Monthly Archives: April 2008

How to “play” the Strike interface while Pro Tools is running

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To understand this topic, you need to understand the different play modes of the Strike interface. MIDI notes can be used to trigger Strike in two different ways; one that triggers drum patterns (pre-recorded beats; Style mode), and one that triggers drum sounds (individual drums; Kit mode).

If you want to play the sounds in Strike using electronic MIDI drums, or a MIDI keyboard controller to create your own beats, you would want to use Kit Mode.

If you want to play (trigger) the pre-recorded beats in Strike (basically MIDI loops), using a MIDI controller (keyboard or drum pad trigger), you would want to use Style mode.

If you don’t have a MIDI interface, and you aren’t comfortable penciling in notes on the track with the pencil tool, you can also still play the patterns using the Strike interface and the mouse, but you will have to record the audio output of your performance directly to an audio track, or play the patterns every time.

  • “playing” the Strike interface with the mouse (coming soon)

Using Kit mode in Strike

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Playing the drumkits by kit piece in Strike is fairly easy.

  • Insert strike on an Instrument track and make sure it is selected
  • Select a drumkit or pattern
  • Set the MIDI input of the Instrument track to either “All” or your specific controller
  • Set the MIDI output of the Instrument track to MIDI Channel 2 of the Strike plugin
  • If your system is set to use the first selected track as the default MIDI instrument, you can now play the Strike drums from your MIDI controller. If not, you will need to record arm the Instrument track.

That’s it! Seriously. You should now be able play the drum kit pieces from your MIDI controller. To record your performance, all you need to do is record arm the track (if it isn’t already) and press record.

If you don’t have a MIDI controller, but still want to use strike in this manner, you can also program these notes by penciling in MIDI notes to the track with the pencil tool.

Using Style mode in Strike

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In this tutorial, i will cover how to “play” the drum patterns (loops) in Strike using a MIDI controller (keyboard or otherwise), and also how to record that performance in Pro Tools.

There are two different modes for playing the patterns; normal and latch. In normal mode, the drum patterns play as long as you hold down a key. In latch mode the pattern loops continuously after you hit the key that the pattern is assigned to, until you hit another key to trigger another pattern or you hit the “off” key (C1).

Latch mode really is more suited for playing live and is more of a “hands-off” approach. It’s also the best approach if you are using pad like MIDI controllers (such as the M-Audio Trigger Finger, or the pads on an axiom controller).

  • Insert strike on an Instrument track and make sure it is selected
  • Select a pattern
  • Set the MIDI input of the Instrument track to either “All” or your specific controller
  • Set the MIDI output of the Instrument track to MIDI Channel 1 of the Strike plugin (should be the default selection)
  • If your system is set to use the first selected track as the default MIDI instrument, you can now play the Strike drums patterns from your MIDI controller. If not, you will need to record arm the Instrument track.
  • If you are in normal mode, you will need to hold down the key as long as you want the loop to play.
  • If you are in latch mode, you can tap the key for the pattern, and it will play until you press another key, whether for another pattern or the “off” key (C1).

That’s really all there is to playing the patterns. To record the performance, just record arm the track (if it isn’t already), and press record.

If you don’t have a MIDI controller, but still want to use strike, you can also program these patterns by penciling in MIDI notes to the track with the pencil tool.