Using Melodics Drums with Quest For Groove layout

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Any other Melodics users in here?

I have used both the Quest for Groove course and Melodics (Pads mode) intermittently, where QFG teaches me to drum, and the various layouts of Melodics Pads help me more with general MPC style playing, both of which are of value to me as a electronic music producer. Although a lot of the time I wished I could change the layout of the Melodics lessons to QFG style, which is not an option.

Melodics also has a Drum mode, which is meant for acoustic or electronic drummers (not fingerdrummers). But I realised this mode also accepts midi notes. So with the help of Melodics helpdesk legend Rhys, I made a QFG layout in my Maschine, that works for Melodics Drums. This opens up 100’s of songs that are not in Melodics Pads. And reinforces QFG layout rehearsals. Added bonus: this mode actually listens to your velocity, which Melodics Pads doesn’t do.

In my opinion, this is a nice, guided, scored addition to the QFG courses.

Files you need to set this up:

My Maschine layout for Melodics Drums

Optional: A .json file that adds play/retry/rehearse button functionality to the Maschine buttons. Add that to ~/Library/Application Support/Melodics/Melodics/devices (on mac)

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Very cool. Would you anticipate any problems with other midi controllers, e.g. ESI Xjam pads (I use two fo these) or FGDP?

Thanks,
-David

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Hi David,

Supported controllers are automatically detected (I suspect FGDP is supported), others you can manually add. Melodics will throw a very unclear error message when your mapping is not right though, this is where I got stuck at first. But if you map your controller following General MIDI, you should be fine. I believe FGDP is already mapped this way. For Maschine I had to make my own mapping. See this page of the Melodics website for a bit more depth on that.

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Thanks for this. Melodics used to allow you change the layout on the Pads lessons which meant you adapt many of them to the QFG layout. Unfortunately they’ve recently removed this which means the layout changes from lesson to lesson. I’ve switched to using the Yamaha FGDP 50 on the drum lessons as at least I get a consistent layout but I do prefer the pads on the Maschine MK3.

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You can also do this with the Maschine, prepare the drum layout for QFG, map it to GM Drums and then you can use this with Melodics, just like you would with Yamaha FGDP 50.

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