Drum Lab bug? Muted when two notes are played at once

proxima · 2022-02-12T00:32:59+00:00

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Drum Lab seems to have a bug in some circumstances when two notes are played at once.

Steps to reproduce:

1.) Load Drum Lab with a preset like Special -> Electro

2.) Play E2 and A#2 at exactly the same time (hand-drawn midi) versus just E2. The electronic layer gets muted in the kick if A#2 is played at the same time. You can turn down the hi-hat entirely, disable all effects, disable the special microphones, and it's still clear as day.

Perhaps it's related to a post like this one on the NI forum, but this person is thinking that the highest velocity matters. You can set the velocity exactly the same for all notes and playing notes simultaneously changes how the snare sounds.

This is a bug, right? Not some sort of intended behavior I don't understand?

Drum Lab in Kontakt 6 on Mac OS 11.6.2. Confirmed on VI-Control by another user.

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Accepted answers

ruslan.st

Seems I found the solution. Two variables in the script should be changed to polyphonic, like here:

https://github.com/ruslanasstacevicius/drumlab_scripts/commit/44ee48e6b8e2d71d3afafee653dd4a226ab770f4

All comments

Blindeddie

Can you clarify this?

Play E2 and A#2 at exactly the same time (hand-drawn midi) versus just E2. The electronic layer gets muted in the kick if A#2 is played at the same time. You can turn down the hi-hat entirely, disable all effects, disable the special microphones, and it's still clear as day.

E2 is a Ride and A#2 is a Hat...where does the Kick come into play?

proxima

Whoops, I wrote hastily, I meant snare. E2 snare, A#2 (or G#2 also exhibits the behavior). Screenshot below.

I've noticed it across a variety of presets, but Special -> Electro is particularly noticeable

Screen Shot 2022-02-12 at 3.57.12 PM.png

Blindeddie

OK, sorry for the initial confusion, you are looking a Piano view that is labeled 1 octave greater than what NI considers midi numbering, in the NI world, the notes are E1 and A#1...

Anyway, I was unable to replicate the issue using the Maschine software on Windows. Lets see if any Mac users chime in... I assume the DAW is Logic, if not what DAW?

proxima

Yep this is Logic. I filed a support request with NI, and we'll see what they say. Of course Drum Lab has been around for years - I'm just amazed that nobody ran into this (or cared enough to complain). I feel like I've barely started playing with it.

(Edit) At first I thought you said you were able to replicate it. But maybe since you weren't it's some weird combination of AU Kontakt 6/Logic/Drum Lab.

ruslan.st

I can confirm this bug. It affects Electronic layer: make Mix slider for Snare drum 100% Electronic, then enter few loud Snare hits. Then on top of some Snare hits add soft (velocity=1) Open or Closed HiHat, exactly at the same time. Better to do this on quantized grid. Then single snare hits are going to be loud, but ones combined with HiHat - very soft.

One important nuance is that despite two notes being technically on the same time, DAWs can arrange them differently in the event list. If DAW supports midi events listing its worth checking: bug appears only when HiHat hit is after Snare hit like on pic below. Both notes have the same Note On time.

Bug is present:

No Bug:

bhuether1

Yes, I have same issue. It is impossible to use Drumlab because there are so many instances where playback volume does not correspond to the actual note velocity. So I write soft HH lines, but then press play in Logic and Drumlab plays as if nearly full velocity value.

Did anyone ever figure out a solution?

EvilDragon

This would be caused by something in the script, so I don't think there's a workaround (except maybe not having multiple notes with very different velocities have exactly the same time position on the grid)?

ruslan.st

Seems I found the solution. Two variables in the script should be changed to polyphonic, like here:

https://github.com/ruslanasstacevicius/drumlab_scripts/commit/44ee48e6b8e2d71d3afafee653dd4a226ab770f4

proxima

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/25506#Comment_25506

This worked for me. Thank you so much!

nico5

@proxima Thanks so much for identifying the problem with your sharp ears and for creating a clear test case.

and

@ruslan.st Thank You so much for your outstanding trouble shooting, detailed explanation of the circumstances under which the bug will appear and for your clear explanation of the code that needs fixing.

I was also able to reproduce the issue in Cubase 12 and apply the fix to the KONTAKT script - and it works great now!

Today is a good day in the long history of Drumlab! -- It will be interesting to observe, if NI will apply the fix in an official release.

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