Drums Samples and the beat they sailed in on...

[grandmatarkin]

Hey guys-n-gals...What does anyone recommend for good drum sounds (besides actual drums !) Currently I'm using Groove Agent and I like a couple of the kit samples, but i'm looking into trying something different. Any recommendations?Davidwww.entona.ca

[sgs4u]

I use Spectrasonics Stylus 1 & 2,( a couple of extra Stylus discs of patterns I bought, apple loops that came with my G5, various loops I've gathered over the years, live drum tracks I recorded for other songs. I tried groove agent once and loved it. Just haven't bought it.The stylus thing is pretty awesome once you understand the 2 different ways they divide up the beats. Battery 1,2&3 are also very handy for me, and they're easy to dump my own samples into. But they don't have patterns as far as I know.I have a couple of buddies who swear by BFD, but not for patterns. They have midi drum kits they trigger sounds with. but the sounds don't matter anywhere near as much as how you use them, IMHOI'm sure some other guys will jump in. Drums are so important.steve

[grandmatarkin]

Well, I love the way Groove Agent is set up to with all the styles and triggered fills, etc. It also has that handy "humanize" function that inserts controlled error into the pattern at whatever level you assign. I usually set it to 5%. Anyhoo, I want to build the midi file with groove agent and then just transfer it to whatever bank of drum samples I choose. I'm glad to hear that you liked Groove Agent though. It seems to have done the job this far, but I'm curious as to what else is out there.I'm also a little unclear as to how I would, having set up the drum midi file, transfer it to the new bank of samples. I'm hoping it's as clear as I'm imagining it would be, the same way I would, for example, create a string line in hypersonic and then just link it to EastWest instead. Would it be that simple?Davewww.entona.ca

[mazz]

I vote for Stylus as well and I also use DrumCore but haven't dug too deep in to it. Both of those are designed around loops mostly, that's their strength. I mostly use loops in my composing because of the ability to put something together pretty quickly and also I am out of practice programming drums and I basically suck at it.The Stylus add on libraries are also very good, both from Spectrasonics and Iilo.Planet of the Breaks Reason Refill has some pretty cool Redrum kits if you use Reason. The rex loops are also very "vibey".Drums on Demand has a large selection of good loops and sounds. I believe there are also loop libraries of acoustic drums that have multi-tracked versions so you can adjust the mix to your taste.Drums are the most sampled instrument so you have a huge selection to choose from. I'm sure everyone on the forum has their favorites.As far as re-assigning sounds once the MIDI pattern is programmed: some drum kits may respond differently depending on how they handle things such as velocity, multiple layers, etc. You may end up having to do some tweaking.Good luck,Mazz

[zircon]

Stylus RMX is absolutely fantastic, though if you want ultra-realistic sounds to sequence yourself, it might not be the best option. For that, try Drumkit from Hell or BFD (both rock oriented, but can work for pop, jazz, etc)

[ernstinen]

Sorry guys,I've been using drum samples since they first appeared.My next-door-neighbor was the bassist for TOTO, and showed me how to sequence samples.Too bad his drummer/brother died.But I would still recommend a "Real" drummer playing to a click track. Tell him/her not to do drugs.Ern

[mazz]

"Too bad his drummer/brother died."Jeff Porcaro. Great drummer. His work on Steely Dan's Katy Lied is magnificent."Tell him/her not to do drugs." Easier said than done Mazz

[matto]

Battery has some great stuff in it no doubt, particularly the newest incarnation, Battery 3.Stylus RMX is great and really a must have rhythm tool, but it's strength is not realistic acuostic drum grooves.The Big Three at this moment when it comes to sounds only (to use as a replacement for your GA sounds) would be Drumkit from Hell "Superior" or "Custom and Vintage", BFD, or my personal favorite, Scarbee Imperial Drums XL.There are several more products on the way too.And yeah a real drummer would be preferable, but for a variety of reasons that's just not a feasible solution for most home studio composers, most of the time...matto

[brennanhester]

I got the Backbeat S.A.G.E. Xpander for Stylus RMX with all the nice accoustic drum kit action on it. It pleases me, it does.

[sgs4u]

Quote:I got the Backbeat S.A.G.E. Xpander for Stylus RMX with all the nice accoustic drum kit action on it. It pleases me, it does.Do you have any other S.A.G.E. disks that please you? I have the retro-funk thingas well as backbeat, but I'd like something else.steve