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Convert DRUMMER to a MIDI drum track in GarageBand iOS

Just checked out one of Pete’s latest videos.. WOW!

This also works with Strings, Bass + Guitars

Read the first two comments in Petes video.. (Bubba + Ponk 80)
You can do this all in the same project, no need to paste into a new project as he did here..

Thanks to Pete, Binnie, Ponk 80 + Bubba for all the info..

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Comments

  • @royor

    Thanks for sharing this, it works really well 😊

  • So how do you then get the midi out of GB?

  • I thank you dearly but good lord is it worth the effort?? 😅

  • @gusgranite said:

    I thank you dearly but good lord is it worth the effort?? 😅

    That’s what I’m thinking. I do however sometimes export 8-16 bars of drummer audio to the put in the AUM file player or an app.

  • wimwim
    edited February 2021

    I guess you guys didn't watch the video. No script is needed with this method. It uses some tricks with copy & paste, all within GarageBand.

  • Actually this is awesome because you can isolate each piece of the drum kit into its own track, export the stems to audio, convert the audio to mono, import into another daw like Auria Pro, and then you have an actual multi track drummer to remix and repan, rather than one stereo track for the entire drum set. The reason it’s worth it, compared to another drum app that would multiout option, is because GarageBand drummers are intuitive and you can set the drummer to follow one of your other instruments in the song, like the bass or rhythm guitar for example. This on top of editing the midi can make it more real, variable, and reactive to your actual song.

  • @wim said:

    I guess you guys didn't watch the video. No script is needed with this method. It uses some tricks with copy & paste, all within GarageBand.

    I watched the video.

    I am thinking beyond GarageBand I would like to take those midi drum performances out of GB into another DAW or even export the midi to my drum machines or desktop

  • @wim said:

    I guess you guys didn't watch the video. No script is needed with this method. It uses some tricks with copy & paste, all within GarageBand.

    Lol. I didn’t, I was basing that on the python script. Which seems useful but a little over my head.

  • Time to actually watch the video, like most mistakes I make, I assumed, I assumed you had the midi from drummer but still only inside GarageBand, then you needed the python script to export it. Thanks for the clarification @wim Watching now, lol.

  • edited February 2021

    Sorry for any confusion.

    That is a really amazing trick, kudos to the guy who stumbled across that, and Pete for making the video.

    I’m still a little unsure on how to get the midi out? Unless I misunderstood. Can it be done with out that python script?

    I downloaded the free python app ISH Shell - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ish-shell/id1436902243
    and I wanted to try to figure it out. I’m a beginning coder at best but it sounds useful. I’ve always wanted to get the GB drummer midi out and into either Atom, Xequence 2, or Musk Midi Player so I can use in an AUM session. It just seems a little daunting to do this, then to do the python script, but it might just be worth it. Im definitely going to try it, but seems like quite the undertaking, at least from the start, for a non coder.

    So to turn the Drummer audio into midi and then export the midi, or send midi out, the video is the first part of the process, and the python script is the second part, correct?

  • Just had a thought.... Has anyone tried this with an imported audio file, or loop? Or does this only work with audio generated inside GarageBand first? If you can import any audio file and do that, it would be absolutely amazing. Still very cool if you can’t.

  • @Poppadocrock said:
    Just had a thought.... Has anyone tried this with an imported audio file, or loop? Or does this only work with audio generated inside GarageBand first? If you can import any audio file and do that, it would be absolutely amazing. Still very cool if you can’t.

    No, it will only work for a Drummer track. It's not doing audio to midi conversion, it's exploiting the fact that under the hood the Drummer tracks are really midi generated, even though GarageBand only presents them as audio.

  • @ralis said:

    @wim said:

    I guess you guys didn't watch the video. No script is needed with this method. It uses some tricks with copy & paste, all within GarageBand.


    I watched the video.

    I am thinking beyond GarageBand I would like to take those midi drum performances out of GB into another DAW or even export the midi to my drum machines or desktop

    In that case, the Python script referenced by @espiegel123 is the only solution that I know of.

  • @wim said:

    @ralis said:

    @wim said:

    I guess you guys didn't watch the video. No script is needed with this method. It uses some tricks with copy & paste, all within GarageBand.


    I watched the video.

    I am thinking beyond GarageBand I would like to take those midi drum performances out of GB into another DAW or even export the midi to my drum machines or desktop

    In that case, the Python script referenced by @espiegel123 is the only solution that I know of.

    Thanks Wim. It was the scripting to get midi out of GB that prompted me to ask if it's worth the effort.

  • wimwim
    edited February 2021

    @gusgranite said:
    Thanks Wim. It was the scripting to get midi out of GB that prompted me to ask if it's worth the effort.

    Same.

    Wouldn't it be awesome if iOS clipboard also worked for MIDI between apps as it does for audio?

  • This is super cool. I forget that you can't already easily edit the Drummer track like this.

    It's also what pisses me off about GarageBand, the ability to do this is there ..somewhere but not available as a selectable option. So does that mean that the work with Drummer is all midi but GB just displays the audio waveform? so weird.

  • @wim said:

    @Poppadocrock said:
    Just had a thought.... Has anyone tried this with an imported audio file, or loop? Or does this only work with audio generated inside GarageBand first? If you can import any audio file and do that, it would be absolutely amazing. Still very cool if you can’t.

    No, it will only work for a Drummer track. It's not doing audio to midi conversion, it's exploiting the fact that under the hood the Drummer tracks are really midi generated, even though GarageBand only presents them as audio.

    Ahh gotcha, I didn’t think so but was just curious if that was possible.

    @gusgranite said:

    @wim said:

    @ralis said:

    @wim said:

    I guess you guys didn't watch the video. No script is needed with this method. It uses some tricks with copy & paste, all within GarageBand.


    I watched the video.

    I am thinking beyond GarageBand I would like to take those midi drum performances out of GB into another DAW or even export the midi to my drum machines or desktop

    In that case, the Python script referenced by @espiegel123 is the only solution that I know of.

    Thanks Wim. It was the scripting to get midi out of GB that prompted me to ask if it's worth the effort.

    Yea same thoughts. Thanks for the clarification.

  • edited February 2021

    After pasting Drummer onto a MIDI track, we can use RouteMIDI AU to export the MIDI out of GB.

  • _ki_ki
    edited February 2021

    @MobileMusic The above copy/paste trick only allows to convert the automatic drummers to midi on GB drum tracks. But unfortunately you can‘t move this drum midi data over to midi tracks - so the MIDI Route AUv3 trick of sending out regular midi tracks doesn‘t work :(

    I also tried by pasting into a new project containing and audio and several midi tracks, but nothing was inserted. If i‘ll add drum tracks after these midi tracks, the copied midi is added to the drum track, when inserting the copybuffer onto the first audio-track.

  • @_ki You are right. I forgot that RouteMIDI doesn’t work that way :smile:

  • _ki_ki
    edited February 2021

    @MobileMusic
    MIDI Route works for forwarding the midi events of standard midi tracks of Garageband out into other midi ports (DAWs, external santh etc). But even though GB drum tracks, smart instrument tracks and drummer tracks internally use midi for their data, it is not possible to move this data onto tracks of a different type. So its a Garageband limitation.

    BTW: RouteMidi and MIDI Route are two different AUv3s for the same purpose:

    • RouteMidi from Brian Howard is a pure midi AUV3 plugin which are still not supported by Garageband, so it isn‘t shown in GBs AUv3 list.
    • MIDI Route as part of Midi Tools from Victor Porof (Audioveek) is additionally categorized as ‚instrument‘ even though not producing audio and therefore it can be applied to a Garageband midi track.
  • @MobileMusic said:
    After pasting Drummer onto a MIDI track, we can use RouteMIDI AU to export the MIDI out of GB.

    i dont know about others, but currently routeMIDI is no show for me, does not work at all for me
    the moment i load GB crashes and things get stuck

  • @_ki said:
    @MobileMusic
    MIDI Route works for forwarding the midi events of standard midi tracks of Garageband out into other midi ports (DAWs, external santh etc). But even though GB drum tracks, smart instrument tracks and drummer tracks internally use midi for their data, it is not possible to move this data onto tracks of a different type. So its a Garageband limitation.

    BTW: RouteMidi and MIDI Route are two different AUv3s for the same purpose:

    • RouteMidi from Brian Howard is a pure midi AUV3 plugin which are still not supported by Garageband, so it isn‘t shown in GBs AUv3 list.
    • MIDI Route as part of Midi Tools from Victor Porof (Audioveek) is additionally categorized as ‚instrument‘ even though not producing audio and therefore it can be applied to a Garageband midi track.

    has you tried Midi tools in GB (ios)? has it worked for you (i.e capturing MIDI data) ? it has never worked for me

  • _ki_ki
    edited February 2021

    @hisdudeness
    has you tried Midi tools in GB (ios)? has it worked for you (i.e capturing MIDI data) ? it has never worked for me

    Damn, you are right - neither the GB keyboard below the AUv3, nor notes from the track were played via AUM/bs 16i i used as receiver.

    To be sure, i verified that the following setup procedure works for other AUv3 hosts (tried Auria Pro, apeMatrix, BetaMaker 3 and ModStep):

    First open AUM as destination AUv3 host

    • Add a BS 16i (or other instrument) reading midi from AUM Destination

    Then start the source AUV3 host (ie GarageBand or others)

    • Add a midi track with MIDI Route
    • Configure it to send all channels to AUM
    • Play the internal keyboard or add notes to the midi track

    Some hosts offers both the (midi) and (instrument) variant of MIDI Route, Garageband uses the (intrument) variant - which i used in my test

    I have no idea why MIDI Route doesn‘t work in Garageband, very strange. The (instrument) variant should pick up midi the same way as other AUv3 instruments in GB... @blueveek could you try to investigate the problem ?

  • @_ki said:

    @hisdudeness
    has you tried Midi tools in GB (ios)? has it worked for you (i.e capturing MIDI data) ? it has never worked for me

    Damn, you are right - neither the GB keyboard below the AUv3, nor notes from the track were played via AUM/bs 16i i used as receiver.

    To be sure, i verified that the following setup procedure works for other AUv3 hosts (tried Auria Pro, apeMatrix, BetaMaker 3 and ModStep):

    First open AUM as destination AUv3 host

    • Add a BS 16i (or other instrument) reading midi from AUM Destination

    Then start the source AUV3 host (ie GarageBand or others)

    • Add a midi track with MIDI Route
    • Configure it to send all channels to AUM
    • Play the internal keyboard or add notes to the midi track

    Some hosts offers both the (midi) and (instrument) variant of MIDI Route, Garageband uses the (intrument) variant - which i used in my test

    I have no idea why MIDI Route doesn‘t work in Garageband, very strange. The (instrument) variant should pick up midi the same way as other AUv3 instruments in GB... @blueveek could you try to investigate the problem ?

    I cant remember exactly from which OS, i believe since i updated to OS 14, midi route stopped working for me

  • edited February 2021

    This feature of being able to copy Drummer regions along with an audio clip into a GB Drum track to expose the Drummer MIDI is undocumented and possibly a glitch. Apple may resolve the glitch in future :smiley:

    Drummer tracks are already pre-mixed properly - we just have to master them. There is no need to copy them into a GB Drum track, then split the MIDI stems of various drum parts into multiple GB drum tracks and mix them again separately.

    The only benefit a user would gain is to be able to use another Drum kit. To export the Drummer MIDI to use in our DAW of choice currently, there is no other option other than the GB Extractor Python script.

    For Apple, exporting MIDI should be easier (like a comma separated CSV file creation) than mixdown and exporting audio. But Apple is the BOSS who dictates how we should work around apps and not how apps should work around our flow.

  • @MobileMusic said:
    This feature of being able to copy Drummer regions along with an audio clip into a GB Drum track to expose the Drummer MIDI is undocumented and possibly a glitch. Apple may resolve the glitch in future :smiley:

    I think they will rather 'fix it' so it works properly since it's a standard feature in GarageBand and Logic on the Mac.
    At least we can always hope that iOS/iPadOS GarageBand gains a bit more 'advanced' features...

    Now I would get a non-stop laugh attack if GarageBand got support for AUv3 Multi In/Out before Cubasis 3 :D

  • I saw that there is a beathawk midi trick video running around here and you can do that get the gb midi out. With this trick plus that trick that’s all the tricks we need lol

  • edited February 2021

    @MobileMusic said:
    This feature of being able to copy Drummer regions along with an audio clip into a GB Drum track to expose the Drummer MIDI is undocumented and possibly a glitch. Apple may resolve the glitch in future :smiley:

    Drummer tracks are already pre-mixed properly - we just have to master them. There is no need to copy them into a GB Drum track, then split the MIDI stems of various drum parts into multiple GB drum tracks and mix them again separately.

    The only benefit a user would gain is to be able to use another Drum kit. To export the Drummer MIDI to use in our DAW of choice currently, there is no other option other than the GB Extractor Python script.

    For Apple, exporting MIDI should be easier (like a comma separated CSV file creation) than mixdown and exporting audio. But Apple is the BOSS who dictates how we should work around apps and not how apps should work around our flow.

    Not sure I agree about GB drum tracks being mixed properly. First of all you can’t have an acoustic drummer using toms, cymbals, and hi-hat at the same time. It’s either/or. So you need to use two drummers which is the max allowed, and combine toms from one and cymbals from the other, etc.

    I like to export GB drummer into audio stems. When exporting GB auto normalizes, and to me the proportion of kick drum to cymbals and crashes is off. I want a compressor on my kick and snare, not on my crashes. Having one stereo drum track where the components can’t be individually re-panned or remixed is annoying, I want a mono track for a kick and snare, and possibly stereo “room” mic for the toms and cymbals. While I agree that all in all the stereo drum track is properly mixed, adding it to a multi track song ends up sounding mushy and there’s no definition in the drums. But I like the GB intuitive drummers and how they can follow a song and also be customized at every step, so I take an hour sometimes to make a drummer track, then copy it to a second drummer track and break that one down over and over by turning off all but one component, then clicking “merge” so it converts the drum track to a new audio track at the bottom of the project. I do it over and over until I have individual dry (but normalized) drum stems. Then I export them one by one by soloing each and exporting just the one track, convert some to mono and leave others in stereo, and finally I have myself a 4-6 track drum set that I can individually turn down, pan, remix, and process, and then to a drum bus. It’s a real pain and I’m sure there are other multi out drummer apps that can do this. But one stereo track of all the drums among a multi track song doesn’t work for me. Perhaps I just haven’t figured out yet how to make it sound good in that context.

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