What are you guys using for drum tracks?

[stick]

Dig a little deeper into BFD. There are a bunch of included patterns and fills. Basically, you load up a kit you like and then choose the patterns to play those kits. I can't help you much past that, since I generally program my drums by hand... As far as it crapping out... be sure BFD is on an external firewire drive other than the one you use for recording your projects. Then, turn off all of the graphics animations and whatnot in the plugin. If you have tons of RAM you can check the box to load the samples to RAM. One thing about BFD is that the samples aren't really "processed". So to REALLY make it sing, you need to approach mixing it much as you would a well recorded live kit. Perhaps some of the other libraries are a little more "sit in the mix as is" ready... I don't know... I personally like being able to control the sound of the drums in the mix like I can with all the split outs from BFD. Ok, this post has me thinking... maybe I should dig into those preset patterns a little... there's probably some great stuff in there.

[arkjack]

IT DEPENDS....On the level of production I'm working under. Usually I am doing demos and just use a basic pattern track with fills and crashes in the conventional places. When I am trying to do something at full scale, I have four machines that sync up through the midi..... I'll custom program long pattern chains in each machine for different drums.... so that if I want to augment the reverb on certain snare hits I can do that with just snares in one machine.... by varying the volume levels of hits and effects I feel I get a more live sounding feel .....Of course, the fact that my forward percentage is zero does not lend much credibility to whether its right or not.... just that it seems to do a decent job and doesn't consume outrageous time.... and the screeners don't comment on stiff or dated drums on the critiques like they did when I first started submitting tracks....ArkJack

[bigdrisk]

I agree with mazz. EZ Drummer for tracks that need to sound like real drums. Sylus RMX for stuff that needs to really groove and have a lot of different percussive sounds. If you do anything country, invest in the Nashville expansion pack for EZ Drummer. I also RARELY ever just use the pre-programmed stuff as is. I'll usually start there with something close and then I'll edit to match my track - especially the kick, as it needs to be right there with the bass guitar on pushes and stuff. But for fills and such, you really can't beat what a real drummer has played into EZDrummer for us to rob from. Unless you are a drummer or have been progamming for a long time, it's too easy, even with real sampled sounds, to sound programmed. You have to think like a drummer. For instance, you don't want to keep the hi-hat going through drum fills and it's likely that the last hi-hat hit before a fill will be open. And you don't want to have a ride cymbal at the same time as the hat - things like that.

[gotsong]

Hey There,I prefer Stylus RMX for its flexibility and ease-of-use for getting sections built quickly. I currently use it with Pro Tools on a Windows XP environment.All the Best!James DavisCustomGuitarTracks.com');// -->james.davis@customguitartracks.com1-866-495-TRAX (8729)

[asiabackpacker]

Well, I've been keeping up on this thread, just haven't replied yet. So first of all, thanks for all your awesome feedback.So after deciding how awesome EZ Drummer seems to be, I discovered that it is incompatible with my OS (I'm running Panther). I want to upgrade eventually, as it does seem more user friendly than BFD.But for now, I started digging a little deeper into BFD, like you mentioned stick. I think I was initially turned off from using the grooves in BFD, because the ones it came with just sounded like CRAP! But, I downloaded some free samples from Groove Monkey, and they make just about all the difference in the world....I'm gonna buy one of the full packs today for only like 30 bucks (they come with hundreds of grooves). I also figured out how to properly trigger groves through using MIDI notes (I'm a retard and didn't know you could do that before).I'd like to post the recording I'm working on somewhere, to get some feedback on what aspects I should work on to get better. Any suggestions where I should post that?Also, Stick or anyone else that knows. I have 1.5 gigs of Ram currently (on a 1.8 Ghz dual processor G5). Could it benefit the performance of BFD to upgrade my RAM (I have room for 4 more gigs)?Thanks again!

[gotsong]

I would make sure you have at least 2-3 Gigs of memory. I have 2.5 on my PC with Pro Tools and can use all of my Plug-Ins/Applications without limitations.All the Best!James DavisCustomGuitarTracks.com');// -->james.davis@customguitartracks.com1-866-495-TRAX (8729)

[asiabackpacker]

I don't have any general problems with PT on my current setup....but the investment for more RAM would be worth it to me if it would fix my performance issues related to BFD. Are the two connected? Or would my money be better spend on an external firewire drive (right now, I'm running BFD off of my main system drive...as Stick advises not to do)

[gotsong]

More memory has always helped me get better performance out of my plug-ins. I would think that it would not be any different for BFD. I would try more RAM before going to the trouble to re-partition and add new drives. (A lot more time consuming).All the Best!James DavisCustomGuitarTracks.com');// -->james.davis@customguitartracks.com1-866-495-TRAX (8729)

[asiabackpacker]

Thanks Mazz....for the bargain price of about 30 bucks I purchased about 600 midi country grooves from Groove Monkey. Now these make about all the difference in the world with BFD. I had no idea these existed nor did I ever consider going this route. It was way more simple and straightforward than I thought. EZ Drummer still sounds like it might be a better solution once I upgrade my OS, but this is doing just what I need it to do for now.Quote:I haven't programmed a drum track from scratch in a long time. For me it's a waste of time when there's software like EZ drummer or Stylus out there. I don't know that much about BFD but if it uses a fairly standard drum mapping, like General MIDI, for example, you might look in to MIDI loops. You could use them to trigger BFD and save yourself a lot of headaches (and some bucks, MIDI loops are typically cheaper than audio loops). Check out Groove Monkee for starters.I'll put a big plug in for EZ drummer as well for more standard drum parts and Stylus for more atmospheric or esoteric stuff. Happy drumming!Mazz

[twilsbach]

I also use Acid for my drum tracks, specifically with BetaMonkeyMusic loops.I create the track in Acid, workout the groove & arrangement with that and my acoustic or piano, then export/import a rough track into ProTools and match the bpm. Its then pretty easy to go back in and tweak/add to the drum part if I need to later on.