Mister Mouse

Yamaha DD-55 as MIDI controller

This is a guide telling you how to use the Yamaha DD-55 electronic drumkit, so that you can play the kit, but get the sounds from your favorite VST plugin. I didn't want to change anything in the DD-55 itself, and I wanted it to be playable in real time: no noticeable latency or other kind of delay. And most importantly: it shouldn't interfere with my current setup at all.

In July 2005 I bought a Yamaha DD-55 for fun. And fun it is!
I would like to share some info about how to connect things, and what freeware to install to make it all work right.

DD-55 Configuration

What you need to do is connect a MIDI cable from the 'MIDI out' of the DD-55, and connect this to the 'MIDI in' of your PC.
Then power up the DD-55 and set the output level to zero/silent. We'll be using 'song 00', the factory setting one.
No sounds will be coming out of the DD-55 anymore, we'll be using VST plugins for that!

DD-55 Layout

The DD-55 is a device that has 7 pads and 2 pedals which all output their own signal when triggered (by hand, foot or stick). Each pad and pedal output a MIDI 'note on' value, followed very quickly by a 'note off' value. Here is the global layout of the device, with the MIDI notes outputted when in 'song 1', which is the setting upon powering up. The MIDI notes are already translated into decimal values, we'll get back to that later.

© DD-55 : Yamaha.

Now all you have to do is translate (or remap) these notes into the notes that your VST instrument expects.

MIDI Yoke and MIDI OX

First you have to install MIDI Yoke, a virtual MIDI port (get MIDI Yoke) Then install MIDI OX (get MIDI OX)
Then you have to insert these two in your hardware setup.

In my situation I use an ESI M4U unit, input port 1 to be specific. In MIDI OX you have to choose the input and the output, see the screenshot below.

Screenshot Explanation

The blue highlighted input is MIDI input port 1 of my USB MIDI device (ESI M4U), the blue highlighted output is MIDI Yoke output port 1.
Together they form a pair, you see that in the upper right field called 'Port Mapping'.
This MIDI Yoke port is received by your host (Cubase, Logic and such).

Only if you use Logic as a host, you need to do one more thing; prevent MIDI feedback, so disable some ports. Open your win.ini file (run 'SysEdit') and find the [Logic] section and disable all 'MIDI out MIDI Yoke' ports, by changing the value from one to zero for these ports.

© MIDI OX and MIDI Yoke : Jamie O'Connell.

Now import a 'map' in MIDI OX by clicking on

and you are ready to go.

Example Maps

Some ready to go maps, click on the screenshots to download them. Save them in the 'MIDIOX\Map' folder.

Map for the Puff n Pys VST instrument
© PuffnPys : Falke Music Lab.

Map for the ZapKit VST instrument
© ZapKit : Mik Sybrandt of GTG Synths.

Making your own maps

Building custom kits for example of only crashes and rides, or for assigning the left pedal as the second base drum: this requires some effort, but it isn't too hard.

Personally I use a MIDI Keyboard (which is not routed through the MIDI OX) to determine to which MIDI key the sound is assigned to.
For example, most base drums are C2, and most open hihats are A#2 and the closed hihats are F#2.
But suppose now you have a plugin where the base drum is on B1 - the note below C2 - what to do now?

You have to get the decimal value of B1 and make a map that translates the DD-55 output (35 for the base pedal) into that value.

Small chart of MIDI notes and their decimal value:

Note	C1	C#1	D1	D#1	E1	F1	F#1	G1	G#1	A1	A#1	B1	C2	C#2	D2	D#2	E0	F2	F#2	G2	G#2	A2	A#2	B2	C3	C#3	D3	D#3	E3
Decimal Value	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	49	50	51	52

Now find the new value for each pad and pedal of the DD-55, and enter those lines into the MIDI OX map.
Press 'insert' or 'edit' to get the screen below.

Here you see that both the 'Note On' and the 'Note Off' data is received and transmitted on the regular MIDI channel. Then only notes with the decimal value 49 (c#3, the upperleft drum pad) is remapped to the decimal value 54 (f#3). This is how you remap one pad.

As you can see from the example maps; on the left are the notes coming out of the DD-55 (these will stay the same cos you are using 'song 1'), and on the right are the notes your plugin expects. Sometimes a plugin expects the notes to be received at channel 1. The DD-55 sends all its notes on channel 10, so in that case you have to change the channel from 10 to 1. This can easily be done, by replacing the X on the left by 10's and replacing the X on the right by 1's.

Some more maps

Maps for the BFD VST instrument: Mister Andrew Simon made some maps for the BFD VST instrument, he gave me permission to share these.
He made several maps for several sessions (good for recording drums in 'layers'):
1 : BFD Cymbals map 2 : BFD HiHat map 3 : BFD Snare map 4 : BFD Toms map

One old map made by myself:

MAP for the JM-1 VST instrument © JM1 : Jun Wakaya Jun's Factory.

The JM1 has way more sounds then the DD-55 has pads, so I used the standard kick, snare and toms. But as of 2007 I no longer use this VSTi, so it is here as an archived map that is no longer supported by me.

2007 maps

In 2007 I remapped (almost) all of the maps, so they better connected to the lay out of a real drumkit: snare on the left, toms above, floor tom on the right side of the snare, crash on the upper left and the ride on the upper ride.

The kit mappings are listed below. The numbers on the far left are the pad numbers from the DD-55, followed by the default sound they would make if this was a real acoustic kit.
The numbers on the right are the remapped numbers for the VSTi, the description of the pad or pedal sound is coming from the VSTi itself. You don't have to maken these maps yourself, you can download them (for use with the DD-55) by clicking on the name of the map. I hope you like them!

XLN Audio - Addictive Drums (Demo)	HiHats Map	Snares Map
	Addictive Drums - HiHats - 2007 DEC IN DEC OUT 35 50 HH Closed Shaft 1 34 54 HH Open A 46 57 HH Open D 44 48 HH Pedal Closed 42 48 HH Pedal Closed 48 55 HH Open B 45 56 HH Open C 41 77 Cymbal 1 49 51 HH Closed Pearl 2 51 58 HH Open Bell	Addictive Drums - Snares - 2007 DEC IN DEC OUT 35 36 Kick 34 38 Snare Open hit L 46 40 Snare Open hit R 44 37 Snare Rimshot L 42 40 Snare Open hit R 48 39 Snare Rimshot R 45 41 Snare Shallow Rimshot 41 43 Snare Shallow Hit 49 42 Snare SideStick 51 44 Snare RimClick
	Standard Map
	Addictive Drums - Standard - 2007 DEC IN DEC OUT 35 36 Kick 34 38 Snare Open hit L 46 57 HH Open D 44 48 HH Pedal Closed 42 48 HH Pedal Closed 48 39 Snare Rimshot R 45 55 HH Open B 41 42 Snare SideStick 49 55 HH Open Bell 51 77 Cymbal 1

FXpansion - BFD (Computer Music Demo)	BFD Standard Map
	BFD Computer Music Demo Standard - 2007 DEC IN DEC UIT 35 35 Kick 34 38 Snare 46 46 HiHat open 44 42 HiHat closed 48 47 Hi Tom 45 45 Mid Tom 41 43 Low Tom 49 55 Crash (Cybal 3) 51 49 Ride (Cymbal 1)

E-phonic - Drumatic 2	Drumatic 2 Map
	Drumatic 2 - 2007 DEC IN DEC OUT 35 36 Kick 34 38 Snare 46 46 HiHat open 44 42 HiHat closed 48 41 Tom 1 45 47 Tom 2 41 39 Handclap 49 44 HiHat half closed 51 37 Free

E-phonic - Drumatic 3	Drumatic 3 Map
	Drumatic 3 - 2007 DEC IN DEC OUT 35 36 Kick 34 38 Snare 46 46 HiHat open 44 42 HiHat closed 48 41 Tom 1 45 47 Tom 2 41 39 Clap 49 44 HiHat half closed 51 37 Rim/Bell

Sonic Charge - MicroTonic	MicroTonic Map
	MicroTonic - 2007 DEC IN DEC OUT 35 36 Channel 1 34 37 Channel 2 46 42 Channel 7 44 36 Channel 1 48 38 Channel 3 45 39 Channel 4 41 40 Channel 5 49 41 Channel 6 51 43 Channel 8

LTM Lab - Mini Mammut (Magazineware)

LTM MiniMammut p5 Map

LTM MiniMammut p6 Map

LTM Lab Mini Mammut p6 - 2007
DEC IN	DEC OUT
35	36	Kick
34	38	Snare
46	46	HiHat open
44	42	HiHat closed
48	40	Percussion 2
45	39	Percussion 3
41	45	Percussion 6
49	48	Percussion 1
51	47	Percussion 4

LTM Lab Mini Mammut p5 - 2007
DEC IN	DEC OUT
35	36	Kick
34	38	Snare
46	46	HiHat open
44	42	HiHat closed
48	40	Percussion 2
45	39	Percussion 3
41	43	Percussion 5
49	48	Percussion 1
51	47	Percussion 4

Ultimate Sound Bank - Plugsound Free

Jazzy Drum Kit Ride Map

Jazzy Drum Kit Wood and Rim Map

Jazzy Drum Kit Ride Map - 2007
DEC IN	DEC UIT
35	36	Kick
34	38	Snare
46	46	HiHat open
44	44	HiHat closed
48	48	Hi Tom
45	45	Mid Tom
41	41	Low Tom
49	49	Ride Soft
51	51	Ride

Jazzy Drum Kit Wood and Rim Map - 2007
DEC IN	DEC UIT
35	36	Kick
34	38	Snare
46	46	HiHat open
44	44	HiHat closed
48	48	Hi Tom
45	45	Mid Tom
41	41	Low Tom
49	37	Wood
51	39 	Rim

FalkeLab - Puff n Pys	Puff n Pys Map
	PuffnPys - 2007 DEC IN DEC OUT 35 36 Kick 34 38 Snare 46 46 HiHat open 44 42 HiHat closed 48 49 Crash 45 51 Ride 41 54 Tamb 49 37 Rim 51 39 Claves

IK Multimedia - SampleTank Free	Bongos Map	Congas 2 Map
It is possible to play the DD-55 with sticks, or with your hands. Remember: after engaging 'Handpercussion' on the DD-55, switch back to song 00.	Bongos - 2007 DEC IN DEC OUT 35 38 34 52 46 59 44 40 42 59 48 55 45 62 41 64 49 57 51 65	Congas 2 - 2007 DEC IN DEC OUT 35 60 34 55 46 59 44 62 42 59 48 57 45 40 41 43 49 52 51 50

Acquit Records - SD2100	SD2100 Map
	SD2100 - 2007 DEC IN DEC OUT 35 36 Kick 34 38 Snare 46 46 HiHat open 44 42 HiHat closed 48 41 Hi Tom 45 47 Mid Tom 41 50 Low Tom 49 39 Crash 51 49 Ride

GTG Synths - Zap Kit	Zap Kit Map
	ZAP Kit - 2007 DEC IN DEC OUT 35 36 Kick 34 38 Snare 46 46 HiHat open 44 42 HiHat closed 48 43 Hi Tom 45 48 Mid Tom 41 50 Low Tom 49 44 Crash 51 36 Kick (same as pedal)

Remarks:

The Drumatic 2 kit, has the same layout as the Drumatic 3 kit, but at least you now know what it is called that you're hitting :)
The MicroTonic VSTi has channels instead of regular names like 'kick' and 'snare', I noticed that channel 1 sounds like a kick, and next 4 sounds are - in my opinion - suitable for snare and claps, so I routed those to the larger pads.
The LTM Lab MiniMammut has the percussion 6 sound which is not accessible from the GUI.
With the ZAP kit VSTi I choose to double the kick sound, since this pad was still free.

Reflection

Did it interfere with my current setup?
No it didn't. I have my MIDI keyboard on one port, and the DD-55 on another port. This last port is the only one routed through MIDI OX, so my keyboard is not (re-)mapped, but the DD-55 is.

Am I satisfied?
Yes!

Is everything working OK?
Some VST instruments like SFZ or ChineeKong can't be triggered straight from the kit, they suffer from the fact that the DD-55 lets a 'Note ON' follow very quickly by a 'Note Off'. One solution is to lengthen the notes in the sequencer after the recording is made. But If you want to do it in real time you will need to 'extend the note'.
I haven't been able to do this in MIDI OX, but I got a Logic environment that does this. Maybe your sequencer can do the same? (Just delay the incoming 'Note Off' value)
By the way, get some heavier drumsticks, it'll be worth it.

Things Still To Do...

I won't make a map for SFZ, I have found that my EXSP24 sampler can read SoundFonts with no problem, and it can be triggered straight from the kit. Lucky me!

I hope this whole page was useful. If you still have questions, join some online forums about the DD-55.
Like the Yahoo DD-55 group or ask around at the MIDI OX board.

This page was updated at: April 7th 2007 - If you see an error please report!

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