ericzang wrote:About overlap I read: "Because Aerodrums can distinguish between near and far drums, it is not a problem if drum icons overlap significantly on the screen." But will overlap be an issue when arranging elements in a horizontal line? That is, if there is overlap horizontally two elements will be triggered at once?
This comment in the manual is about the fact that Aerodrums' display of the drum kit elements is 2D. We didn't want users to feel like they shouldn't position their drums in 3D (using more or less reach) just because they look like they are overlapping a lot. Striking with one stick can never trigger two elements at once. Only the element whose center is nearest to the strike location will trigger. What I meant with my previous post is this: if you pick the cowbell to represent the E slab, the ride for F and the ride bell for G, when you place them equally distant from each other on a horizontal line, they will behave the way you expect, but visually you will have the illusion that you are more likely to hit F, because the ride icon looks so much bigger and overlaps the cowbell and ride bell icons.
Currently, all the element types except the ride bell have a display size that is bigger than what you would expect a xylophone slab to be, including the smaller ones which are cowbell, splash and very high tom. And it is not possible to change an element's icon.
About the MIDI assignment, you can see in Aerodrums' MIDI table that some element types can appear twice or more, (e.g. splash). In your drum kit element list, when you have several elements of the same type, their MIDI note is determined by the order in which they appear. We are not satisfied with the current logical link between an element (which must have samples), and the MIDI event sent. We are working on a drum kit composition interface that will be more friendly to MIDI users.
ericzang wrote:I'm am not specifically a xylophone/mallet player, so I am happy to arrange the elements in ways other than the piano keyboard. For example I would like to play african marimba sounds, gamelan instruments, etc. Perhaps the elements could be in 2-3 rows of 3-5 elements each, or a circular pattern like a hang drum, or a semi circular arrangement around me. Such arrangements may allow me to use larger elements instead of needing lots of the smallest ones.
Thanks again!
Definitely, the closer you arrangement matches a drum kit, the less contrived your interface will feel. As we add features to the instrument composition side of Aerodrums (assignable MIDI note, custom icons etc), it will be less and less the case. Sorry I cannot give dates.