Drum software?

ThePrettyDamned

I gave up with the plugin thing. 

Instead, I downloaded some free sample loops from Beta Monkey to see if I could get those to work

LOL

Okay, you have to bear with this - from the title, I hope you can gather this was more an experimental bit of fun.  You can hear the ones that are from the different sample packs, which obviously wouldn't happen if I downloaded the full version of one...

But I managed to get it to work - you just set the tempo, pick a loop that matches and drag and drop.  LOVELY.  

It actually worked! I just dragged some random ones on and it wound up like this before I decided to stop before I ruin it even more.  But it's convinced me that Beta Monkey is probably a good bet for me, as it was very easy and I'm not necessarily after uber quality midi programmable shit so much as stuff that gives my riffs and ideas a bit of backbone.  

I didn't cut the end thing off.  And it's still the old recording, I've not gotten around to redoing it, but when I do I'm going to layer 2 parts with less gain and shiz.  

PolarityMan

Listening to your recording I reckon youd have been best just keeping one of those grooves going over the whole thing rather than chopping up, probably the quick double bass one but youve still run up against the problem that the drums simply dont fit that well with the riff.

......I know it seems like a steep learning curve but once you get started programming its pretty easy and at least for me I find it difficult to just write guitar parts in isolation. For heavy music especially the interplay with the bass drum is really important and you wont get the rhythms you need from sample packs.

Did you record to a click? If so if you like I could have a bash at programming something over it if you like.

ThePrettyDamned

Haha that was just me throwing every free loop I downloaded at it in the excitement of actually working out how to do it, so that's not a representation of what I'm after!

There will be chopping and changing though - I was going for a Protest the Hero style chorus following a more classic metal type riff.  But still, I think I know that Beta Monkey loops will be the best solution for me, the groove metal or one of the other double bass ones should cover most eventualities.  

Drew_TNBD

PolarityMan;167776" said:

what's that? an excuse to upgrade?

Does BFD 3 have them as articulations? 

Nah guv, it's a setting in the inspector panel. >:D<

Bidley

I use Drum Track, which sounds a bit naff, but it's relatively easy to use, and is free.

robwright

EZDrummer - its easy!

Tunez

I realise that I'm a bit late to the party, but:

I use BFD (currently BFD3)and have since the launch of the first one. I think it is excellent an work exclusively with it now. It's ultimately flexible with amazing sounds (Chris Dagley did an awesome job and is missed!) and I agree with Drew_FX that it's the best thing our there. 

 However, that said, you need to be prepared to invest a little time with it, especially in the mixer stage to truly get what you want out of it. Quite a few friends (some pro drummers at that) prefer Superior Drummer, I think because it's more instantly gratifying, but again I would say that in my experience SD has nowhere near the flexibility of BFD.

Fez

Plus one for EZDrummer but I have some Beta Monkey loops and they are pretty good. It depends on how much flexibility you need. Too much can be a bad thing sometimes.

littlegreenman

Unless you're going to go all out and get EastWest's Stormdrum etc, for megabucks, I'd agree with @Drew_fx that BFD is the best out there at the mo'.

I only use a fraction of the functionality it has on offer and have had so many good reviews on the drum sounds I've done using it. It's a big learning curve getting to grips with programming drums, but the results you can get versus loops once you get into it are worth their weight in *insert precious thing of your choice*

This Sunday's overtime is paying for my BFD3 upgrade, and as a rule I "never" work Sundays. Need I say more?

PolarityMan

I secretly replaced 4 bars of our drummers out of time drumming with BFD2 in the last Xmas song we recorded and no-one noticed.

Drew_TNBD

PolarityMan said:

I secretly replaced 4 bars of our drummers out of time drumming with BFD2 in the last Xmas song we recorded and no-one noticed.

Ha!! Epic.

Our drummer has a little room he records in at his house. It sounds kinda shit, and is only good for demos really. So I often replace his shells with BFD3 when we're doing demos, and just keep the overheads.

Monstronaut

I use Steven Slate. Love it.

ThePrettyDamned

Cool.

@drew_fx if I got a new interface that happens to come with a lighter cubase, how easy is it to program drums with bfd? Might save up.

Drew_TNBD

Grab the demo guv. Will say way more than I can.

ThePrettyDamned

Downloading as we speak, did not realise it had a freebie.  

Won't run as a plug in, but it'll be nice finding my way around the software.  If I like it, I reckon I'll save up the pennies.  

ThePrettyDamned

I'm going to say that I'm lost already.  BAH.  

It comes with some funk preset beats, but I've worked out (I think) how to create my own. here 

but the demo doesn't have palettes I don't think?  So it's hard for me to say what I think of it.  

I like the amount of editing you can do to each drum - the stock kit sounds pretty fine though!

I've created a simple 2 bar loop (not worked out how to change tempo, time signature or length of loop, so again, just stock... Any help?  On tutorials, it automagically lets you choose...) and I assume you'd then hit 'save groove' to...Er... Save the groove.  That groove can then be drag and dropped into the song at will.  When you're happy with that, I assume you save the drum track as midi or audio (audio for me I think) and drag and drop into the DAW.

@Drew_fx if I'm miles out, or missed anything, let me know.  These are the basic things I'd need (I'm after a basic drum kit sound, not effected drum and bass heaven!).  

ThePrettyDamned

I'll clarify the above comment - I think BFD2 sounds amazing, but it has an awful lot of stuff that someone like me just... Doesn't need.  

I'd swap a lot of that for ease of use.  Something with the sound quality of BFD2 but an easier drag and drop programming of beats.  I doubt I'd use MIDI triggers, either.

Drew_TNBD

BFD3 guv. BFD3. We don't sell BFD2 now anyway.

BFD3 can drag and drop as audio or midi. Sure, it takes a while to get into, but once you do, it pays dividends.

PolarityMan

Drew_fx said:

PolarityMan said:

I secretly replaced 4 bars of our drummers out of time drumming with BFD2 in the last Xmas song we recorded and no-one noticed.

Ha!! Epic.

Our drummer has a little room he records in at his house. It sounds kinda shit, and is only good for demos really. So I often replace his shells with BFD3 when we're doing demos, and just keep the overheads.

We demo up with just overheads recorded onto a laptop at practice. Sounds ok but alot of the time the kick is totally lost.

When i demo something myself I just program it up but I want to setup a decent electric kit in my garage triggering bfd and see how that works out instead.

For full blown stuff it's still haul the desktop and all the close mics into a studio though.

ThePrettyDamned

Drew_fx;191450" said:

BFD3 guv. BFD3. We don't sell BFD2 now anyway.



BFD3 can drag and drop as audio or midi. Sure, it takes a while to get into, but once you do, it pays dividends.

Yeah, I feel like I'm lost in a sea of programming. I'd quite often need to change the time signatures of songs, is it easy to do that? Also, I could only do 2 bar grooves, can this be changed to 1, 3 or 4 or... Whatever?

It seems pretty great, I'm just a bit overwhelmed so far, and tutorial videos are mostly about tweaking drum sounds and adding effects.