Hello there… I’m almost ready to pull the trigger and get an AR, but I have one last question.
If I plug in a drum trigger unit (for example a DrumKat, Octapad,etc.) I’m pretty sure that I can map the midi note number to AR’s 12 pads and get velocity sensitive playing.
What I’m wonder is if I’m in another mode where I’d use the ARs pads to mute parts, or launch parts, will my external pads ALSO do that function? I really hope I can as I want to drive as much performance with drumsticks not fingers, and launching patterns via midi, without having something like overbridge in the middle is important.
Thanks
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If those external controllers can serve up CCs, normally, or NRPN midi messages on the respectively channels for the desired functions then yes … you can control Performance Depth, Mute, Solo, Scenes … but if you want to latch a performance macro depth, it makes more sense to have a slider type midi controller
I’m thinking that my hihat footcontroller will work well for this. Hit a drum, have that drum be in latch mode, then use hihat controller to set depth.
Sounds easy in theory huh? 
Ordering one today so I’ll soon discover where theory meets reality.
I did it! I’m now a proud owner of the AR. Holy cow… What a deep piece of kit! (feature-wise, as well as sound-wise! I fear I may be shelling out for a new subwoofer in my drum amp soon! 
)
On the subject of MIDI in, I’m confused about something in the manual…
On Page 16 it says:
Of the 128 notes in the standard MIDI range, 0-11 corresponds to notes C0 through to B0, the leftmost octave
(which is sometimes called C-2 - B-2 in certain applications) will trigger the Sound of track 1 through to track 12,
respectively (provided they are set to their default channels 1-12). These note values map to each of the twelve
tracks, regardless of which track is active.
MIDI note values 12-59 (corresponding to notes C1 - B4, the second through to the fifth octave in the MIDI
range) will trigger the Sound of the active track in any of its 48 chromatic variations (as if played by the pads in
CHROMATIC mode, see section below), from lowest to highest pitch. The track Sound needs to be chromatic
enabled if any variation is to be heard. Activate via the SOUND SETTINGS found in “SOUND MENU” on
page 26.
What I’m confused about it why, if each pad is it’s own note, does each note have to be on it’s own channel?
If I’m reading this correctly, If I want the BD1 sound/track to trigger, I need to send C0 on Ch1… If I want SD2, I need to send C#0 on Ch2…
I must be interpreting this wrong because 1) I can’t get it to work, and 2) it just seems goofy to have to use 12 midi channels when I’m only using one note per channel…
Help?
nope, the notes 0-11 trigger the pads (voices) no matter which midi channel they are coming from.
The AR has one midi channel per voice so that it can accept chromatic playing of a voice, in addition to every voice parameter being remote controllable by midi CCs. But for ease of programming from a single midi channel, notes 0-11 allow trigging of all 12 voices.
Does this make sense? Welcome to the 
RYTM by the way! If you want some good examples of what the synthesis side of the AR is capable of, grab the New Blood soundpack and Justin Valer’s AR808 (both feature pure synthesis)
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Hmmm… OK, that’s good to know. At least it narrows down what I must be doing wrong…
So in theory…
I can set it so that ALL pads/tracks/voices use the same midi channel (e.g. Ch1) and each will respond to a unique MIDI note C0-B0 on Ch1
–OR–
I can have each pads/tracks/voices have it’s OWN midi Channel which will allow me to, for example play MT7 Chromatically if it’s set to Ch7 and send it MIDI notes C1-B4, OR play it’s hardware pad equivalent by sending it midi note #06 on Ch7.
If the above is correct, it must be an issue with how I have the AR’s midi set up and I should be able to figure it out from there.
Thanks!
Thanks for the welcome btw. I’ll have to check that pack out. I’m pretty much only interested in the synth side of things… I don’t really like samples, unless they are the soundsource for a synth.
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It’s all explained well above … if you want to control the AR tracks, ordinarily you would have to address each track on its own channel, this is normal, especially given that each track has a broad chromatic range
What Elektron offer as a handy way around things - is to exploit the unused of Midi notes at the bottom (0-11) by ensuring that ‘effectively’ the note number is converted into a MIDI message on that equivalent channel to Trig that Track as it stands - that is why you need to preserve the default MIDI channel assignment to cater for that custom realignment
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Ordering one today so I’ll soon discover where theory meets reality. 
RYTM by the way! If you want some good examples of what the synthesis side of the AR is capable of, grab the New Blood soundpack and Justin Valer’s AR808 (both feature pure synthesis)