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Hardware Inputs

There are three kinds of hardware inputs you can use in Sensory Percussion: drum sensors, analog inputs, and MIDI inputs.

Drum sensors are the heart of the Sensory Percussion experience. These inputs come with special controls to manage training the software on your unique playing, dealing with thresholding and cross talk, and fine-tuning dynamic response of your drum.

Analog inputs and MIDI inputs don't have these same features and are used in different ways throughout the software.

Adding a Hardware Input​

Click the + button to add a hardware input. You'll see you have three choices: Sensor, Analog, or MIDI.

Choosing Sensor will then prompt you to specify what kind of drum you're using (kick, snare, or tom) as well as some other info about your drum.

Training a Drum Sensor Hardware Input​

If you didn't train your drums through the Guided Setup, you can do so at any time by clicking the train button on the bottom-right of each Drum Sensor Input. This process teaches Sensory Percussion to recognize your playing on that particular drum. You only have to do it once per drum and it's a pretty quick process!

First, make sure the Drum has the correct Input Channel selected -- this will correspond to the input jack you are using on your interface.

Then, click the train button to open the training panel.

The training window opens in the Guided Training Setup mode by default. This is the recommended way to train your drum and will provide the most accurate experience.

For more advanced use cases, you can exit Guided Training and train zones however you like.

Training is split into three different levels of drum gestures for the snare and two for the kick.

Level 1

These are the most basic zones and drum gestures that are required for the software to correctly recognize your playing:

  • Center: hitting the drumhead in the center
  • Edge: hitting the drumhead on the outer perimeter
  • Rim-shoulder: hitting the rim with the shoulder of the stick
  • Rim-tip: hitting the rim with the tip of the stick

Level 2

The second level includes more advanced, but common, drumming gestures. These zones are optional. They include:

  • Rimshot-center: a rimshot hitting the center of the drumhead
  • Rimshot-edge: a rimshot hitting the outer perimeter of the drumhead
  • Cross-stick: digging one end of the stick in the head while hitting the rim with the other.

Level 3

Level 3 includes less common drumming gestures and are also optional. Unless you plan on actively using these gestures in your playing, we recommend leaving these zones untrained to improve overall accuracy

  • Damped: playing the drum head while dampening it with the other hand
  • Stickshot: digging one stick into the head and hitting it with the other
  • Shell: hitting the side of the drum

Once you enter the training window, start training by clicking the Level 1 button and follow the on-screen prompts to train each zone. You can also adjust the input’s sensitivity, threshold, and velocity response on the left side of the training window.

Hardware Input module overview​

An overview of a Drum Sensor hardware input module An overview of a Drum Sensor hardware input module

On the left side of the hardware input, you can toggle behind the Pads, Sensitivity, and Threshold views:

If you want to delete an input, simply select it (it will now have an orange outline) and press the delete key on your keyboard.