• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Do you program drums?

#21
pklima said:
Sure, loops for rehearsal convenience and for recordings. Right now I'm working on a track where I've got so far:

one kick being synthesized by a VST
two samples of synthesized snares layered together
four layered shakers - two acoustic samples and two synthesized samples
one other synth shaker sample in a separate layer
one sample of me smacking my double bass body with my knuckles
four miscellaneous drum patterns with an acoustic sample of an African drum layered with a vaguely similar synth drum sample
two different reversed cymbal samples
one synth hi-hat sample

So that adds up to 20 layers.

Pretty different from programming "drummer playing a drum kit" style drums - I do some of that sometimes too. Usually MT Power Drum Kit which was rereleased as a freebie last year - it's not the biggest but the most convenient, there's a lot of compression and EQ baked into the samples so it's got a "post-2000 rock drums" sound without much trouble. I have some much bigger kits, DrumMic'a which is over 4 GB and a Yamaha kit which is something like 1.7 GB, but don't use those nearly as much. For a lighter, more retro sound I have various small free kits. I don't like too much realism anyway.
Click to expand...

It's that constant and obsessive, "never-ending" process of finding new sounds.
What's interesting - the more you have the more you need.
 
  • Like
Reactions: pklima
#22
I think live drumming just gives a different vibe. Plus, at least in song writing, I think there's nothing like playing to get the right feel and coming up with the right parts at the right time.

For example, here's a bass track that I recorded.


Now what could I come up with programmed drums? Pretty sure it would sound lifeless and cold. I tried too.

So I played drums on it. And it sounds much better because it's all live.



It's not an end-all example, just thought the drums were much better because they have add some push-pull to the music.
 
Last edited:
#23
ArvindJayaram said:
I think live drumming just gives a different vibe. Plus, at least in song writing, I think there's nothing like playing to get the right feel and coming up with the right parts at the right time.

For example, here's a bass track that I recorded.


Now what could I come up with programmed drums? Pretty sure it would sound lifeless and cold. I tried too.

So I played drums on it. And it sounds much better because it's all live.



It's not an end-all example, just thought the drums were much better because they have add some push-pull to the music.
Click to expand...

That is a hilarious track because the guitars are keeping time! :laugh: Love it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ArvindJayaram
#24
I wrote this little song back when I was a sophomore in high school, a friend wrote the lyrics and sang. I recorded the whole thing with a sansamp para driver and Grant Henry from Stemage sent me some free drum samples (the free version of what he was using) at the time for me to program.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
#25
ArvindJayaram said:
I think live drumming just gives a different vibe. Plus, at least in song writing, I think there's nothing like playing to get the right feel and coming up with the right parts at the right time.
Click to expand...
I think so too. A big reason why I program things and spend hours making bass sample libraries when I could just spend five minutes recording a bassline is to avoid that human feel and vibe.
 
#26
I use Superior Drummer 2 with the Metal Foundry expansion. A lot of big bands, mainly in Progressive Metal, use it too. Periphery, for instance.
The Metal Foundry is like a giant drum soundpack, something ridiculous like 35GB of samples. But the result is incredibly realistic, though I'm only amateur so they sound a little off in my hands.
If you look on YouTube for "Top Secret Audio", there's a two part tutorial by Misha Mansoor (a guitarist for Periphery) showing how to make Superior Drummer sound perfectly real.

 
  • Like
Reactions: Rickter
#28
For one level below programming, I'm now also doing some work "under the hood" of drum libraries.

Specifically, I'm doing SFZ mappings for a really big and detailed free drum kit. Its creators have already mapped it for Kontakt, Reaper and TX16WX. The Reaper version has 127 velocity layers on the kick, snare and some of the hats, multiple mic positions etc. SFZ won't be quite as detailed, but I got the kick, hi-hat, sidestick, rimshot and one snare mapped last night and that's 1790 samples already. Toms, two more snares and cymbals left to go. Should take a week or so.

Read more, look at pretty pictures of the shiny vintage Ludwig drums, and download it here: SM Drums | Deeply Sampled Free Drums for the masses
 
#29
*ToNeS* said:
If so, show me whatcha got! I love drums (fake ones - my drumming is awful). I just recently got BFD3 and I've been working with it quite a lot. I play heavier stuff so I've put it through its paces and come up with a kit I love. Check it out:

http://soundcloud.com/anonfemme/anonfemme-everyone-cares-when-its-too-late

Bonus uncomfortably jangly bass tone :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

We use Superior Drummer. Think its a Yamaha preset???

Genre - Deathcore (which is death metal + regular hardcore)

this is how it does...





 
  • Like
Reactions: Rickter
#33
For an example, here's something posted on the KVR forum using this kit and mappings:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

The china does have the least velocity layers of any of the kit pieces, though that's still five velocity layers with four round robins (crashes 22-23, kick has 32) for 20 china samples total. Cymbals are difficult to sample (or model or synthesize or anything, I guess) but chinas are probably the hardest.

Edit: here's an interview with one of the guys involved: SM Drums - Free Drum Sample Library For Kontakt & SFZ!
 
Last edited:
#34
I "programmed" some drums for my old metal band when we were between drummers. We needed something to play for potential drummers to give them an idea of our sound. We also used the drum tracks to rehearse with for a bit. I used the guitarists' old BOSS drum machine. Very much a process of finger tapping layers of drums, and the copying and pasting a bit. I didn't concentrate on the drum tone, or cool fills, just the main beats, feel, and some cues for changes. Worked nicely as a metronome, and definitely tightened us up as a band. We got kind of spoiled by the perfect time, and any new drummers had to compete with our expectations from the perfect tempo set by the drum machine tracks. I had fun creating the tracks, and the end result was listenable demos. The end results do sound pretty sterile, and in my opinion it would take far too much time and effort to customize the tracks to our crazy metal music to make it sound more organic. I wouldn't even bother with using software that works as a drum machine personally. It was not that much fun playing with tracks, I need to look into the drummers eyes to make real music. It also seems that I could learn how to play the parts on the drums myself in the time it takes to make good, listenable programmed tracks.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back