Programming Drums

[Johnny Mac]

What's the best way to program drums? Clicking in the grid on midi piano roll? I've got loads of midi files for drums but they never give you exactly what your after, you have to fit things around them.
I'm using superior drummer 2 and battery.

[_tom_]

Yep I do mine by clicking in the individual fills in the piano roll. Takes a while but when you get used to it you can put good drum tracks together quite quickly :)

[Johnny Mac]

Thanks Tom. I'll have to have a practise as I'm not getting the best out of the drum programs I've got.

[Transcend]

If you have tabbed the song in gutiar pro then it is far quicker to do the drum programming in guitar pro as then you have the exact time signatures/tempo switches etc to work along with.

I then tweak the midi in the piano roll for velocities grace notes etc.

[Keven]

i do pretty much the same as toe-knee except i use sonar's built in staff editor instead of GP.

[nfe]

I just use BFD2 and bash away. It's intuitive and easy as hell to put stuff together extremely quickly.

Sounds the best, too.

[MDV]

Beat by beat in the MIDI grid. Superior 2.

With C&P where apropriate, obviously.

[Johnny Mac]

Thanks for all the tips!  :D

[Deadstar]

Best way is using an electronic kit to trigger your drum program as you're getting a more natural performance eg:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/833131/Jazz%20drum%20test%20bounce4.wav

That's a example of the Jazz brush kit in Addictive drums.
Failing that a soft pad trig device or even midi keyboard would do for the basic loops and fills just editing them to make them tighter.

If you can play drums and can't afford the electronic route try something like Protrig:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4T-cTz0xA4

That's a bit silly but gives an impression of what you can do.

[_tom_]

That Protrig video has to be fake? Seems way too good for such a minimal setup!

[Deadstar]

Yeah it most likely is considering how ridiculous the video is but you you would be surprised what you can do with simple little setups, like cheap piezo mics attached to jacks.

Personally I program them manually and add groove patterns and randomisation subtleties using the humanize function in Logic to get it feeling a little more natural. I'm currently making my own presets of the small parts of the premade beats that contain things that are are little harder to program in like snare rolls, flams and such.

[Davey]

Question ..

anyone familiar with Fruity Loops and EZ Drummer?
we're writing a song that we split in 12 individual patterns.. i'd like to know, is it possible to assign a different tempo to each individual pattern, or is that linked to the song as a whole?

[Transcend]

erm im not sure how to do it in fuirty loops

but you should be able to set the project tempo

then set the tempo changes where they need to be along the ruler.

If you were using reaper i would be able to guide you better

[Davey]

found out... you have to set an automation clip at the desired timeline..

tempo -> edit events -> check where you want the different tempo -> click on the desired tempo -> save as automation clip and then just move it around :)

[Frank]

Steinberg Groove Agent is pretty good when you get your head round it. Lets you automate fills and patterns then either use the built-in kits (which aren't bad) or output MIDI to a part in Cubase and send it to another drum sampler. Groove Agent patterns triggering Battery kits sound pretty good.