02:46:28 EDT
From:         PRESTON@MOREKYPR.BITNET
Subject:      More DD5 jollies

  Wow... overwhelming response!

>From:         Eric McCormick <0004775674@MCIMAIL.COM>

>One suggestion on what to do as far as your DD5 key assignments being cleared
>is to set your Alesis drum machine to default to the assignments of your DD5.
>That way you would not need to reconfigure your DD5 at all.

  I'd thought of that, but first I need to determine what the default
settings on the pads actually are.  :)  There's no display on the DD5, and
the instructions don't mention what the defaults are, either.

  Bill Fox had this observation on the above posting:

>From:         wbf1@CBEMA.ATT.COM

>Great idea; for one DD5.  If Jeff gets a second DD5, won't they BOTH
>default to the same note assignments?  He'll still have to reassign the
>pads on the second controller.  I wonder if there's an inexpensive
>merger/mapper/zoner type box that could take care of this.  Sounds
>doable on a PC with software but I think Jeff was looking for a low cost
>solution that won't tie up a PC for such a "minor" process.  I have the
>Digital Music MX-8 which might do the job by transposing one DD5 up and
>merging it with an unprocessed DD5.  Then set up the drum module for the
>eight resulting "default" note assignments.  Jeff;  Do you have about
>$250 (US) to spare for an MX-8?

  Well, $250 is a bit more than I want to spend to solve the problem,
yeah. If I were performing, I might consider it, but just to do a little
home recording, I think I can suffer through the reprogramming process.
For now, I'll probably just leave the one DD5 on (as well as any others
I acquire in the near future). But - thunderstorm season will soon be
here...  :)
  I don't fully understand the MIDI mapping function of the SR-16... I
noted that the manual said that in any mode other than the "normal" mode,
the SR-16 would act only as a sound module, and as such you would be unable
to program patterns via the external trigger (the DD5, in my case). I
think I'd like to leave that possibility open for now, so using the
"normal" mapping mode seems to be the way for me to go. I understand that
I can internally assign a snare voice to the "perc 1" pad, etc., so I
thought about setting a group of drum kits aside in the SR-16 where the
voices would not necessarily correspond to the pad labelling. But I then
realized that the DD5's default MIDI note settings (whatever they may be)
must be mostly out-of-range of the defaults for the SR-16, because only
one of the DD5 pads will cause a voice to trigger at power-up; the other
three pads are silent at that point. Did that make any sense?  :)

>From:         Jason Keeler <KEELERJA@MAX.CC.UREGINA.CA>

>Hi Jeff;

>I've heard nothing but good reports from Anatek's Pocket Merge.  Fairly cheap
>too, around $95. That's what you wanted wasn't it :)

  Exactly!  I'd be even nicer if I could find something to merge 3 outputs
(the poor man's DodecaPad, so to speak), but I suspect it'd take more money
that I want to spend right now. Right now, I'm almost as concerned about how
to mount this thing so my drumming friends can whack on it comfortably.  :)

  Thanks to everyone who's responded (both here and personally)... I do
appeciate it!

  Jeff Preston
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