Question for those who use programmed drums

[larry_emder]

I'm working on a drum track for a song i have recorded. The drums for it are proving to be fairly tricky, the song has lots of time changes involved. This means that i cant just 'count out' the drums, i need to use lots of trial and error with the recorded guitars and the drum program to make sure i'm putting the right things in the right places.

So, if i want to hear what i've already recorded (the guitars) along the 'in progress' drum track, its freakin impossible to 'sync' them together. I have to press play on audacity for the recorded guitar parts to play, then change back to the drum program, and hopefully i time my click on the 'play' button right, and the two seperate tracks will play sync(doesnt often happen). Then if i realise something needs changing with the drums, i have to stop both of the tracks, fix up drums, repeat.

IS THERE A BETTER WAY???

I'm thinking that there should be a drum program which also interfaces with a mixing program, therefore allowing me to sync drums with everything else. or am i mad??? At the moment i'm using the free 'Leafdrums', with a few samples i've picked up from here and there. BUT, the program suits me fine, its just not being able to sync the guitars with the drums (easily) that is hassling me.

Help me out crew :yell: :yell: How do YOU GUYS do it???

 

[Erlend_G]

Re: Question for those who use programmed drums

I use a freeware midi programmer called Anvil Studio, and click down the drum notes in it. When my drum pattern is finished, i save it as a midi file, and open it in Fruity Loops and a vst plugin called "Steinberg Groove Agent" to trigger some better drum samples on it. Then, i save it as a audio\wav\mp3 file and import it in my audio recording program

-Erlend

 

[Erlend_G]

Re: Question for those who use programmed drums

And oh- i ALWAYS know what im about to record before i write the drum pattern

Saves you alot of headaches.

 

[larry_emder]

Re: Question for those who use programmed drums

So what if you decide that you need to change part of the drum pattern, can you do that quickly and easily, then re-test the pattern against the music?

 

[TheArchitect]

Re: Question for those who use programmed drums

If you are recording on a PC program the part in midid and let the midi playback trigger the drum machine

 

[Robert S.]

Re: Question for those who use programmed drums

You need something with a MIDI application. This is what I do and it may be helpful for you depending on what hardware you have. I am currently running a Digi 002 rack (ProTools) that has MIDI in and out ports. I pull all my demo drum parts from a Boss DR-770 drum machine. First thing I do is to set the tempos for both units and I'll bang out a rough drum track on the DR-770 while playing both units at the same time. I do lose a little sync but for taking up space it works just fine. I then use the midi clock in the Digi to sinc the two together and I can listen to what I have done over the music to see if it works. I can then go back and make any changes to the drums as needed and get a basic framework together.

To add fills or minor changes so that the drums don't sound too mechanical I copy the exsisting drum pattern, make the changes and insert just that measure into the song, again by addiing the midi clock so that everything shows up in time. Thats the great thing about digital recording. Instead of having to redo entire regions you can copy/paste/insert small parts.

For stranger time changes there is another trick I use. Not all software supports strange time signatures and I once recorded a song that had a 14 beat phrase. I forget which but one of my units didn't have a 14/4 option. Instead of breaking the phrase into a bunch of odd meter changes and doing all the programming required to make it fit logically I multiplied the 14 beats by 4 giving me 56 beats, or 16 measures of 4/4. I left the click at 4/4 and recorded the 14/4 passage 4 times over the 56 beat space and it all lined up at the end. It saved me a ton of meter change programming and worked out well.

The composer in me had all sorts of issues with not dropping it as written, the programmer in me loved the idea. The computer didn't know the difference.

 

[larry_emder]

Re: Question for those who use programmed drums

Cheers for the tips guys.

Robert, i really like your music! Would be really great to hear those songs live with real drums and a beer in my hand!

 

[Robert S.]

Re: Question for those who use programmed drums

Thanks Larry, I was just thinking the same thing!

 

[DeadSkinSlayer3]

Re: Question for those who use programmed drums

Yeah, you need a DAW that supports midi and VST's, and then get something liek Battery which will trigger samples as a VST, or DFH2/DFHS which acts as a VST drum program. You don't need to run a midi signal out to a drum machine at all - infact, I'd discourage it.

 

[DonLduk]

Re: Question for those who use programmed drums

i program with guitar pro. maybe too amateur but you are free to drum whatever you want. As for the midi sound? well, theres a feature some sound cards that have midi banks that sound so much realistic. I could post you some samples if you want.

If you check my soundclick, check "paranoid" and "overloaded" and tell me how those drum sound.

 

[Kamanda~SD]

Re: Question for those who use programmed drums

Just have the guitar on your lap and play along with it.

 

[larry_emder]

Re: Question for those who use programmed drums

^ Yep thats exactly what i ended up doing, the quick and dirty method.

 

[DonLduk]

Re: Question for those who use programmed drums

oh ok I read more of your initial post.

To solve the "sync problem" I progam a count in for record. For example, I have a bar of silence and 4 hi hats clicks initially, that let me switch to audacity and get ready to record...after those 4 hi hats, I click to record. Then I program more silence to let me get to my guitar and get ready (while it's already recording) and then I do the song count in. It has worked great for a while. Not the best method but gets the job done