General Queries
At its most basic, TrollDrum is sequencer that plays the percussions of MIDI files iPhone or iPod Touch. Things get more interesting when you begin exploring tempo adjusment, segment looping and related facilities for musicians.
An iPhone or iPod Touch, updated to be running at least the 2.1 version of the operating system.
If you are uncertain, check your device's version through the Settings::General::About on the phone, next to Version. You can update the device through iTunes if necessary.
If your device meets the requirements (basically an up-to-date iPhone or iPod Touch), installation is easy.
Simply go to the download page or head to the iTunes App Store, and search for "TrollDrum".
No, not to play your tracks.
Anything to do with the Connector, which is where you go for new tracks and such, will require network access.
You can of course access all your installed pieces without connectivity at any time.
If you are going to be using any of the network-related functions, you need to ensure it is enable prior to launching TrollDrum.
You enable this the same way as for any network access, like when you use the Safari browser to see web pages, for instance by going to Settings::Wi-Fi and switching the Wi-Fi button on.
No but you will need one to install additional tracks. The answer is similar to the above question about network access.
The Connector and everything that goes with it such as the groups and track imports will require an account. But it's free, and the setup is a simple one step process.
Your account is yours to keep and use as you see fit, though anyone found to be abusing the system, disturbing other users, generally acting in an uncivilized manner or otherwise not following the rules of conduct may see their account disabled.
This isn't likely to be of great concern to most anyone, but we thought it should be mentioned ;-)
There aren't any additional fees. We may, at the behest of TrollDrum users, offer additional services for a nominal fee but these will not be mandatory for the foreseeable future.
TrollDrum site users are expected to behave in a civilized manner, and that's pretty much it.
Abuse of the system, harassment of other users, content of an inflammatory or derogatory nature may be removed and could lead to account suspension or termination at our discretion.
In short the "rules" are:
- Users can have one account per device.
- Users don't have to join groups, post reviews or use the site at all but if they
do they are expected to play nice.
- Injection of content with malicious intent (e.g. uploading invalid or misrepresented tracks) is a definite account killer.
- Abuse of system resources for unintended purposes will kill the site, and thus won't be tolerated.
Whatever you like, as long as
- it's valid music data (MIDI files of format 0 or 1),
- it is correctly represented--the file must contain what you say it does while uploading
- you have the right to upload it--you created the rendition of this song, or have the right to post it here
- you actually agree to have it hosted by TrollDrum and available through the group
This means that TrollDrum has received a warning from the iPhone OS that the RAM is mostly used up. Safari, Mail and the Ipod apps all run in the background, using up memory that TrollDrum or other applications may need.
If you receive this error message, you can choose to ignore it and it may go away. If it keeps popping up, the application is at risk of being forcefully terminated by the iPhone, so it may a good time to restart your device.
You can restart your iPhone by holding the sleep/wake button for several seconds until you are prompted to shut down your iPhone with a red slider. After the iPhone appears to be powered off, wait a moment. Then hold the sleep/wake button for a few seconds and your iPhone should restart. Apple provides their own iPhone Troubleshooting Assistant which describes how to restart your iPhone and more.
Finally, TrollDrum itself can in some instances use lots of memory too. Other than a few "special" apps like Mail, the iPhone is designed to run one single program at a time.
But TrollDrum with its multiple tabs, each of which can be drilled down many levels, acts almost like 4 applications at one and can place high demands on the system--especially if you are using lots of images/web content. For instance, if you are logged into the Connector, have the current location displayed in the Locator tab, are editing a station and a log entry all at once you may also get memory warnings.
In this instance, the best thing is to go back to the top level of the tabs you aren't using by double tapping the tab icon at the bottom of the view and then switch back to the tab with the task at hand.
This is a common problem with many applications for certain devices. It may be corrected by restarting the iPhone/iPod (as described above).
If that doesn't solve the issue, try the methods described in this Apple iPhone Support thread.
MIDI, the Musical Instrument Digital Interface is an age-old (in computer time, anyway) protocol for communication between musical instruments.
The Standard MIDI File (SMF) format, is a way to collect these MIDI messages into a file so they can be resent to sequencers and other MIDI-compatible devices later.
There are zillions (well... lots) of MIDI files available on the Internet, and creating your own is pretty easy using the right software.
To create a MIDI file, you'll need a MIDI Sequencer running on your desktop computer. Such a program will allow you to manipulate the piece, note by note.
You will need a program that can create General MIDI tracks and save them in Standard MIDI Format files (format 0 or 1).
You can also use a drum-specific sequencer, such as the Hydrogen drum machine (for GNU/Linux), which can export your creations as MIDI files.
Many programs exist to do this, you can check this list or just do a g00gle search.
The important thing to remember is to save the files as standard midi, ensuring the drum track is on its normal channel (MIDI channel 10), and keeping wav samples or other extra info out of the files (to keep them small and because it will be ignored anyway).
The troll-drum was a drum used by the Sami (indigenous people of northern Europe) shaman in magical rites.
Troll-drums have a rich and interesting history, so much so, that we've devoted an entire page to them. Check it out!
