The downside to EZ Drummer is that you have to keep buying midi packs and drumkits, but it is really good for daily woodshed.
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Considering move from Win to Mac for my home studio - questions
- Thread starter pfschim
- Start date
well, if I can get just one good sounding set and there are decent premade grooves that are not too hard to modify, I should be good. I used the iDrum app for 12 years or so without ever wanting more sounds or grooves.
Here are a couple suggestions
DM1 For Mac | Fingerlab
Drum Beats+ Metronome App for Drummers, Guitarists & More
DM1 For Mac | Fingerlab
Drum Beats+ Metronome App for Drummers, Guitarists & More
Ditto. I always advise people to skip GB and go straight to Logic. It's better in every conceivable way, and for the $ you simply can't go wrong. I'm a Logic guy of 20+ years and GB is frankly, a really weird UI if you ask me - does not resemble the workflow of a real "studio" or even most other DAWs. It's just awkward.Same, and I say that as a Logic user which some refer to as “GarageBand Pro.”
OP I know you don't want to fire up a DAW to practice, but man, for $200 Logic is ridiculous bang for buck. All you gotta do is make a template for your practice setup with whatever virtual drums you want. The stock Logic kits are better than ever, and you can just use the Logic Drummer feature and not have to program grooves if you don't want to (FWIW I used to use iDrum ages ago--trust me this is not only way more flexible but just as easy). Then just double click that template file and launch it and you're off to the races, easy peasy.
Of course you can add something like EZ Drummer once you feel you want more options (I use EZ Drummer every day--despite the silly name it is a "pro" product).
well, I have used Windows for recording and other musical stuff for decades without any meaningful issues. But as I mentioned in my OP, my current laptop has started to glitch randomly. This is possibly the result of a recent Win 11 update, but I'm not really sure. TBH, I'd just as soon stay on Win as I'm a bit more comfortable with the workflow there. Just considering the options.Considering move from Win to Mac for my home studio . . .
If not yet, try free Ccleaner and clean all registry files. Windows Diskcleanup is also good for removing garbage left from win updates.
If nothing improves, update bios, format, go back to win10, do minimal installation of latest hardware drivers then minimal software installation. This is what I would do.
If nothing improves, update bios, format, go back to win10, do minimal installation of latest hardware drivers then minimal software installation. This is what I would do.
I use a modified version of Windows 10 strictly for my DAW. It strips out everything you don't need..telemetry etc. If you are comfortable with Power Shell, it is pretty easy to do.
follow up to my OP.
I went ahead and got Logic Pro for the Macbook. It works but there is definitely going to be a learning curve for me on Logic. It comes up with all kinds of stuff that I'm not clear on. I just want a multi-track environment. Guess its time for a few tutorials.
I went ahead and got Logic Pro for the Macbook. It works but there is definitely going to be a learning curve for me on Logic. It comes up with all kinds of stuff that I'm not clear on. I just want a multi-track environment. Guess its time for a few tutorials.
That's what I use it for 99% of the time. It's easy to ignore all of the additional stuff that it comes with. It's good to familiarize yourself with all/most of it so you'll know what tools you already have available, but none of it is mandatory.
DM1
Beat Scholar
Loop Synth
Band Creator Lite
Drummy
And a host of others are up on the App Store. Did you search the App Store for "Drum Machine"?
Beat Scholar
Loop Synth
Band Creator Lite
Drummy
And a host of others are up on the App Store. Did you search the App Store for "Drum Machine"?
The default view when you open it is the arrange page. I’m not sure what you would need beyond that. Press X and it brings up the mixer.
yes, and I did find some that may have fit my needs, but it did not seem like I I could really determine that without purchasing .. which I did not want to do.
The descriptions on the App Store were pretty bad and there were no "demo" links that I could see.
Already committed to working with Logic Pro at this point.
ha! funny. I've been doing personal audio stuff on Windows since the mid 80's. And if you want really scary, I ran Cakewalk on MS-DOS before thatConsidering move from Win to Mac for my home studio . . .
I have done some audio stuff on Mac, as well as Linux in the past. I happen to have been gifted an M1 Macbook Air and wanted to see if I could re-adjust myself to MacOS workflow. It's actually going pretty well other than general learning curve ..... and Finder .. geez! ... I'm having pretty serious brain lock trying to use Finder as a file manager/navigator.
update on my ongoing Logic/MacOS journey
I finally did some client work on the new (to me) system. Very simple, but very representative piece of work. I got an MP3 guide track from a songwriter I regularly work with. I put it in a Logic audio track then set up another audio track and created a bass line for his song. All good, although I have to say that Logic does a count/click in that is not even sort of related to the tempo of the guide track ... weird. Once I was satisfied with the track I went to Render them together as both MP3 and WAV. I'm used to the term Render for this, so figuring out Bounce took a minute (geez, workflow and terms) but it went fine. Sent them off to the client and he was as happy with it as my usual Win/Reaper output (no surprise really). I feel like I have much more learning curve to go on the Mac/Logic system, but I was at least able to do a piece of normal work without too many challenges.
Question to you who are more familiar with Logic: It seems as if I could use the automated Drummer capability to thow in a drummer/percussion track. But for the life of me, I could not figure it out without seeking a manual or tutorial. Can anyone give me some pointers on that. It's not a hugely important thing for me, but I could be very useful in other client work.
thanks!
I finally did some client work on the new (to me) system. Very simple, but very representative piece of work. I got an MP3 guide track from a songwriter I regularly work with. I put it in a Logic audio track then set up another audio track and created a bass line for his song. All good, although I have to say that Logic does a count/click in that is not even sort of related to the tempo of the guide track ... weird. Once I was satisfied with the track I went to Render them together as both MP3 and WAV. I'm used to the term Render for this, so figuring out Bounce took a minute (geez, workflow and terms) but it went fine. Sent them off to the client and he was as happy with it as my usual Win/Reaper output (no surprise really). I feel like I have much more learning curve to go on the Mac/Logic system, but I was at least able to do a piece of normal work without too many challenges.
Question to you who are more familiar with Logic: It seems as if I could use the automated Drummer capability to thow in a drummer/percussion track. But for the life of me, I could not figure it out without seeking a manual or tutorial. Can anyone give me some pointers on that. It's not a hugely important thing for me, but I could be very useful in other client work.
thanks!
That’s set by the session tempo, not any of the tracks. There are tools within Logic that work like Beat Detective to analyze a track and calculate a tempo that attempts to match the recorded material. I don’t remember what it’s called as I haven’t used it in years.
Create a new track, specify the type as Drummer and you should see where to go from there. The tempo guidance above will be reflected in the drummer’s playback, so get that right first.
