Bob G's XG Tips
Drum NRPNs
Controller #99
Controller #98
Data Entry #6
Description
20
drum note(40 snare H)
amount of effect 0-127
cutoff frequency
21
drum note(40 snare H)
amount of effect 0-127
resonance
22
drum note(40 snare H)
amount of effect 0-127
EG attack rate
23
drum note(40 snare H)
amount of effect 0-127
EG decay rate
24
drum note(40 snare H)
amount of effect 0-127
coarse pitch
25
drum note(40 snare H)
amount of effect 0-127
fine pitch
26
drum note(40 snare H)
amount of effect 0-127
level
28
drum note(40 snare H)
amount of effect 0-127
pan
29
drum note(40 snare H)
amount of effect 0-127
reverb send level
30
drum note(40 snare H)
amount of effect 0-127
chorus send level
31
drum note(40 snare H)
amount of effect 0-127
variation send level

Here's an example of the application of NRPN 24(coarse pitch)to drum note #40(Snare H)


Sure you can use the pitch wheel or RPN 101,100,6 on the track,but it would affect all the drums.You can pick the drum note you want using NRPNs.

This is what the mid looks like in Cakewalk's Event List View


If you don't have Cakewalk Pro audio 6.0,or greater,stop here.You must enter NRPNs using the event list view,as above.The following NRPNs & panels are supported by CWPA 6.0 & greater.

You can calculate the NRPN with Cakewalk's xRPN Calculator Studioware panel.



Here's the same event list view after Cakewalk 6.0 has changed the controller 99,98 & 6 entries into NRPNs.


You can see that the NRPN value for drum note#40,coarse pitch is 3112.Once the NRPN value is known,the value can be entered in the piano roll view.



Besides using NRPNs for special effects,you can create your own customised drum kit using coarse pitch,pan,reverb,etc.I'd like to thank David F. Kelly for turning me on to NRPNs.

Here's a partial image of my Cakewalk 6.0 Studioware Panel,"Pop-up Drum NRPN Panel".


The panel conrols 20 drum notes and 11 NRPN parameters.
When you set the pan value to 0,the panning is random.

Download the zipped panel here

  1. Download & unzip the file.
  2. Move the file into your Cakewalk directory(folder).
  3. Open Cakewalk,select View/Layouts/Pop-up Drum NRPN Panel.
  4. Drums must be on track 10 in order for the panel to work.
  5. Select a drum sound with the button on the left,move faders.
    Here's a link to another XG drum studioware panel,   The XG Drum Tool.     With it you can change the NRPNs of any drum sound but you have to know the note# from the drum map or piano roll.