There were some requests for a tutorial on how to play with Freedrum on Windows. So here it comes, a step-by-step guide about how you connect Freedrum to your Windows computer and the free DAW software “Reaper”
Credits also go to Fredrik from Freedrum, HeidisGrandpa and others.
Requirements:
- Your Freedrum sensors
(You need to connect the foot sensors to the Sensorware App on iOS or Android to set them as “foot” first) - Win 10 recommended (not sure about Win 8.1)
- An internal or external bluetooth adapter, capable of BLE (bluetooth low energy)
Downloads:
- Korg BLE-MIDI driver: http://www.korg.com/us/support/download/driver/0/551/2886/
- Reaper: https://www.reaper.fm/download.php (officially the test version is valid for 60 days (can be used even longer), but make sure to support the developer by buying the software if you like it!)
- MT Power Drumkit 2: http://www.powerdrumkit.com/download76187.php (any other free drum VST should work too)
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I. Installation:
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Download and install the BLE driver and Reaper from above, follow the instructions. Download the zip file of MT Power Drumkit 2. Restart might be necessary.
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From the zip copy the two files MT-PowerDrumKit.dll and MT-PowerDrumKit-Content.pdk to your Reaper plugin subfolder. In my case it is located here: C:\Program Files\REAPER (x64)\Plugins
II. Setup:
- Connect your Freedrum Sensors. Open the windows options Devices/ Bluetooth and other devices and click the Plus button. Select Bluetooth and connect to your sensors, one after another.
- They should then appear below under “Other devices” as FD1 xx (depending on the firmware version)
Their LED might blink blue in changing intervals, it’s fine as long as they are stated as “Connected”…
- Start Reaper. Go to Options/ Preferences (or press Ctrl+P). Go to Audio/ MIDI Devices. If the sensors are connected to your device properly, they should appear in the lists. Right click each of the 2 or 4 sensors and click “enable input” - you can also rename them if you like. Click “OK”
- Back in Reaper’s main window click on Track/ Insert track (or press Ctrl+T). A new audio track will appear, which you will now configure as your drumkit track.
First, click on “Input” and choose Input: MIDI/ All MIDI Inputs/ All Channels. Your Freedrum sensors are now the chosen Input devices for this track.
- Enable the drum plugin (VST). In your track click on “FX” and select VSTi: MT-PowerDrumkit…. Click on “Skip” in the right lower corner and consider a donation if you like the software!
If you can’t find the plugin in the list, go back to options again (Ctrl+P) and under Plug-ins/ VST click on “Auto-detect” and/or “Re-scan”. Try 6. again.
- Last step: Enable and activate the track. Click on the red “Record” button once to arm and right click on the same button again to activate “Monitor Input”.
You should now be able to hear the drumsounds coming from your Freedrum!