DrumPi Studio Documentation​
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1. Why DrumPi Studio
​DrumPi version 0.9 introduced one of the most requested features: the ability to import your own sounds.
Since DrumPi supports multi-velocity and multi-microphone samples, we needed dedicated software to handle large sets of WAV files, organize them, and let you tweak some parameters.
For example, a decent snare sound can easily be made up of hundreds of files. We couldn’t just let you upload all those WAV files through DrumPi's web interface and hope for the best — we needed graphical software to visualize the samples, check their alignment, review how their tails are cut, and fine-tune details like that.
That’s why we created DrumPi Studio — a desktop app specifically designed to build layered sounds for DrumPi.
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We have two ways to create a DrumPi sound from WAV files:
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Individual files: providing every single hit and every microphone as a separate WAV file.
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Long audio tracks: one long audio file per microphone, recorded continuously during the sampling stage — essentially what you’d get in a recording studio.
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We’ll start with the first method, which is probably the most common. Typically, you either buy WAV files from dedicated websites or extract them from your VST — as long as everything has been regularly purchased and licensed.
In the next section, we’ll walk through the creation and import of a new sound from beginning to end.
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2a. Loading pre-cut samples (multiple files per mic)
If you’ve purchased your samples from somewhere, or you’ve extracted them from your VST, you probably already have hundreds of small WAV files — one for each hit (velocity) and for each microphone.
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It’s important that you number the files consistently, for example:
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top-1.wav, top-2.wav, top-3.wav …
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bottom-1.wav, bottom-2.wav, bottom-3.wav …
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overheads-1.wav, overheads-2.wav, overheads-3.wav …
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room-1.wav, room-2.wav, room-3.wav …
Steps:
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Click Add and multi-select all the top-*.wav files.
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Repeat for each microphone (bottom, overheads, room, etc.).
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Don’t worry if the files have slightly different lengths — DrumPi Studio will automatically align them.
And so, every time you click Add to load a bunch of WAV files, you’re actually adding a new track — which in practice corresponds to another microphone used for the drum in question.
2b. Loading long recorded tracks (multi-mic, uncut WAVs)
In this mode, every file you add with Add contains all the hits for a specific microphone.
Because you're providing all the hits for a microphone in one long file, you need to specify where each hits starts, DrumPi Studio will then automatically calculate where it ends (we'll see these steps in a moment).
So, for example, a snare sound might composed of:
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top.wav
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bottom.wav
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overheads.wav
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room.wav
Steps:
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Click Add and load one of your WAVs (start with top.wav).
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This file will be used as a reference track.
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Hold Ctrl and click on the waveform to mark the start of each hit.
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I suggest zooming in on the waveform (Ctrl+scroll) to place the marker at the very beginning. If you’re not accurate in this step, the result will be compromised: place the marker too early and you’ll introduce latency, place it too late and you’ll cut the transient of the sound, which can also generate high-frequency garbage.
You don’t need to mark the end — DrumPi Studio will automatically detect it when the audio falls below the Silence dB threshold (adjustable in the interface).
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Each Ctrl+Click creates a new sample region.
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Select a region to preview it with the Space bar.
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Press Backspace to disable a region (it will be skipped during export).
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Right-click on a region to delete it entirely.
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3. Separation, Silence, and Fade-Out Explained
Whether you created your tracks using long files and marked all your hits (with Ctrl+click at the beginning of each waveform, shown as red region highlights), or you used the second approach — providing small WAV files that are already cut — you may want to adjust three parameters:
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Separation dB: defines how your samples are grouped. A higher value means fewer velocity layers, but each layer will contain more round robins. A lower value means more velocity layers, but each layer will contain fewer round robins.
As a rule of thumb, if you have more than four round robins per layer, you’ll avoid the typical “machine-gun” effect common in many drum modules. This is especially important for the top layer (max velocity 127), which is often repeated the most in genres like rock, pop, and metal. -
Silence dB: determines where the hits you marked at the beginning of each waveform should end. To avoid cutting waveforms too early, zoom in vertically (Alt+scroll) on the bigger waveforms and check whether the silence dB setting allows them to finish naturally, or if they’re being cut off by the red region.
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Fade out: sets how many milliseconds before the end of the red region a fade-out will be applied.
Velocity layers and round robins
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DrumPi Studio automatically groups your samples by velocity.
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It also detects round robins (alternate hits with the same dynamic level).
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For example, if you have four hits at a very similar dB level, they’ll be grouped as 4 round robins for that velocity.
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You can adjust how strict this grouping is with the Separation dB parameter.
At the bottom of the window, you’ll see a chart showing how your samples are distributed across velocity layers, along with the number of variations available for each.
​A well-sampled drum would look something like this:​
You can select the mixer input where this track will be routed.
You can also adjust the pregain of this track, but you can totally do this afterwards, from drumpi's web interface.
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You have enough round robins at maximum velocity (in this case, 5).
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You also have enough round robins at the lowest velocity (3).
Transient shaping
You might want to play with the Transient Attack and Transient Duration parameters.
They help smooth out transients when hits are very close together in time — for example, during a press roll.
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If your press roll sounds too mechanical or artificial, try:
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Transient Duration between 0 and 0.01
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Transient Attack set to 1
This will smooth out the roll and make it sound more natural.
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Be careful not to overdo it:
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For example, setting Transient Duration to 0.1 will “eat” into the roll and make it muddy.
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Saving and Exporting your work
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You can save your work at any time by clicking Save. This lets you continue editing later without losing progress.
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Once you’re happy with your setup, you can export your work as a single file.
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This exported file can then be imported directly into DrumPi via the web interface.
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Keyboard & Mouse Shortcuts
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Ctrl + Click → mark the start of a new hit/sample.
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Right-click → delete a previously created region.
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Space bar → play the selected region.
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Backspace → disable the selected region (excluded from export).
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Ctrl + Scroll → zoom horizontally.
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Alt + Scroll → zoom vertically.
​4. Exporting a DrumPi sound
Once you're satisfied with the additions and adjustments, you can click Export. This will generate a *.sound-zip file containing all the information needed for use in DrumPi itself:
​5. Importing a DrumPi sound
With your newly created *.sound-zip file, go to the Kits section in DrumPi’s web interface.
Click Edit on the kit you want to add your sound to:
“Your new sound is now available for mapping and will appear alongside the others.”