Fxpansion BFD2 Manual User Manual download pdf (Page 139)

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9:3 Variable hihat control

Overview

As discussed in the last section, variable hihat MIDI recordings can be tedious to edit or quantize. Therefore, if you use this

method of hihat control, it’s advisable to either make sure your takes are spot-on, or to be resigned to tedious editing operations.

Of course, if you’re predominantly using BFD2 for playing live, this is not a concern.

Note that BFD2’s Groove recording function automatically converts variable hihat input into standard hihat articulations which do

not rely on the hihat pedal height MIDI CC values.

Electronic drumkits use a MIDI continuous controller (referred to as Hihat height in BFD2) to represent the position within open

and closed states of the hihat pedal. Whenever a variable tip or variable shank note is played, BFD2 plays the appropriate tip or

shank articulation from those available – closed,

-open,

-open or fully open – depending on the Hihat height.

You can assign as many keys to variable tip or shank notes as you need. However, all variable tip notes share the same settings,

while all variable shank notes share another group of settings. If you like, you can ‘lock’ the variable tip and variable shank set-

tings together, if you don’t need to adjust each of them independently.

There are also a number of important preferences that dictate hihat response: see section 9:4 for details.

Important note

BFD2 allows variable hihat control only for the hihat slot (slot 3). You may load additional hihats in other slots and trigger their

articulations directly with MIDI notes, but variable hihat control is restricted to hihats loaded in the hihat slot only.

Assigning variable tip and variable shank articulations

Any hihat note that your electronic drumkit brain transmits should be assigned to

either a variable tip or variable shank articulation, with one important exception.

Almost all brains send out a ‘pedal’ note, or ‘foot-chick’ sound, when the hihat pedal is

depressed fully. This note should always be mapped to BFD2’s pedal articulation.

The variable tip is used for the main surface or ‘bow’ of the hihat, which should be

used if you only have a single-zone hihat trigger pad. ‘Tip’ refers to the fact that the

surface of the hihat is struck with the tip of the stick.

The variable shank is used for the edge of the hihat, which should be used in addi-

tion to the variable tip if you have a dual-zone hihat trigger pad. ‘Shank’ refers to the

fact that the edge of the hat is struck with the shank, or body, of the stick.

Example: Roland TD-20

A good example is the Roland V-Drums range of kits. Most of Roland’s brains send out the same set of notes for the hihat. The

following table illustrates which notes to map to which articulation.

Roland note

Open Bow

Closed Bow

Open Edge

Closed Edge

Pedal

MIDI note (note no.)

A#1 (46)

F#1 (42)

D0 (26)

A#-1 (22)

G#1 (44)

BFD2 mapping

variable tip

variable shank

pedal

The Roland brain decides whether to send the ‘open’ or ‘closed’ note depending on the pedal controller value and a setting on the

brain dictating the transition point between open and closed.

This distinction is unimportant to BFD2 because it contains additional

-open,

-open and

-open sounds.

Therefore the open and closed sounds are mapped to the same variable articulation. BFD2 makes its own decisions about which

actual hihat articulation to play, depending on the value of the pedal controller.

The pedal note, meanwhile, chokes any playing open sound and plays the hihat pedal articulation (the ‘foot-chick’ sound).

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Fxpansion BFD2 Manual User Manual Page 139

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Fxpansion BFD2 Manual User Manual Page 139

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