I've owned MT for a while but haven't learned the ins & outs. I generally am pretty bad at programming beats and I want to start learning.

I am wondering if there's a consensual way to use the channels in drum apps. For instance, should I reserve channel 1 for kick, channel 2 as snare, etc.?

I'm browsing the presets and channel 1 doesn't always sound like a kick.

I would like to develop a consistent set so that I can use the same beat patterns with slightly different sounding kits. That is, I would like to always have Ch 1 = kick, Ch 2 = snare (or whatever... it doesn't matter as long as it's consistent and I know what it is).

I feel like this will make my learning and programming (and auditioning kits) faster.

cheers!

Interesting subject. I tried to establish some kind of convention when I made my factory presets, but I didn't enforce other patch designers to follow it. This is how I try to arrange my channels:

1. Bass drum (BD)
2. Bass sounds / low toms / low percussion
3. Other synth sounds / mid toms / mid percussion
4. Clap / cowbell / rimshot
5. Main snare drum (SD)
6. Alternative snare drum / rimshot / high toms / high percussion
7. Closed hi-hat (CH) / tambourines / shakers
8. Open hi-hat (OH) / cymbals (CY)
   
   

As you might notice, I try to place low-frequency sounds on lower channel numbers and high-frequency sounds on higher channel numbers.

I even wrote a script that uses some AI techniques (neural nets!) to figure out the category of each drum in a preset and tries to rearrange the channels according to these conventions. See here: http://soniccharge.com/forum/topic/54-first-script-package-for-microtonic