Using BFD 3.5 with a midi keyboard and Push 2. Keymaps

BFD3 General Discussion
1

Hi

BFD 3.5
Arturia Keystep 37
Push 2
Ableton Live 12.1
Mac Mini M1
Ventura 13.5

I’m a new user and I’ve not got any e-drums. I have looked around and it Keymaps seem to be the way to map your own configuration, but I was surprised that 3.5 doesn’t seem to have a key map for each key of the keyboard in sequence by default.

I’ve switched to the General MIDI keymap, I’m using an Arturia Keystep 37, and I’m expecting this would match that. However, when I got through presets I find that some keys don’t play any drums, I thought that perhaps some keys were just not mapped but it seems random i.e. one preset will have different ‘dead’ keys than others. There’s no consistent mapping, the first kick is usually the same but after it seems it can be any keys in any order. This makes it very difficult to learn to play as it changes from preset to preset.

Have I set this up incorrectly? Is there a step I’m missing? I’ve looked around in the manual and the forums and I can’t find much on this specific topic, which I was surprised about. Perhaps most users have e-drums. Apologies if it’s already been answered.

I’ve also got a Push 2 which I would like to map but the thought of mapping every button to a preset and have it be different on another preset doesn’t sound appealing.

Thanks

[edit: I’ve figured this out and posted a reply but because I’m new I’m waiting for admins to approve. In short, click ‘auto map’ in the midi map chooser. I’ll have to create a custom keymap for Push 2 though.]

2

Ok, after looking at the manual again I’ve found the answer in the following section. I don’t know how I missed this before… :beers:

See 2.5 MIDI Key and Automation Mapping

After reading this again and going back to the setttings I found that if you click Auto Map (it turns blue when enabled), when selecting a Keymap then it actually appears to use the Keymap. I think it loads the Keymap but doesn’t actually change the settings otherwise. There are still some slightly different mappings but it’s pretty consistent so far and at least the white keys are all playing something.

Screenshot 2025-03-16 at 15.06.58
Screenshot 2025-03-16 at 15.06.581172×739 126 KB

3

I’ve made a midi Keymap for the Push 2. Attaching it here in case anyone wants it.

I’ve started the mapping on C1 rather than B0 as I like to have access to both kick drums and shifting an octave down to get to B0 makes the positioning more awkward.

Other than that I’ve just mapped everything to the white keys in the same order. I’ve done some basic testing and that works pretty well for me. I had to zip the JSON file as uploads of JSON aren’t allowed on this forum.

bfd-midi-map_Push 2.JSON.zip (966 Bytes)