MIDI Note length from drum triggers problem using EmulatorX

[stewk]

Hi There,

I apologise in advance if this is a stupid or obvious question. I have an EmulatorX Studio (with the 1820m). I have a couple of drum triggers connected via an Alesis D4 to Cubase LE, the D4 is acting only as a trigger to MIDI converter. I want to be able to trigger samples in EmulatorX as a VSTi in Cubase LE however when I set it up, only about 1 in 9 hits of the trigger generate a sound. I can see the input flashing on the channel number in EmulatorX ok for every hit but no sound every time. If I select another VST instrument it plays every trigger fine. Am I missing something really obvious here? I have tried to do the same in Sonar LE and I get the same results, which makes me think it is something to do with the EmulatorX setup rather than the sequencing software.

I have looked a bit deeper and if I connect a midi keyboard up and use that, then all is ok, however looking at the note lengths in Cubase shows that the keyboard note lengths are all long enough to trigger the sounds but some of the drum trigger inputs although present, they have virtually no length. If I manually lengthen the note then it plays ok on playback within Cubase LE.
Is there a way to automatically lengthen the notes for each trigger input.

The recorded midi notes from the trigger pad are very very short and are not triggering the emulatorx VSTi or indeed when running it standalone. however if I switch to another VSTi such as the LM-7 within CubaseLE all is fine. (It is the same in SonarLE). If I manually lengthen the notes then it plays back ok, but I need it to trigger as I hit the pad live. I have looked but cannot see how to automatically lengthen every midi note as it comes in, OR, make the EmulatorX recognise the short MIDI notes, OR get my Alesis D4 to transmit longer MIDI notes.

Can anyone out there help?

regards

Stewk