- - saving a song or a project from your VST host will also save the DK+ settings, pads and patterns with your edits.
Factory, Custom and User Drum Kits
DK+ has three types of drum kits - Factory, Custom and User.- Each Factory Kit can have many styles (up to 22 are provided in the releases), and each style can have up to 24 Step Sequencer patterns. Each kit consists of the sample files, the bank file ("bank.dk+") and the pattern files (named after the style, and with the extension (".dk+ seq")
- The Custom and User Kits have only 1 style ("internal"), and this style can contain up to 24 patterns. Each kit consists of the sample files and the bank file ("bank.dk+"); the patterns are stored within the bank file.
When a bank file (with the extension ".dk+") is selected:
- if the file is inside a folder which name starts with F (for Factory) AND this folder is inside the DK+ Library folder, then the bank file, with its internal pattern set and the samples are loaded, and any external pattern set files are available for loading,
- if not, then the bank file, with its internal pattern set and the samples only are loaded.
- - you can build your own banks, styles and patterns for the Factory Kits, and your own banks and patterns for the Custom and User Kits.
Loading a Factory Style
- - you can use the Menu to load a Factory drum kit and styleto open the Menu - click [Menu]
to load a drum sound and one of its available rhythms - Styles >> by sound, then select the desired kit and style
to load a rhythm and one of the available drum sounds - Styles >> by rhythm, then select the desired style and drum kit
- - once the drum kit and style are loaded, the Output Controls will be set and the loaded drum pads will be shown.
- - the Step Sequencer patterns associated with the selected kit and style are also loaded
- - note that not every drum style is available for every drum kit, because some drum styles are simply impossible to play with some limited drum kits, especially those sampled from older and cheap drum machines.
- - once the kit and style are loaded, they will be played whenever you start playback or recording in your host.
Loading Any Library Kit or Style
- - you can load any drum kit or style from the DK+ Library using the two selectors at the bottom of the DK+ GUI- - note that the terminology differs slightly here
to load a drum kit - click the Kit selector, browse to the desired kit, click it
- - if you have selected a Factory drum kit, then its default bank file (these are named bank.dk+) is loaded and the style drop-down list is assembled, but a style (that is pattern set) are not loaded until you select a style
- - if you have selected a Custom or User drum kit, then its default bank file is loaded, this also contains its style (named "internal") loaded, and up to 24 patterns
to load a style - click the Style selector, click the desired style
- - if you have selected a Style, then nothing is loaded until you select a Drum kit
- - not every drum style is available for every drum kit, because some drum styles are simply impossible to play with some limited drum kits, especially those sampled from older and cheap drum machines
- an asterisk (*) after the name of the style means that the style is not available for the drum kit currently selected; if you select the style anyway, then it is selected and the drum kit is removed
- likewise an asterisk after the name of the drum kit means that the kit is not available for the style currently selected; if you select the drum kit anyway, then it is selected and the style is removed
- - if you want to load a different bank for a drum kit, have a look at the next section
Managing Banks
- - you can also load a bank for any drum kit, including the kits in the Library- - there is a default bank (named "bank.dk+") for each drum kit in the DK+ Library and you can create new banks
- - loading the bank loads the drum pad settings and ONE set of up to 24 patterns
to load a bank - [Menu] >> Banks >> Load >> navigate to the desired folder, select the desired bank, [Open], or
click the Kit folder icon, navigate to the desired folder, select the desired bank, [Open]
- - If DK+ does not find a referenced sample file in the same folder as the bank file, it will search for the file using the original path (this is where the sample file was when the bank was saved)
- - DK+ can also import drum banks created for the popular Steinberg LM-4 drum machine.
to import an LM-4 bank - [Menu] >> Banks >> Load >> navigate to the desired folder, select the desired bank, select "LM-4" as the file type, [Open], or
click the Kit folder icon, navigate to the desired folder, select the desired bank, select "LM-4" as the file type, [Open]
- - however, because DK+ is very different from LM-4, some settings of the original sound bank cannot be imported (pan, levels).
to save the complete instrument as a bank - [Menu] >> Banks >> Save >> navigate to the desired folder, enter the desired bank name, [Save]
- - this saves all the drum machine settings (the output control settings, the drum kit and ONE set of up to the sequencer patterns,) all in one file
- - you can also save the patterns separately, see the Sequencer Patterns section of this Guide.
- - you can save them in the appropriate drum kit folders,
- - or you might find it useful to create a new folder, named "user banks" for example, in your DK+ Library, to hold your new banks, this is particularly useful for drum kits whose samples are stored outside your DK+ Library (for example, in my case, the NS Kit7 samples)