Looking for drum pad instrument

I cannot seem to find an instrument/ensemble that mimics the ubiquitous drum pad interface found on the Novation Launchpad, AKAI MPC, etc. A simple grid of pads (say 4x4) that can each be clicked to initiate a sound, whether that means triggering a sample or sending a MIDI note to a synth. A pad should light up while the subsequent sound plays, preferably fading in brightness as the volume fades with the envelope.

If there's anything like this in the User Library, do tell! I don't wish to re-invent the wheel.

My intention is to map an actual control interface to the Reaktor pad, and then wire in different instruments under the hood. So that this can act as a standardised middle layer for triggering sounds.

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Studiowaves

This is not a problem with what the ensembles. It's a midi problem. You need to set the controller up like any other midi controller. Keyboards, drum pads , all the same. Regarding the fading of your lights. Forget it if your controller does not have a midi input to control those lights. Reaktor does support OSC as well as midi. If you learn to program Reaktor, you can basically assign any controller pad to any button on the ensemble. So get the controller working first then we can help if need be.

Bolle

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/255931#Comment_255931

The question is not about a controller. It's about creating a clickable grid of pads that either trigger samples internally or send out midi to trigger something external. If built to trigger samples internally, fading lights can be achieved by simple 0 to 1 normalised volume detection of the audio and controlling an animation with that signal.

PoorFellow

I don't wish to re-invent the wheel.

Not a user library item and also Polyplex is not exactly what is asked for but still then maybe kind of ?

Of course then it would be very interesting if what the OP asks for would be added to the user library 😁

Studiowaves

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/255937#Comment_255937

Oh, He wants an ensemble that sends out midi and lights up after you press the pads and fades out with the sound. Seems like a search for a drum pad or something in the UL would bring something up. Maybe search for a sequencer, seems those usually have pads but might not send out midi. Mainly because it's difficult to send a VSTI's midi out directly into another VSTI. Sending out to a hardware midi port is easy though. The ensemble would have to receive audio while it sends out midi to an external synth. Which means the ensemble would have to be in a midi track within a daw that also is an audio track. Not like gonna happen.

Studiowaves

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/255938#Comment_255938

Why don't you make one . A piece of cake lil project.

colB

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/255943#Comment_255943

It sounds so trivial. Maybe you should make it for him while you wait for your kettle to boil?

colB

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/49943/looking-for-drum-pad-instrument

If you search Launchpad in the UL, you'll find quite a few entries for that.

I built a thing for launchpad mini some years back. Some sort of switch matrix with various modes for audio routing of Blocks signals. It wrote back to the pad lights, so its definitely possible.

If none of the stuff in the UL is suitable, I could post that. Should be easy enough to modify. To use with regular launchpad velocity/pressure, you would need to read through the launchpad protocols for the correct midi messages. The Mini doesnt sense pressure.

Studiowaves

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/255947#Comment_255947

I actually have a launchpad. I wasn't aware it could accept midi. Thanks for mentioning that. It would be cool to see it play midi info. I just used it to send midi into an old drum machine I had because the buttons stopped working on the drum machine. I think it was an Alesis. Ended up giving that away but still have the launchpad. The launchpad came with some software that easily swapped different setups. All in all it wasn't too bad. I rigged mine up with the matrix so each row would play the same drum note with successively higher velocities. I was much easier to get repeatable velocities compared to trying to use the weighted action on the keyboard. Useful little thing for that. Let me know if you find your Launchpad software. I can't remember if the one I have was the midi version or not. Think is was an 8 by 8 matrix.

Studiowaves

Ok, I misunderstood what you wanted. Shouldn't be a problem because you are asking for a VSTI to interface with midi. VST stuff doesn't receive midi info in some daws. It's usually reserved for audio only. So even if you map a VST to receive midi it won't work unless you load it into a VSTI midi track. You just want a visual of the midi received by a track to show up as though you pressed the button on a Reaktor ensemble. My guess, you can't find one that lights up. All you need to do is find anything with lighted buttons and assign a midi note to the button. Then when it receives midi it will act the same as if you pressed it by hand. When you lift your finger off the controller it should send a note off to that same button and turn the lighted switch off. I may be wrong because I haven't tried it, but I think it works that way.

robin746

Perhaps I should have been clearer about my constraints. Yes, I have searched the forums, library, etc. No, I don't want to buy commercial software if I can avoid it. I have coded Reaktor for over two decades but not for the last two years… I am rusty and more familiar with Python and Processing at this point. The time it would take me to do even simple things is taxing. (Yes, I tried.)Besides this I've been in and out of the hospital five times in the last two weeks and have a full-time university job.

In short: I know what needs to be done but really, seriously, honestly can't do it myself right now.

So some of the suggestions I found a little less than helpful. :-)

However a search for "launchpad" came up with two likely candidates so thanks for that! Would never have thought to use anything other than "drum pad" and the other dozen terms I tried.

Studiowaves

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/256006#Comment_256006

Yeah, Hospitals and being sick sucks. See if you find something and maybe I could whip something during a tv commercial. It's pretty simple. Get well, you should check out Snap verb, If you like short reflections for drums and other stuff without all that big reverb I think you'd like it. I was strumming my guitar today practicing some rhythmic chords and it sounded pretty thick with just a few reflection. I think I had 12 reflection going. Some were louder that the others, some had the highs removed, they were panned around and it really did start to sound like I was playing in a small room. It's a headphone thing. Pretty fun. Ahh I'm dead tired and rambling on. later

Bolle

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/256017#Comment_256017

Dude came in here asking for help building a basic clickable grid of drum pads.

Three times now you completely misunderstood him, read something that wasn't even there in his post, and replied with something completely unrelated. Dude never even mentioned FX. Let alone reverb. But here you go talking about how many reflections you got going. Jesus christ, man.

Seqsual

https://www.native-instruments.com/en/reaktor-community/reaktor-user-library/entry/show/14457/

It is a block, I think it does not react to mouse clicks but you want to MIDI map it anyway right?… Also, it does not translate Gate ON/OFF but VEL values…

gentleclockdivider

modules: midi in : sel.note gate module

This module let's you trigger specific notes

Studiowaves

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/256038#Comment_256038

That's because your not following the conversation. I suspect you are jumping to conclusions to fast.

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