What are you guys using for drum software?

Aynirar27

Aynirar27

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I’m starting to get familiar with drawing in my own midi drums in Reaper, so now I’m wondering if there are better options out there for it. I see EZ Drummer has its own grid editor, is that any easier to use than a piano roll in a daw? Is it worth the jump to Superior Drummer?

Right now I’m using the Steven Slate free version which I like a lot, so unless it seems that other programs have better “writing” sections, I may just get the full SSD version.

What’s everybody think??
 
I've used EZ Drummer and the SS previously, but programming drums is such a time-sink.. I've resorted back to using drum tracks off teh YouTube for my recordings.

Best way I ever found was a drummer in Scotland I made contact with on SoundCloud who was making tracks for me.

No joke.. bro can sound just like Bonham !
 
Ben Waylin said:
I've used EZ Drummer and the SS previously, but programming drums is such a time-sink.. I've resorted back to using drum tracks off teh YouTube for my recordings.

Best way I ever found was a drummer in Scotland I made contact with on SoundCloud who was making tracks for me.

No joke.. bro can sound just like Bonham !
Click to expand...
The last song I did was the first time I did all the drums from scratch and now I’m kinda hooked. I was surprised how easy it was but I was just blasting out metal drums. Not sure how it will go when I do something with a little more feel
 
I can neither play real drums or program drums…. For the same reason I can’t play real drums. Cannot visualize or get a concept in my brain to accomplish that. So….. for the Jessie’s entry I did a couple challenges ago, I used a drum track.

Same story for keyboards. Also added keyboard backing track to Jessie’s Girl.

First time I’d ever downloaded a backing track. But then. I’ve never really had a reason to. I feel that may have changed for me moving forward. If Brad’s Challenges have accomplished anything for me, it’s been to expand what I’ve been doing.
 
iblive said:
I can neither play real drums or program drums…. For the same reason I can’t play real drums. Cannot visualize or get a concept in my brain to accomplish that. So….. for the Jessie’s entry I did a couple challenges ago, I used a drum track.

Same story for keyboards. Also added keyboard backing track to Jessie’s Girl.

First time I’d ever downloaded a backing track. But then. I’ve never really had a reason to. I feel that may have changed for me moving forward. If Brad’s Challenges have accomplished anything for me, it’s been to expand what I’ve been doing.
Click to expand...
Same here.

I know what I like in a drummer, but I have no clue how to make that happen on the drums.

Thing about the times we're living.. you've got people cranking out all manner/styles of drum tracks on teh YouTube for free.
 
iblive said:
I can neither play real drums or program drums…. For the same reason I can’t play real drums. Cannot visualize or get a concept in my brain to accomplish that. So….. for the Jessie’s entry I did a couple challenges ago, I used a drum track.

Same story for keyboards. Also added keyboard backing track to Jessie’s Girl.

First time I’d ever downloaded a backing track. But then. I’ve never really had a reason to. I feel that may have changed for me moving forward. If Brad’s Challenges have accomplished anything for me, it’s been to expand what I’ve been doing.
Click to expand...
right on man. For the most part I’m pretty much game for making an ass out of myself, but doing vocals have always been terrifying to me. Since riffmasters I’ve now done 3 songs with vocals on them and I’m pretty happy about it. I’m not about to front a band anytime soon, but it definitely feels good.

Ben Waylin said:
Same here.

I know what I like in a drummer, but I have no clue how to make that happen on the drums.

Thing about the times we're living.. you've got people cranking out all manner/styles of drum tracks on teh YouTube for free.
Click to expand...

Having the option is definitely nice. A song like this came strictly from hearing a drum track on YouTube

SoundCloud - Hear the world’s sounds

Explore the largest community of artists, bands, podcasters and creators of music & audio
on.soundcloud.com on.soundcloud.com

But then again it’s nice to build a song around a riff sometimes too
 
Aynirar27 said:
it’s nice to build a song around a riff sometimes too
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That's pretty much how I write..

Comes from always working off a live drummer.

There's some really good YouTube channels out there with free drum tracks, and changing the tempo of a track in ReaperDAW is easy.
 
Ben Waylin said:
That's pretty much how I write..

Comes from always working off a live drummer.

There's some really good YouTube channels out there with free drum tracks, and changing the tempo of a track in ReaperDAW is easy.
Click to expand...

I’m wondering what options are out there for writing your own drums soup to nuts though, outside of actually learning to play drums.

The ezdrummer grid looks nice since it gets rid of all the unused piano roll midi
 
Starts here with me, usually with a guitar or bass in my hand. def the most picky with the drums on my stuff & bass. The rest comes along for the ride basically but have been doing a hybrid thing with EZ 2 for awhile,

last 2 this month Abyss

BLINK

Sit drums.jpg
 

Attachments

EZD 2&3 here, mostly. There are other freebies and Mac/iOS apps that I may use to make loops. There are midi looper things out there to play around with, for writing midi that you can drop on a track with the drum program of choice. I used to use one that was written for Reaper’s JS plug-in code years ago…but now it’s either EZD 3 or the Reaper midi editor.
Sometimes, I’ll grab a free midi file, and edit that(as a drum baseline) for doing covers. I really like the stuff that Only Drums puts out for covers. No need to edit anything with their stuff…frikken massively awesome.
 
Po' boy here using mostly MT Drum kit... free VST drum samples, midi triggered.
I want to say making proper drum tracks has been my weakness, but I have so many other weaknesses too.
My biggest problem other than minimal musical skill/talent is my aversion to detailed tweaking, adding/inventing fills, etc. Short attention span...I think some hearing loss is also hurting my overall mix/eq sensibilities.
 
TVvoodoo said:
Po' boy here using mostly MT Drum kit... free VST drum samples, midi triggered.
I want to say making proper drum tracks has been my weakness, but I have so many other weaknesses too.
My biggest problem other than minimal musical skill/talent is my aversion to detailed tweaking, adding/inventing fills, etc. Short attention span...I think some hearing loss is also hurting my overall mix/eq sensibilities.
Click to expand...

I use MT sometimes as well. I usually like the grooves better in MT than I do SSD, so I will take the midi from MT but use the drum sounds from SSD.

The ez drummer interface is looking really good to me right now. Realistically I should probably just save up for a decent computer so I’m not afraid of it crashing everytime I download something, but I’ve never been much for patience
 
From my mind, usually have a theme each week going on that is starting to structure before 1 note is hit. with record button on.. Been messing with new gear for 2 weeks since last recorded Blink.

So, had to wait till the messing around ended & something came out of it. Then i hear a sorta 2 parts that go together in the free jams all week & a solid idea forms. Once i have that rhythm embedded. Over to the Ludwig generally kick & high hat with a guitar in hand. then we get a tempo & go to reaper & match & mic my kick & build around it.

Cool thing is i just need the timing on my end & let EZ D do the rest. Like it going to Reaper as individual tracks so i can manually put mine in with it. So a hybrid drums comes about. Drums always coded in Green in R cause once they on it means go !! Make the song in a short amount of time just like in the studio paying for it. While you are hyper focused on it & play from the heart not the mind. So i took off today & gonna make a song. Here is my EZ D transfer & Reaper all set up with drums. This takes the most time cause you build the song like a plan when you noodle all week. Once drums are up..its so easy from here on out..You just play guitar bass & sing basically to your building blocks already done with the drums
EZ R (2).jpg
 
Took time on this one to mix in EZ Drummer & not import individual tracks. But have the ability to do that & blend with the Kit if i dont like it. Heavier music is easy with EZ D but if you play nuance timing & pause music its a bugger to use it when you cant manipulate it to the way you are timing on the kit. Probably only complaint about EZ D is the lack of "soul" the pre sets have. Great for serious poundings tho lol
 
My favourite software is still Hydrogen. It works nicely with the middleware Jack and can work together with all the DAW softwares like ardour or qtractor. Which are not Linux-only but more or less system independent.
 
Although, I guess to actually answer the OP's question. I do have MTPowerDrum Kit loaded into Reaper. Don't know how to use it.... but by golly.... I have it.
 
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