Roland HD3 drums question

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dougienorrie

New Member
Hi - I wonder if someone can help me???
I bought roland HD3 drums and I'm trying to find out if they are class compliant for MIDI, or if they need a driver?? Trying to get them hooked up to Ableton live and NI plug ins.
Thanks in advance if anyone knows!!!
Cheers.
 
According to Roland:
Using MIDI you can easily connect the HD-3 to other devices to expand your sound possibilities or connect to a computer and improve your drumming skills with V-Drums Friend Jam or Roland’s DT-1 Drum Tutor software.
I would try it, and if it doesn't work go to the product page at the Roland site for any downloads like drivers etc.
 
Class compliancy would only be a thing if you'd use a USB MIDI interface. Since the module doesn't have any USB connectivity it's all about pure MIDI connections. You don't need a driver for MIDI, but you have to have a a working MIDI interface connected to your computer - which might need a driver if it's not a class compliant USB device. So get your MIDI interface working, connect the MIDI out of the brain with the MIDI in of your interface and it should work. Note that your module doesn't have a MIDI in, so you can

* Record MIDI and play it back using other sound generators
* Play sounds of other sound generators via MIDI live

You cannot record MIDI and play it back using your module.
 
Supergrobi said:
Class compliancy would only be a thing if you'd use a USB MIDI interface. Since the module doesn't have any USB connectivity it's all about pure MIDI connections. You don't need a driver for MIDI, but you have to have a a working MIDI interface connected to your computer - which might need a driver if it's not a class compliant USB device. So get your MIDI interface working, connect the MIDI out of the brain with the MIDI in of your interface and it should work. Note that your module doesn't have a MIDI in, so you can

* Record MIDI and play it back using other sound generators
* Play sounds of other sound generators via MIDI live

You cannot record MIDI and play it back using your module.
Click to expand...
Thanks very much. That has cleared that up for me. Clarified that I need a midi interface. Could you recommend a MIDI interface for use with Roland v drums going to Imac, macos 10.13 ????
Something mid range?
Thanks again.
 
dougienorrie said:
Thanks very much. That has cleared that up for me. Clarified that I need a midi interface. Could you recommend a MIDI interface for use with Roland v drums going to Imac, macos 10.13 ????
Something mid range?
Thanks again.
Click to expand...

Do you have an audio interface/soundcard ? Always best to use one with soft-synths. If not, then get one with a MIDI interface built in and kill two birds....
 
dougienorrie said:
Ok, I got one of these and my Mac/ableton is getting midi signals but they are all over the place from the different drum pads. Do you think it's just not a good interface and maybe get another one like the swissonic?
Click to expand...
Depends what you mean by "all over the place". If it's hit snare - get a crash sound - then that's MIDI note mapping you need to sort. See your module and software manuals on how to change those as available/appropriate.
 
It's like every time I hit snare it comes up as a different note, never the same one twice, triggering constant signals on some notes. Same with all the other pads.
 
dougienorrie said:
It's like every time I hit snare it comes up as a different note, never the same one twice, triggering constant signals on some notes. Same with all the other pads.
Click to expand...
Could be pads/module configured to send multiple notes
Could be cheapo MIDI eBay interface Try a better one (M-Audio, Roland, etc) - or as suggested one built into a decent audio interface.
Could be other things. I don't do Apple so can't advise on troubleshooting that end, soz.
 
Last edited:
The manual states that there's three different note numbers sent for the snare, 37, 38 and 39, depending on where/how you hit.
 
Do you have a keyboard to test the interface?
 
electrodrummer said:
Could be cheapo MIDI eBay interface then. Try a better one (M-Audio, Roland, etc) - or as suggested one built into a decent audio interface.
Could be other things. I don't do Apple so can't advise on troubleshooting that end, soz.
Click to expand...

dougienorrie said:
Yeh, I do. Didn't think of that. Thanks, I will try that.
Click to expand...
Tested the interface with my midi keyboard, it works fine. Still getting scrambled MIDI messages from the Roland brain. Stumped now. Is it possible the midi just isn't working properly? Not sure how old it is, I bought it 2nd hand. Works fine with the stored kits and through the monitor.
I can just mic up the monitor for doing demos but could do so much more with MIDI. Thanks for your help so far and in advance.
 
Could you please record a MIDI track at 120bpm, hitting every quarter, one bar snare center, one bar snare rim, one bar bass drum, export it as .mid and upload it wrapped in a .zip? I'd like to take a look at the actual data.
 
If you're not sure if your DAW is messing things up maybe try http://www.midieditor.org/ (if you are on Windows) - pretty straight forward, can only load and save MIDI files and doesn't have any fancy features on board.
 
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