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.

SSL LMC Listen Mic Compressor

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SSL LMC Click for download information

From the SSL webpage:

“Every now and again a piece of audio equipment comes along that defines the sound of an era. Back in 1979 Solid State Logic gave birth to a legendary recording console. The SSL SL 4000E Master Studio System forever changed how records would be recorded and mixed, heralding a new age in popular music. In less than three years, every major studio worldwide featured at a least one room with an SSL “E” Series console.

The SSL Listen Mic Compressor was the secret weapon in many producers sonic arsenal of recording techniques. Originally designed to prevent overloading the return feed from a studio communications mic, its fixed attack and release curves were eminently suitable for use on ambient drums mics. Of course, we’d like to take all the credit for this great sound, but as usual, it was the creativity of SSL users that led to the idea.

Now you can experience the Listen Mic Compressor within the comfort of your own workstation software and see what sounds it’ll lead you to create. If you discover something really great – like a radical new distorted oboe sound then be sure to let us know.”

To use this plugin in Pro Tools, you need to purchase the VST-RTAS adapter from FXPansion (highly recommended, and worth every single penny).

How to record amp simulator plugins in Pro Tools

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There are a few different ways to record amp sims in Pro Tools. I’m going to describe my typical method for using amp simulators. It is the way I prefer to do it as it is the most versatile. My personal preference is Amplitube by IK Multimedia, but I will try to be generic in my description.

  • Create two audio tracks
  • label one Guitar DI, and label the other Guitar Print
  • set the input of the track labeled Guitar DI to the input where you have your guitar plugged in
  • set the output of the track labeled Guitar DI to an available bus
  • set the input of the track labeled Guitar Print to be the same bus
  • Insert the amp simulator plugin on the Guitar DI track
  • record arm both tracks
  • record your parts
  • disable and hide the track labeled Guitar DI

Now you have an audio track with the printed output from the amp simulator, and you still have the original DI from the guitar. If you ever want to change the tone, you activate the Guitar DI track, change the tone, record arm only the Guitar Print track, and press record. Then deactivate the DI track again, and you’re all set. When the DI tracks are deactivated, so are the plugins on them, so they use no CPU.

The other benefit to this method is that if you like the performance, but decide you want to use a real amp instead, you can reamp the direct track out to a real amp.

Keep in mind that when using this method, you must be in record mode to monitor your input, and you must be in the proper monitoring mode (Input Only) if you want to monitor the incoming signal continuously.

How to use ReDrum as a Drum sound module in Pro Tools

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Quite honestly, and in my opinion, ReDrum is not the best choice for a drum sound module when using Reason. The NN-XT sampler is going to provide much more realistic drum samples and sounds. ReDrum was meant to emulate a classic step-sequencer style drum machine, and is better for electronic or techno style sounds.
This topic is really very easy. You want to write MIDI drum parts and you want to use the ReDrum device in Reason as the sound module to play your drum sounds.

Here are the steps:

  1. Create a stereo Instrument track in Pro Tools. (you can also use multiple tracks for the audio return, but that’s a different tutorial)
  2. insert Reason on the track, leaving the default channel selection (Mic L – Mix R)
  3. In Reason create a ReDrum device and make sure it’s outputs are routed correctly (Reason Adapted users can skip this step as the ReDrum device is always in the Adapted rack, and routed to the mixer by default)
  4. on the instrument track in Pro Tools, on the instrument view, select the ReDrum device on the MIDI output selector
  5. in Reason, on ReDrum, select a drum kit
  6. If you have Pro Tools setup to use the first selected MIDI track as the Default Thru Instrument, you should now be able to hear sound from ReDrum through the instrument track in Pro Tools. If you don’t have Pro Tools setup that way, then do so () or record enable the track. Keep in mind that the individual instrument channels are mapped to keys C1-B1, so you won’t hear anything unless you play those specific keys.
  7. Record or pencil in notes at will.
  8. Playback.

That’s pretty much all there is to using ReDrum as a sound module in Pro Tools. There are some “fancy” things you can do with it; like mapping the individual outputs of the instruments to different tracks (separate tutorial), and using it along with other devices in Reason (again, separate tutorial), but those are the basics.

How to save plug-in settings in Pro Tools

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After adjusting the plugin settings to your liking, you have two choices for how to save the settings of the plugin. If you want the settings to be saved to the root settings folder of the plugin, click on the Plug-In Settings button and select “Save Settings As”. Give your settings a recognizable name. The root settings directory for the specific plugin is selected by default. The benefit of saving the settings in the plug-in’s root settings folder is that they will then be available anytime you use the plugin, across any session.

If you want to save the settings for the session only, you need to create some directories in your session folder. In the main session folder, create a directory titled “Plug-In Settings”. In that folder, create a folder with the name of the plugin you are trying to save settings for. Inside that folder is where you will save session-specific plugin settings. (click on the Plug-In Settings button and select “Save Settings As”. Give your settings a recognizable name.) These settings will only be available when using that specific plugin in this specific session. The benefit  to this method  is that  the settings will be transfered with the session, and available to users of the session on other computer/Pro Tools systems.

How to use Reason with Pro Tools?

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OK, this is actually a HUGE topic, with multiple layers of different answers both depending on what you are trying to achieve and how complex you are willing to go. Because of this, the answers to this topic need to be separated into sub-answers.

I will cover the most basic ones first, and then add topics as time permits.