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What are you using for drums?

#21
I also like EZ Drummer, have heard nothing but wonderful things about GetGood Drums but I think that's more of a sample pack. I will check out the Slate stuff.

Our drummer has an electronic kit for tracking so I do not really have to use any of this stuff more than once in a blue moon.

EDIT to expand on the above in case anyone was curious: the fun part about tracking on an electronic kit is that you can use samples, such as GGD, on the midi file once it's tracked. So we've got a midi generated by our drummer playing with all the human variations in velocity, timing, etc and then we get to just be like "well, what if that kick drum was a 20" Tama Starclassic? Hm. That sounds okay, but what if we moved the mic a little further away? Hmm. Okay. Let's see how a 22" Yamaha Stage Custom sounds instead. Yeah, that's the ticket."

The technology around sampling has gotten so advanced that the initial outlay on a good electronic kit pays for itself vs the time and expense of tracking drums in a real studio - not that that wouldn't be my preference, but it's far less of a compromise than it was even five, ten years ago.

What a time to be alive.
 
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#22
Esteban Garcia said:
View attachment 5336057Sometimes I start with drummer loops on logic, but I'll usually discard those very quickly for the real thing. It's easy for me to record 4-8 bar loops for scratch tracks.
Click to expand...

Ditto. :thumbsup:
sorry, only pic at hand.. of new white Head. :cool: (but we all love pics)


dr2.jpg




:bassist:

T$
 
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#23
i use samples/loops from all the usual online instant download sources for the writing/arranging part, and then replace them with real drums at our rehearsal/recording sessions. although i've used some of the edited loops to complete certain tunes.

so, loops, mostly.
 
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#25
Obese Chess said:
EDIT to expand on the above in case anyone was curious: the fun part about tracking on an electronic kit is that you can use samples, such as GGD, on the midi file once it's tracked. So we've got a midi generated by our drummer playing with all the human variations in velocity, timing, etc and then we get to just be like "well, what if that kick drum was a 20" Tama Starclassic? Hm. That sounds okay, but what if we moved the mic a little further away? Hmm. Okay. Let's see how a 22" Yamaha Stage Custom sounds instead. Yeah, that's the ticket.".
Click to expand...
Yep, it is awesome (and I remember the old days when we couldn't do all this). And for work like some composing(TV spots, etc), you need to be able to go in and change sounds all the time, often with very little time to get it done, like an hour! Having a real drummer lay down the midi is killer of course. I don't have a midi kit so I play things on the keys or pads, and I will spend inordinate amounts of time in the piano roll nudging things, adjusting velocities, etc. I can't play actual drums myself, but I know how it should sound!
 
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#26
I usually just make a drum track in Ableton, using the kits and samples it has preloaded. At various times I've played a scratch drum track triggering the samples with a keyboard or midi controller, sequenced a midi loop, or even just picked out some samples and hand placed them into a track to put together a drum part.
 
#31
I have an old Zoom RT 223 Rhythmtrak and an Alesis SR18 connected to my board. I find that the Alesis has better sounding drum tracks but takes more effort to find the beat and set it up. The Zoom tracks are pretty basic and out of about 300 beats I think I actually use about 10. But for simplicity the RT 223 is hard to beat, both have foot switch inputs. The SR18 is still in production.


Note: My RT 223 actually died, which is why I purchased the SR18, eventually I saw a post about the RT units saying that there is a battery soldered to the PC board and that is the issue with these. I still had my dead unit and checked it, and that was the issue. I removed the battery and added a "coin" battery holder and it's been working ever since. They are no longer being produced, but can be had cheap used - might need the battery fix.


Sometimes I'll build a drum track in my DAW with this plugin MT Power Drum Kit, it's super simple to use "Drag and drop" by measure (or portions of a measure). Intros, beats, fills... The license is not expensive and if I remember correctly it allows you save your beats, otherwise it's full featured in the free version.

For laying down a simple track I like the hardware drum machines, start recording step on the pedal and you're going.

Cheers

FYI: For my studio, I picked up a used "Pro" electronic drum set. It's not top of the line, but functional. So when a drummer is around they don't have to haul gear for a jam or working session. It doesn't take up a lot of space and sounds pretty good. We can get a basic track, then the drummer can take it home and rework it on his kit.
 
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#33
A combination of:
- real acoustic drums...y'know, the actual thing, in a room, mic'd up (I feel I have to include that caveat just in case some company has a canned sample pack called Real Acoustic Drums® and I didn't want to mislead)
- canned drum loops, from a decades-old collection I amassed from various sources...mostly free internet sites, some from outtakes of projects I've recorded, a few swiped from commercial recordings and used without permission (Mea Culpa!)
- original MIDI sequences played through an Alesis DM5 drum module, triggered either with pads, or from a MIDI keyboard

Some projects use all three methods/sources, but most tend to use just one or two. All depends on what the context is, what the desired end result will be for.
 
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#35
I build tracks in ProTools using a library of "samples" I made over the years, and collected from others. I asked a lot of drummers if I can grab some hits when we were getting levels etc during sessions. Had a few hard no responses but have had some folks give me fills and all types of snare stuff like different paradiddles etc.

I also get lazy and use Toontrack or an old Alesis machine. Garage band at times too, I guess.
 
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#37
For realistic drums I use ggd one kit winder modern fusion. It can sound very realistic if you use their midi packs as its then essentially midi recorded by real drummer triggering samples of real drums. For electronic drums I use a Yamaha mx49 keyboard. I can play finger drums on the keys or I can connect it to my computer via USB and it can send and receive both midi and audio so I can program midi In reaper.
 
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#40
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