Mods, feel free to curse me as I’m new. While I didn’t find any posts regarding this issue using the search function in the forums, it is likely staring me in the face. But hey, that’s why we pay you the big bucks, right? 
Ok, here goes nothing…
I use Cubase 5. I have Battery 3. I have Guru. I have tons of independent Drum samples. I’m trying to determine the best, most workflow friendly way to set up drums, layer them, compress them, (in groups and individually or both), and generally tweak them as anyone with an obsessive compulsion for control would want to do. The method employed in the Dubstep vids on this site are great, if I had a nice and tidy little package of drum sounds for every track I want to do all laid out and ready to rock. I don’t. I have heaps of folders full of sampled drum sounds which need layering and tweaking. Problem 1: Layering in Groove Agent One is not intuitive. When I drag a sample on top of a pad which already contains a sample in the Groove Agent One, It adds the second sample like a split pad. Meaning, velocities below halfway trigger one sound, and velocities above half trigger the other. No Bueno. Problem Deux: The autoplay function both in the pool, and the import window into the pool (which is the way that was shown to get samples into the GAO in the tut vids) doesn’t let me preview the sample! It appears to play the sample’s sound (according to the on-screen indicators), but no sound comes out. My suspicion is this: that for some reason the importer wants to run off some sound card other than the ASIO driver setup that I use in Cubase. And since Cubase is still in the foreground for this little operation, NO SOUND. This is an absolute workflow MURDERER. I just wanna kick some beats. Little wob wob, little wicka wicka. Not search for hours, guessing at which sounds will be nice together only to determine once imported that they sound like $h!t together. You understand my plight then. So, I try Battery, right? Love everything, except that when I go to dissolve my drum track into its individual parts, Battery gives an error: “Could not allocate enough DFD memory (not enough memory available)! Audio engine will be stopped!” I’ve googled this problem into oblivion. I’ve adjusted DFD settings. I’ve lowered sample rates. I’ve got a decent computer (3 gigs of Ram, 2.0 ghz duo core AMD Turion Processor, 32 bit Vista, 250 gig HDD, etc) and while I understand that only 2 gigs of RAM show up in a 32 bit operating system, (and that dissolving a drum track this way loads multiple instances of Battery) Battery just can’t suck that much juice. Its an error, straight up. And I can’t fix it. So, scratch Battery. Anyways, I don’t care what I have to use. I just want the absolute best and most control-enabling situation. :) If I have to switch to Ableton, I’ll do it. If I have to use Guru, Tattoo, etc etc, I’ll do it. I’d really just like to have a way for Groove Agent One to work properly, and be able to layer somehow, but I don’t know if that’s in the cards. I’m just sick of attacking this situation all by my lonesome, when I’m paying for your guys’ help. So, you taught me how and why to be more discerning in my drum adjustments, now please, pretty please, show me a way to put all that knowledge into action. I’m going nuts over here.
Sincerely,
-Syndicate