What are you guys using for drum tracks?

[gatorjj]

Casey, are you looking for actual drum samples to just cut and paste into Cubase, some basic MIDI drums, or (as I'm guessing) really don't care as long as you can get some drums going?I'm sure I have some free stuff of each and can help you out with it...but I'm reading this on my phone and am sure to forget if I don't respond now lol

[marcblack30]

Casey, I have some loops I can send. What is your email address?I have the files uploaded, you'll just have to DL them.

[Casey H]

Thanks everyone!!!Yes, samples already in wav format are best. Then I don't have to deal with midi stuff. Marc- my email addy is on my caseysongs website. Thanks!!Another member has already offered a wonderful solution off-line, so between what Marc sends and those other things, I should be fine...Once again I really appreciate all the help!!Casey

[ibanez468]

Quote:But when I set the midi output to the Tascam instead of the sound-card's synth, I can't hear any drums anywhere, despite seeing the meter moving. What I don't know yet is if I leave it set to output to the sound-card synth while everything else is driven to the tascam, will the speeds be in sync... More experimenting is needed...Sounds like at this point, you need to run an 1/8" audio cable from the speaker output of your computer, or your computer speakers, to possibly a stereo input (or 2 mono inputs) on the Tascam, using an 1/8" to RCA 'Y' cord. You'll need a couple of RCA to 1/4" mono adapters (unless you have some RCA inputs on the Tascam) but this should work (if I'm thinking right). I do this all the time, so whatevers playin' on the computer, goes to my mixer, and out to my monitors. But hey, I agree, if you get your hands on some .wav files, that's a whole lot easier to deal with than the MIDI thing. It CAN cause you ta' drink! Oh, yeah before I forget, you can also download some MIDI to .Wav converter programs. I'm mean you can download MIDI files all day long off the internet. But you can also convert those MIDI files to actual audio files if you get your hands on the right program. Here's a link to a bunch of websites. Hope this helps too! http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search?ei=U ... pibanez468

[asiabackpacker]

Hello everyone....looks like I'm reviving this thread.. Yes, it's been over a year and I'm still having trouble with my drums.I've since gotten EZdrummer, and work with that a bit. But I just find it so cumbersome to compose drum midi tracks, even using the predefined loops. I am working in Pro Tools. Maybe that's the problem. I hear (and can see) that PT is not the best interface for editing MIDI. It does all kinds of weird funky things that I'm not going to try and explain that make it really time-consuming to put together drum tracks in PT.Is there a better way to be doing this if I am a PT user? Any other PT users have suggestions on putting together MIDI drum tracks, for a non-ultra savy producer? I've heard about people using stand-alone apps like Reason. I'd prefer not to have to spend money on another app, but if that's going to save even more headaches, I'm open to it.Anyone??Thanks!!Elliott

[mojobone]

The latest version of ProTools has upgraded MIDI capabilities that may improve your situation. Can't give specifics, I don't use PT at home . (I do in other people's studios, but they generally have someone to run it; I wouldn't use it for MIDI, in any case. If I'm in someone else's studio, it's usually to use their live room to track real drums )It can be fiddly to get drum parts working properly in MIDI, but it's worth the hassle to learn because once the part's righteous, you can swap sounds/samples all day, and often come up with great sounds you'd a never thought of otherwise. When it comes to level of difficulty, my perspective's a little skewed, I learned MIDI editing on a Brother PDC-100 hardware sequencer with a three-line display and 'bout six multifunction buttons-not for the fainthearted. I used to watch a friend of mine hand synch two boomboxes-that's motivation, there! As I mentioned in another thread, I use MIDI to drive 24-bit samples from Larry Seyer, sometimes using pre-fab loops, but more often, I'll use a MIDI keyboard to play in the kick and snare in a single pass, and build up the rhythm track from there an instrument or two at a time, e.g.: second pass might be open/closed hihat; after that, maybe the fills will be step-entered and pasted in as necessary. Next step will be acquiring a decent MIDI percussion controller/pads kit. I also use MIDI loops from Drumcore and other sources, (such as Groove Monkee) and I have Addictive Drums on order-speaking of which, you should definitely download their demo, if possible. It doesn't include toms, nor cymbals other than hihat, nor the big ol' mess of MIDI loops that comes with the full program, but it's unrestricted, and pretty useful on its own. I like the Drumcore kits, too, but not the cymbals, so much.

[elser]

I have a basement where we keep Greg Bissonete. It has a little window and we give him an orange jump suit to wear. He seems to like raw meat and fruit and the one light bulb hanging form the ceiling keeps him happy. I just bring him out for sessions and he always nails it.Yikes! Somebody help me! Seriously, I have used the Stylus RMX Backbeat Expansion pack for quite a few years now. The loops are played by real guys, Greg Bissonete being one of them. You can get a lot more life out of the package by taking a fill and rather than have it start on 1, have it start on the and of 1, or cut it in half and have it play the first 2 beats twice for a measure, or any creative use you can think of.That's what I gravitate to lately, but there are tons of great drum solutions right now. To me, as with any other peice of gear, it's mostly about getting familiar with your tools so you can use them to their full advantage.

[jonathanm]

Addictive Drums with SONAR PE is what I'm using. I find a pattern I like in AD, drag the midi to SONAR where I can loop, mod, play it. Very easy. I'm sure there's something similar in PT.

[mazz]

Apr 27, 2009, 12:32pm, fretnoise wrote: and of 1, or cut it in half and have it play the first 2 beats twice for a measure, or any creative use you can think of.But can you make it speed up?!

[jonathanm]

Yep, Stylus does rex-style loops, so all those individual beats have been assigned to midi notes, which will follow tempo.