New user; intro and questions

[docadiddle2]

First of all I'd like to say hello and thanks for having me on your forum. I'm a late starting drummer with a TD6 (going on Tuesday) and a couple of acoustic kits and have played in a band with a couple of mates doing small functions. I've already picked up some useful info from reading through previous posts but now I've finally got my 2Box kit (arrived yesterday after I came THAT close to buying a Roland TD30K) I've realised that now the learning really begins and have got a couple of questions which you'll hopefully be able to answer.

Spent yesterday setting it up, calibrating my hihat and playing and this morning decided to connect it up to my laptop and have a look at the Sound Editor software. After a little bit of head scratching (I am 50, not an IT whizzkid and have come from a Roland TD6!) I eventually managed to work out how to display the kits and then how to drag and drop new sounds onto a particular pad. All well and good. I picked a kit which I'm unlikely to use in its native form (the Double Kick one, I think number 17), changed some sounds and then renamed it. I saved it in the Sound Editor (or thought I'd saved it) but when I rebooted, the kit had not been changed within the module. Any thoughts?

Secondly, the 4gb card is already almost full, about 300mb available. I've downloaded and extracted some of the additional sounds from the 2Box website and have managed to add the dsnd files to the module. As these files are in the 10-30mb range it's not going to be long before there's no more room. I've read about the 32gb mod but don't want to do that yet and certainly not until I feel a bit more familiar with things. My question is, what would you recommend as the best way to free up module space? I'm guessing you'd have to move some of the dsnd files elsewhere, ie, onto the laptop. Does anyone have any particular advice on the best way to do this? I'm also guessing that the actual kits which are displayed are in themselves quite small files and simply a collection of references to dsnd files which are accessed by the striking of a pad and it's the dsnd files which take up the majority of the storage??

And finally, I can see myself going down the SDSE/VST route in the future; just to clarify, it requires purchase of the SDSE software plus Reaper?

I'm really looking forward to learning more and can already see massive amounts of creative potential using the loop facility. Correct me if I'm wrong but I can see this as potentially akin to having a normal e-kit but with a Roland SPD-S built in???

I think I'll leave it at that for now but will definitely be coming back for more and thank you in advance for your help.

Tim

[Jman]

First of all I'd like to say hello and thanks for having me on your forum. I'm a late starting drummer with a TD6 (going on Tuesday) and a couple of acoustic kits and have played in a band with a couple of mates doing small functions. I've already picked up some useful info from reading through previous posts but now I've finally got my 2Box kit (arrived yesterday after I came THAT close to buying a Roland TD30K) I've realised that now the learning really begins and have got a couple of questions which you'll hopefully be able to answer.

Spent yesterday setting it up, calibrating my hihat and playing and this morning decided to connect it up to my laptop and have a look at the Sound Editor software. After a little bit of head scratching (I am 50, not an IT whizzkid and have come from a Roland TD6!) I eventually managed to work out how to display the kits and then how to drag and drop new sounds onto a particular pad. All well and good. I picked a kit which I'm unlikely to use in its native form (the Double Kick one, I think number 17), changed some sounds and then renamed it. I saved it in the Sound Editor (or thought I'd saved it) but when I rebooted, the kit had not been changed within the module. Any thoughts?

Secondly, the 4gb card is already almost full, about 300mb available. I've downloaded and extracted some of the additional sounds from the 2Box website and have managed to add the dsnd files to the module. As these files are in the 10-30mb range it's not going to be long before there's no more room. I've read about the 32gb mod but don't want to do that yet and certainly not until I feel a bit more familiar with things. My question is, what would you recommend as the best way to free up module space? I'm guessing you'd have to move some of the dsnd files elsewhere, ie, onto the laptop. Does anyone have any particular advice on the best way to do this? I'm also guessing that the actual kits which are displayed are in themselves quite small files and simply a collection of references to dsnd files which are accessed by the striking of a pad and it's the dsnd files which take up the majority of the storage??

And finally, I can see myself going down the SDSE/VST route in the future; just to clarify, it requires purchase of the SDSE software plus Reaper?

I'm really looking forward to learning more and can already see massive amounts of creative potential using the loop facility. Correct me if I'm wrong but I can see this as potentially akin to having a normal e-kit but with a Roland SPD-S built in???

I think I'll leave it at that for now but will definitely be coming back for more and thank you in advance for your help.

Tim

Hi Tim, welcome to the forum!
I'll try to answer a few of your questions.
First I would highly recommend you make a backup of everything on your current module before doing a bunch of changes. That way you always have the original content stored on your computer. The 2Box manual is your friend and with a new kit the manual is already loaded on your module. When hooked up to your computer you will see the PDF file. There is a Quick Start Guide and the Drumit Five Manual.

The dsnds, loops, songs are the largest files if you are planning to remove content to make room. If you make a backup of everything like I mentioned above you don't have to worry much about removing some files as you already have them stored. You cannot remove the Kits from your module, IE you will always have the 100 stock kits, but if you remove sounds that are in those kits you will end up with missing sounds. You can drag n drop different sounds though and rename the original kits, etc.
If you make changes with the 2Box Editor and want to save the changes you must Click "File" in the upper left corner and then click Save Kit Bank.

If you decide to do the 32GB card mod it is actually pretty simple to install with step by step pictures to do it. It takes prolly less the 30 minutes to do. With the 32GB card there is room for all the original 2Box files, everything new on the website plus another 25GB or more of free space.

Oh, and SDSE actually has the free trial version of Reaper already included. So you are fully functional as soon as you install SDSE. If you decide to buy the license for Reaper it is $60. I owned Reaper long before I installed SDSE and it is one great piece of software at the price, way cheaper than the other similar DAW programs available.

Again, welcome to the forum, Jerry

[Jman]

Oh, and I missed the last question. The 2Box module is hard to even compare to the SPD-S. The quality and depth of the samples capable in the 2Box module would be like comparing a Ford Pinto (since you're 50 you might remember the Pinto  ) to a Mercedes Benz.    I'd prefer the 2Box module over the TD-30 every day of the week, even if the TD-30 had the additional functions of the SPD-S! The sounds are soooooo much better, especially when you start adding your own VST samples to the 2Box module. Incredible!

[docadiddle2]

Jerry, many thanks for your helpful reply. I'll do the back up before I try anything more. Bit busy at the moment but will come back when I've had a chance to look at it again. Cheers.

[docadiddle2]

Jerry, another question. I think there'll be many more coming in the future as well!

When you say "back up everything on the module" do you mean just to navigate to the view shown on page 10 of the manual and then simply copy and paste everything from the 'Cymbal' folder down to the 'Quick start guide' onto my computer? If a subsequent module disaster was to occur then could I simply drag everything back to the module card and start again?

Sorry if this seems a dumb question.


Forgot to say before, I absolutely love the kit and am so glad I went down this route rather than a TD30. My plan is to do a DIY A2E conversion on my small acoustic kit so I'll have two gigging options.

[Jman]

Jerry, another question. I think there'll be many more coming in the future as well!

When you say "back up everything on the module" do you mean just to navigate to the view shown on page 10 of the manual and then simply copy and paste everything from the 'Cymbal' folder down to the 'Quick start guide' onto my computer? If a subsequent module disaster was to occur then could I simply drag everything back to the module card and start again?

Sorry if this seems a dumb question.


Forgot to say before, I absolutely love the kit and am so glad I went down this route rather than a TD30. My plan is to do a DIY A2E conversion on my small acoustic kit so I'll have two gigging options.

Yes, copy everything to your computer to backup. Highlight all the files, drag n drop. When I drag n drop, after highlighting all files I drag while right clicking the mouse and when dropped choose Copy to the destination. You can choose copy or move, you just want to copy the files.

[docadiddle2]

Woud it be possible to explain to me in simple terms (I like it simple!) what benefits I would see from going with SDSE and VSTs? Is it just that the sounds are better or are there any benefits in terms of sensitivity, dynamics etc?

Any recommendations as to which VST brand to go for as a beginner as regards ease of use AND great sounds? Is it my imagination or did someone here (Jman maybe) hint that the one or more of the VST firms might start marketing kits as collections of dsnd files sometime soon?

Thanks once again for your replies.

[docadiddle2]

There are quite a few drum VSTs out there. Is any one of the options noticeably simpler to deal with in the SDSE application? EZ drummer, on the face of it, sounds a more simple bundle...

I'm looking for nice, open, acoustic drum sounds and am perfectly happy with the built in 2Box electronica stuff.

[Lustar]

All VSTs work exactly the same with SDSE, there isn't anything particular to do to export from BFD3 compared to EZdrummer 2: load a preset or set up a kit from 1 instrument to a full kit then click "Export".

There is no easy answer because all VSTs have their pros and cons. If you'd like more velocity layers those will only be found in the more expensive VSTs. If having 3 zones for cymbals is important to you the choice is simple: BFD3 or Abbey Road/Studio Drummer/Modern Drummer or Music City for Superior Drummer 2. You can get a good idea of the Addictive Drums 2 sounds by installing the demo, it contains previews for all sound expansions. There is also a BFD3 demo. It's not possible to export from the VST demos using SDSE. There's a summary of each VST on this page in "Which drum VST would you recommend? "

[docadiddle2]

All VSTs work exactly the same with SDSE, there isn't anything particular to do to export from BFD3 compared to EZdrummer 2: load a preset or set up a kit from 1 instrument to a full kit then click "Export".

There is no easy answer because all VSTs have their pros and cons. If you'd like more velocity layers those will only be found in the more expensive VSTs. If having 3 zones for cymbals is important to you the choice is simple: BFD3 or Abbey Road/Studio Drummer/Modern Drummer or Music City for Superior Drummer 2. You can get a good idea of the Addictive Drums 2 sounds by installing the demo, it contains previews for all sound expansions. There is also a BFD3 demo. It's not possible to export from the VST demos using SDSE. There's a summary of each VST on this page in "Which drum VST would you recommend? "

Thanks Lustar, I shall try to absorb all that info and come to a decision.