How do I create drum styles in Cakewalk or Sonar Session Drummer?

Creating Drum Styles for the Session Drummer

The Session Drummer supports standard Type 0 MIDI files so that you can
easily create or add new styles and patterns to it. Patterns are stored in
a single track (10) and are separated by Markers. When you see the patterns
listed in the Session Drummer, what you are really looking at is a list of
the markers in file. These patterns are stored in a single file, called a style
file. The file name that is used when saving a style file is what will appear
in the style pane of the Session Drummer. A quick way to familiarize yourself
with this is to open one of the drum style files using Cakewalk’s Open command.

1. Click File/Open
2. Open the Drum Styles directory
3. Choose Alternative 080.mid file
4. Scroll down to Track 10
5. Open the Markers View.

As you can see, the style name in the Session Drummer is the Type 0 MIDI
file name and the pattern names in the Session Drummer are the names of the Markers.

You can create your own style files for the Session Drummer in 4 easy steps:

1. Create or locate a single track drum pattern that is voiced for General MIDI.
2. Arrange patterns in a track, making sure to align them to the first beat of each measure.
3. Create and name one or more markers aligning them with the beginning of each measure.
4. Save the file as Type 0 MIDI file in the content directory of your choice. This file name will appear in the Style Pane of Session Drummer.

You can use Cakewalk to record or create MIDI drum patterns. Or you can
find lots of great drum patterns in MIDI files that you can download from
the Web. The quality of MIDI files varies greatly, so don’t be afraid to
keep exploring until you find one that sounds good.

To create a Session Drummer Style file from an existing pattern

1. Open a New Project.
2. Choose an appropriate tempo.
3. Locate the desired pattern, then copy and paste it at 1:1:000 in the Track view.
4. Position the now time at 1:1:000.
5. Click on the Insert Marker button from the toolbar or press the F11 function key.
6. In the Marker dialog, type a name the represents the pattern.
7. Click OK.
8. Save the file in the Drum Style directory (or your own directory)
using the name as you would like it to appear in the Style pane.

When you open the Session Drummer, you should see your new style pattern.
Click on it and you will now see the pattern you just created. Now click on
the pattern to select it and then click play from the Transport toolbar.

Since the Session Drummer plays the pattern over and over, it is extremely
important that the pattern loops correctly. You can check this before you
save your Style pattern by selecting the clip in the track view and looping
it using the loop toolbar.

Guidelines

• Patterns should be voiced for General MIDI and be contained on a single track

• Patterns can be of any length

• Patterns must include a marker, located at the beginning of the pattern.

• Make sure that the pattern is aligned to a measure. Setting the
snap to button to 1 measure is helpful to ensure this.

• Make sure that the beginning and ending of the pattern does not cross measure boundaries. Remember that the Session Drummer will loop and you want it to loop on measure boundaries.

• Make sure that the volume of the pattern is constant, with no volume increase or decreases.

Knowledge Base