Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

Here's what I'd like to do:  Assign pads 1-8 to
differant MIDI channels and then play the song and
record the drum kit with each DTX pad sending MIDI
data to an assigned MIDI channel in Cakewalk Pro 
Audio 6.0.  Then have Cakewalk play back the
multi-channel MIDI 
sequence through the DTX brain and still be able to
set individual pad 
values for voice, pitch, velocity, pan, etc. 
First of all: This is actually possible...Right?

- Yes it's possible - but not with SysEx. This is a
way of transmitting & receiving bulk data. In other
words, you can save user kits, songs and triggers to a
PC and load 'em up again later. 

To record the kit to different channels in Cakewalk
(or any MIDI sequencer), you first need to set the
channel for each pad from the Voice menu. The page is
KIT IN=pad 1  V=1  Ch=10  Gate=0.3s
Hit each pad in turn and change the channel parameter
to the one you want. Use something like MIDI Monitor
(in the Files section) to check the values coming in
to the PC when you hit each pad.
Don't forget that this setting applies only to the
Voice layer you have showing, ie. if the display says
V=1 when you change the channel, this will only affect
the voice on Layer 1. If you have 2 voices on a pad,
you'll need to change the channel on both V=1 & V=2.

Playing back thru the brain is a bit more touch and
go. The DTXpress has some strange habits in this area
(check earlier posts..). 
For now, see how you get on and post any specific
problems when you get 'em.

Good Luck!

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