Hi. I’ve just recently joined QFG and am so far really enjoying the content.
I just have one question at the moment. I’m using SSD 5.5 and there are more drums I would like to assign to pads in each kit than the suggested layout allows. For example, each SSD kit has 4 toms and I would also like to use things like the splash, ride bell, rimshot etc. I understand the reasons for the recommended layout and I’m happy to stick with that for the initial learning period, however I hope that as the course progresses the use of these other sounds/drums will be addressed as well. Any comments welcome thanks.
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Hey Marcellus,
Honestly, a splash to me is just a cymbal sound. I set it up in one of the 3 corners when the song requires a sound like that and I use it just like any other cymbal.
The fourth low tom (or a fourth super high tom for that matter) is kind of the same. I actually set it up if I need the sound. I find myself often swapping the low tom for the even lower tom or I tune the toms to fit the song.
Ride bell is actually my standard ride sound. The normal ride hit I do not use that often. If you ever need a regular ride hit and a ride bell I would put the ride bell above the ride in the spot of the cymbal.
So yeah, there are other sounds than the standard kit, but how it works is there is a song, the song needs certain sounds, you load in those sounds and then use them for that song. The core of the kit stays the same, and you will notice that swapping the sounds around that core of kick snare and hi hat willl actually be pretty easy and you can keep relying on your muscle memory for other sounds.
I actually did a video (one of my earliest videos many years ago) about this idea that the “essence” of all these drum sounds is always the same and I illustrated that by sampling my acoustic guitar and playing a beat that way.
Many thanks Rob for explaining that. Makes a lot of sense. Good to know that once I have the core in place, both in terms of the actual kit and the basic technique, I should be able to ‘mix and match’ other sounds around it as the need arises.
The video is very interesting and reminds me of a Soniccouture library I own which was developed by Imogen Heap. It includes a whole kit based on striking parts of her own body.
Not sure who Marcellus is though?! My screen name is MarcusMaximus but Mark is just fine! 
Thanks again and looking forward to digging deeper into the course(s).
Haha, wow that is odd! I have no idea what happened there. Maybe i misread your name or maybe it was an auto-correct. I guess we will never know.
Yes, the mix and match around the core is in my experience a very effective method. I have dabbled with 8x8 controllers allowing for all those extra sounds on a 64 pad grid but in the end O personally gravitate towards larger pads, less options and prepping the kit for the song and then just playing 
Yeah seemed like an auto-correct moment to me! No worries though, I’ve been called worse! 
I like the idea of keeping things simple to start with and then building more complexity as time goes on. I need to find my feet first with the core layout and then see how I can develop that over time.
Great stuff, thanks again!
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