Drum volume _What is this?

[9blackoranges]

Hi,

Not a drummer and trialling Modo Drum but mystified by the drum volume option?

When I was at school, volume of a cylinder was related to diameter of circle and depth of vessel.

How can there therefore be independent setting for diameter and depth and a separate additional setting for volume??

What am I missing? Someone educate me please.

[Ryan_IK]

For volume, use the MIXER page. Before changing volumes, I suggest making sure to change Velocity for a more natural feel. Of course, some genres, like Metal prefer an always present, always slamming snare, but to me it is as important to differentiate volume and velocity as it is to separate gain from volume.

The edits for the ELEMENTS in MODO DRUM will help you change the overall timbre of the instrument. Once you've got this perfect, use the MIXER as stated above. The PLAY POSITION page is always a great tool. Moving snare/tom hits to the side of the snare/toms at the start of a roll will change both tone and volume. This gives the drums some more life.

The MAPPING tab is used to assign MIDI CC to the PLAY POSITION of the SNARE, TOMS, Hi-Hat, and any other articulation controls.

[DarkStar]

I read 9blackoranges's post to say that he was asking about these parameters:





And the one in the bottom-right corner.

[Ryan_IK]

I read 9blackoranges's post to say that he was asking about these parameters:





And the one in the bottom-right corner.

Oh I see! That's the volume of each drum head, to give you more bottom head or top head. Similar to controlling the volumes of the microphones on these elements, but as MODO DRUM is physically modeled it is a little different. This is mainly for tonality but can affect overall levels which you can balance out in the MIXER.

[9blackoranges]

Hi,

Thanks for responses.

I had interpreted volume in the sense of size i.e. physical dimension of drum, hence my comment of diameter x hight.

I see that it refers to 'loudness', so it clarifies that point. Had not considered anyone would microphone tops and bottoms of each drum. A bit unreal/excessive ?

[Ryan_IK]

Hi,

Thanks for responses.

I had interpreted volume in the sense of size i.e. physical dimension of drum, hence my comment of diameter x hight.

I see that it refers to 'loudness', so it clarifies that point. Had not considered anyone would microphone tops and bottoms of each drum. A bit unreal/excessive ?

Understood. Diameter and Depth do compliment this option so that's an interesting thought. For me, I like to use these volumes to either add "Snap" to some drums by adding more top head compared to bottom, or adding more resonant head to get more body to your sound.

This would be the same when mic'ing the drums. Some people really will mic the top/bottom of each drum for options later. Not all mics are used, but when you have them recorded they can be helpful.

On top of this, the bottom head of the snare has springs which can sound really interesting on some drum tracks. This is probably the most common use of mic'ing the bottom head of a drum. When the springs are loose and this is turned up, it can give the snare a little bit of ambience. When the springs are super tight, this can add a little bit of depth to the sound without doing too much.

[9blackoranges]

RYAN_IK,

THANKS. USEFUL COMMENTS.