How do I change the snare drum on my drum track...

By Tony Escueta
Product Specialist
Manager/ Field Product Support
©Yamaha Corporation of America
Email: tescueta@yamaha.com

I frequently get this question- "How do I change the snare drum on my drum track to another snare drum without altering the other parts on my drum track, and without re-programming the drum kit in Voice mode?"

This is a very simple and very easy task in SONG Job mode that can prove to be a useful production trick, while tweaking your drum tracks in the Motif.
Let's say that your Drum Track (all drums on the same track) is on Track 10. You want to change the Snare Drum that is on Note E1 to the Snare Drum that is on D1 throughout the track.

1. To do this you will use the Transpose Job in Song Mode.
2. While in Song Mode, push [JOB]. And then push [F2] for NOTE.
   
3. Select 05:TRANSPOSE and push [ENTER].
   
4. Move the cursor to highlight Track10, and then select the length of the track area that you want to change the snare drum in. (Ex. If it's the whole track, then go all the way to Measure 999.)
   
5. Chose the Note area. The first note name indicated is the Lowest note to be effected and the second note indicated is the Highest note to be effected (the default is C-2 to G8). Make the Low and High note limit the note of the Snare Drum you have already recorded, E1 (change it to this; this E1 - E1). You are making the Low and High notes the same so that only ONE note (the one you want to change, will be transposed.
   
6. Transpose down -2 (semitones or half-steps) to make the new Snare Drum played by the track (D1) and push [ENTER].

Your drum track should now be playing the Snare Drum on D1 instead of E1. If you want to change the track back to the way it was, simply push [JOB] and [F1] Undo.
Until next month . . .

Happy Sequencing!