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Almost Ready to Buy.....

Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2014 8:39 am
by edkilp
Hi there. I'm fascinated by this setup. Never saw anything like it. My struggle with getting drums into my computer spans several years of frustration. This looks like the holy grail to me! I'm not a perfect drummer, but MIDI can fix all of my shortcoming! I had a few questions, though.

1) How does this handle snare side-stick hits?

2) Can it do cymbal chokes?

3) How are customers treated as far as updates and new releases? If I buy this now, will I have to pay for it again at some point? I own MeldaProductions MDrummer, which has free lifetime upgrades. Do you offer this as well?

I'm sure there will be more! Thanks!

Re: Almost Ready to Buy.....

Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2014 11:11 pm
by Sipaliwini
Hello,

currently side stick hits are handled by adding an extra "piece" to your kit, so you need to hit at a different location from your snare drum (which you can set). You can see side sticking in action in this cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIkS7DrUx74
For rimshots, it works differently: you can set a hit speed threshold above which your hits will be rimshots. We have to use these approaches because Aerodrums doesn't measure the orientation of your sticks. However, it is very sensitive to the position of your stick tips, and we are working on adding positional sensing to the snare (and possibly other pieces). When we release this, you will be able to trigger different sounds depending on how far you hit from the center of the snare.

You can't choke cymbals yet in Aerodrums. We have several ideas for it but we haven't started testing them.

About updates, our approach is to not make our customers pay extra for any software features that bring Aerodrums closer to the experience of drumming with an acoustic kit. We also will never charge for "quality of life" improvements. However, we have some features in store that open new possibilities for drummers, we don't know yet if we will ask existing customers to pay for those.

I am sorry that some of the answers are disappointing, I hope you will buy Aerodrums because I am sure we'll be able to provide cymbal choking and more options for snare articulations.

Re: Almost Ready to Buy.....

Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2014 11:48 pm
by edkilp
OK, I just pulled the trigger and bought Aerodrums and the PS3 camera! I'm very excited and the next 5-8 business days are going to be torture as I wait!

Am I to understand that I can play my drum parts into my DAW, using either the built in drum kits, or drive another drum app, such as EZ Drummer, then use my normal quantize to fix the inevitable timing glitches? Or, I could just record the MIDI output, and use the resulting MIDI data to drive another drum kit. I think this is going to make a huge impact on my productivity. Drums have always been a nightmare for me. Sorting through hundreds of midi patterns to find one that I can tweak a bit to get close to what I have in my head. This is going to be great!

I've read and re-read the manual, and I have to commend you for the outstanding job on that. Very well written and clearly laid out. I think this is the beginning of a wonderful relationship!! Thanks!

Re: Almost Ready to Buy.....

Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2014 12:13 am
by Richard
Exactly, you can use the preset drum kits in either MIDI or non-MIDI mode. In non-MIDI mode, you will hear the built in drum samples that ship with Aerodrums. In MIDI mode, you could use Aerodrums to trigger EZ Drummer (or similar) running standalone (using Toontrack Solo in this case) or alternatively running through your DAW as a virtual instrument plugin. Your DAW will record plain old MIDI data so you can switch your EZ Drummer drum kit after recording or quantize the notes, as you suggest.

Thanks!

Re: Almost Ready to Buy.....

Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2014 2:07 am
by edkilp
Man, this is gonna be so cool.....I can't wait!

Re: Almost Ready to Buy.....

Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 12:30 am
by edkilp
Hmmmmm.....ordered four days ago and still no email saying it's shipped. I think it was on Amazon where I read a review from a person who waited forever. I wonder if it's the camera that causes the shipping delay? I order lots and lots of stuff from Amazon and I always get the stuff pretty quick. has anyone else experienced slow shipping when Aerodrums was ordered? Thanks.

Re: Almost Ready to Buy.....

Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 1:04 am
by Sipaliwini
This is odd, sorry about it. Orders are fulfilled by Amazon, they usually ship quickly. The camera shouldn't be the problem because if it is not fulfilled by Amazon, it would arrive separately (and if it is, it should ship quickly too).
If you pm me your order number I can ask Amazon what is happening.