Alternative Keyboard Mapping In Cubase

[braincell]

Thought I would share something interesting with you. I have mapped my keyboard in new way with the Drum Map feature in Cubase. To start off with, I used the 6 pentatonic scales listed in Wikipedia. While the Drum Track, Beat Designer & Step Designer all use a fixed note length (because they were made for percussion), when recording live via your keyboard, it does record note length. Step time is also fun to do with this though.

Important note. For this to work you must change the value in the "O-Note" column also raise the voice number to something higher than 1 or 2 (I used eight) otherwise you will get cutoff notes and it will feel as if it is not responding. Make sure the note values in the far left column are chromatic and not what they have for the GM map. I just realized I have to fix this in mine.

I got creative when I used up all the notes and did a series with each note doubled on the next adjacent note thus allowing me to play single notes faster than on any other keyboard (like when a drummer hits a snare with 2 sticks).

All this is a lot of work but well worth it. Play like no other keyboard player.

[braincell]

This attached file is a chromatic Cubase Drum Map. This should sound the same as using no drum map which is why they didn't include it. It is a good starting point to make your own keyboard maps. It is also required if you want to make chromatic music with the Beat Designer. I'm sorry to say that the engineers at Steinberg have no imagination. They could not foresee anyone using the Drum Map and Beat Designer for any other purpose.

[braincell]

Here is a pentatonic map. This should be good for Beat Designer. I decided using octaves would be more musical than the adjacent same note plan.