Splitting the Drum Track into Individual Drum Staves

In MIDI files, the notes for drum kit instruments are typically kept in a single track. Even though most percussion instruments do not have pitches, the various instruments are assigned unique pitches to distinguish the multiple percussion instruments that can be simultaneously playing in a track. To learn about viewing and editing the drum note pitches for a MIDI device, see Managing Drum Note Lists.

WhenComposer first transcribes a percussion track, it will display the drum notes as though they have pitches, even with accidentals, as illustrated here:

A drum player will not want to try to play from a part notated like this. The drum player will prefer t o play from a part in which the notes for each instrument are displayed on a separate staff line.

Composer offers an easy way for you to change a drum pitch track such as the above to one or more single-line staves, one per each unique percussion instrument.

To split a drum note pitch track into single-line staves, one per each drum instrument:

1.      The remaining steps of this procedure will replace the original track that you are splitting. If you want to preserve a copy of the original track, then use the Clone Track command in the Track menu to make a copy of the track.

2.      If the track controls are visible, then click the Track Selection button to select a track. If the track controls are not visible, you can make them visible by choosing the Show Track Controls option from the View menu.

3      Choose the Split Drums command from the Track menu.

     -- OR --

     Type "qspld" for Quick Split Drums.

     Composer will present you with the Split Drums dialog box.      

4      In the Split Drums dialog box, confirm the track you selected in step #1, or select a track.

5      Click the OK button to confirm the Split Drums command.

     Composer will replace the original drum staff with one or more staves, one per each unique percusssion instrument. For the above example, the result will look like this:

Composer will assign each percussion instrument the instrument name (such as "Electric Snare") that is associated with the pitch of the drum sound. For more information, see Managing Drum Note Lists.

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