Programming Drums

[DustinAR]

I have some ideas that I want to start demoing out at home. I use logic express to track my guitars, bass, and whatnot, but what are some programs or plug ins(preferrably free) that are easy to program drums with? I'm by no means a drummer, so any help would be appreciated if anyone knows of any good how-to links also. Just basically want to help flesh out my ideas a little more at home.

[tombhex]

I'm going to stay tuned on this thread for sure... I have no idea how to program drums and it's been keeping me from properly writing songs for ages.

[Corey Y]

If you've got Logic, you should be able to just use one of the software instruments. Some of them have a sequencer built in to the interface, some you need to use the piano roll to sequence the midi. They all use a very familiar input, similar to FruityLoops and lots of other midi programming interfaces. Different rows for different voices (kick, snare, tom, etc.) and different columns for subdivided beats/measures. If you go on YouTube there's bound to be a lot of various tutorials. Just type "Logic drum programming" or something similar into the search bar. There are better options for different drum sounds, but that should get you going quickly.

If it were in person I'd open up the program and show you how to do it, it's a lot harder to walk you through in text form though.

[Corey Y]

Here's one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iS5q8as2VI

Most of these are going to be electronic/dance music related, since it's midi drums, but the general principles are all applicable. This is using Ultrabeat, which should have come bundled in with Logic. Not entirely sure, as I have the full Logic "Pro" and not "Express", but it's a pretty basic midi drum sequencer. Everything he's talking about when it comes to sequencing beats applies to the Piano Roll and most other midi sequencing interfaces. If you have a general idea of how drum beats are constructed, you should have no problem getting it roughed out. You can always go back and work on finding the right sounds, "humanizing" it a bit, mixing and all of that later. The Multi Output part may not be applicable to what you want to do yet, if you're not already adept at mixing drums, but it's good to know about.

[zachoff]

For a while I could drag & drop drums into Reaper from EZ Drummer and it was awesome.  Now I can drag & drop and the little snippet of drum beat shows up in Reaper, but I can't get sound from it.  No idea what happened to break that but I'll figure it out someday.

IMO, EZ Drummer has the most "real" sounding drums that I've heard FWIW.  Plus they have a bunch of different kit plugins that are pretty cool.

[liquidsmoke]

I can ask my friend what he uses, he recently finished a full solo album on his computer using a program for the drums. I'd go this route myself if I couldn't get a band going. He did it just to have complete creative control when between live bands and I've got to say that most of it is pretty good and a few of the songs are exceptional in my opinion even though the drums don't sound that real.

[chlorpromazine]

I'll record some loops for you if you want.

[AgentofOblivion]

If you have Reaper and EZ Drummer then you're set.  Just start a new MIDI track and map out your drums on that.  Pull up EZ Drummer as a VSTi in the FX.  Done.

[fallen]

Whatever program you get I'd also plug in a keyboard or a cheap Korg midi-pad thing so you can make your first pass on the beats by playing them in with your fingers.

Even if you are terrible at drums if you just play the bass/snare with your fingers in time or way out of time it doesn't matter. Once it's midi you can quantize it all and then play in a track of crash cymbals etc. Makes it go way faster and doesn't sound as fake as a 2 bar beat looped over and over.

[zachoff]

If you have Reaper and EZ Drummer then you're set.  Just start a new MIDI track and map out your drums on that.  Pull up EZ Drummer as a VSTi in the FX.  Done.

Maybe that's my problem... I'm just adding a regular track & not midi.  Hmm.

[Lumpy]

In some programs, you can convert an audio loop into a midi track.

There's also a function that adds "slop" to your beats (in some programs) so the beats don't seem so mechanical. That would be the easiest way.

[AgentofOblivion]

If you have Reaper and EZ Drummer then you're set.  Just start a new MIDI track and map out your drums on that.  Pull up EZ Drummer as a VSTi in the FX.  Done.

Maybe that's my problem... I'm just adding a regular track & not midi.  Hmm.

Yeah, just insert a new Midi track.  You'll have to drag it to make it large and that can be a bit of a pain because if you click in one spot it will loop the small midi portion, but if you click somewhere else it will let you make the midi scroll longer, which is what you want to do.  Once you assign EZ Drummer in the FX you're good to go.  I'm sure there are countless tutorials online.

[everdrone]

I used ezdrummer for years with reaper, on sale it costs $70

I now have superior2.0 with metal foundry and think it is the bees knees: http://www.toontrack.com/products.asp?item=51

[AgentofOblivion]

I used ezdrummer for years with reaper, on sale it costs $70

I now have superior2.0 with metal foundry and think it is the bees knees: http://www.toontrack.com/products.asp?item=51

That's what I use now too.

[VOLVO)))]

There's some fake drums in this.

[Corey Y]

I used ezdrummer for years with reaper, on sale it costs $70

I now have superior2.0 with metal foundry and think it is the bees knees: http://www.toontrack.com/products.asp?item=51

+1, I use SD2 for all the Mental Waste stuff and whenever I'm working out arrangements for my own music at home.

[Lumpy]

What's the advantage of Superior Drummer over EZ Drummer? My quick overview was that you have more control over the drum sounds in Superior. But since I don't know anything about drums, I figured that wouldn't be a plus for me.

[everdrone]

cool, stoked to be in the ezdrummer/SD2 club

What's the advantage of Superior Drummer over EZ Drummer? My quick overview was that you have more control over the drum sounds in Superior. But since I don't know anything about drums, I figured that wouldn't be a plus for me.

the main thing that makes it better is that the samples are really good and the equalizing is done by the pros so you have presets.  costs a lot more than $70 tho and you wont get the benefit of it if you are not good at mixing.  I am beginner/intermediate at mixing so I am starting to see the results of super2 and recommend it! 

bottom line:

for beginners or people not interested in mixing = I recommend ezdrummer cause it is cheap

for intermediate or pro engineers = I recommend superior2 and metalfoundry

[zachoff]

How's the metal foundry kit (or drum kit from hell) compare to the vintage rock kit?  I'm a superfan loose & thumpy vs tight & punchy so the vintage rock kit makes me think I'll like it more.  I was thinking about buying it but haven't yet because I lost the ability to edit w/in Reaper.

[AgentofOblivion]

If you have an existing alternative that sounds reasonable, I wouldn't recommend upgrading unless you're planning on putting them on something you're going to release.  If you're just mapping shit out at home to get a feel for the song I don't see much of a point of getting the best of the best sounding samples along with all the complicated tricks you can play with the mics.  Super Drummer sounds great, but it was given to me for free.  I was just as happy with EZ Drummer.  With all the compression/eq/reverb options in Reaper you can make any reasonable sample sound great/vintage/modern anyway. 

I recommend sticking with what you have and mapping out the Midi.  Once you get a feel for making stuff and mixing them, then you can decide if it's worth whatever the hell it costs to buy something better.  Then the Midi will already be done and you can just add a different plugin.