Any Superior 2.0 programming tutorials out there?

Does anyone know here I can find drum programming tutorials? I'm using Superior Drummer 2.0 and Reaper but I'm having a hard time getting things set up and working. It also doesn't help that I know very little about drum beats, but I'm sure that will come with time. I'm able to beat-box my ideas out loud, and I'm hoping these can someday translate to actual drum tracks. If anyone can point me in the right direction I'd be forever in your debt!
 
Hi Greg, Don't worry, we've all been down that road. It wasn't until recently I actually started being "good" at programming drums.
I can't really point at any tutorial since I learned it the hard way, but I can say that when you program drums you do it in midi (of course)

Midi notes works like this:

Duration of the note (Quarter notes, sixteenth notes etc, even triplets)

Velocity of the note (in midi it's from 0 to 127. 0 is not hitting the drum at all and 127 is like hitting the drum really HARD)
I often use 120 in velocity when doing "normal" drum hits.

Everything is laid out on a virtual piano roll or "piano keyboard"
Very typically the kick drum is traditionally the note "C1" (there are many C notes on a keyboard, so they have numbers to get things organized)
The snare is D1. The Hi-hat, toms and cymbals vary from Drum program to drum program, but just look for them and you'll memorize it.

I have never programmed midi in Reaper, but should be the same in every music making software.
Start of by making a normal drum beat in quarter notes (1/4) having four hi-hat hits, one kick in the beginning and a snare hit at the third hi-hat note.

Superior drummer actually has "grooves" that you can drag and drop in reaper, you could learn from that.
this is EZ drummer in Reaper, but it's almost the same thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvEk7-tSlhQ

Since you have superior drummer, you should have couple of drum mix presets, use them to make the drums really cut through the mix :)

Ableton live 9 actually has a very cool feature where you can convert audio into midi, so if you beatbox it in a microphone, Ableton analyzes the audio and converts it into midi through a audio to midi drums algorithm. (amazing eh?)

Should get you started :)
 
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Hi Greg, Don't worry, we've all been down that road. It wasn't until recently I actually started being "good" at programming drums.
I can't really point at any tutorial since I learned it the hard way, but I can say that when you program drums you do it in midi (of course)

Midi notes works like this:

Duration of the note (Quarter notes, sixteenth notes etc, even triplets)

Velocity of the note (in midi it's from 0 to 127. 0 is not hitting the drum at all and 127 is like hitting the drum really HARD)
I often use 120 in velocity when doing "normal" drum hits.

Everything is laid out on a virtual piano roll or "piano keyboard"
Very typically the kick drum is traditionally the note "C1" (there are many C notes on a keyboard, so they have numbers to get things organized)
The snare is D1. The Hi-hat, toms and cymbals vary from Drum program to drum program, but just look for them and you'll memorize it.

I have never programmed midi in Reaper, but should be the same in every music making software.
Start of by making a normal drum beat in quarter notes (1/4) having four hi-hat hits, one kick in the beginning and a snare hit at the third hi-hat note.

Superior drummer actually has "grooves" that you can drag and drop in reaper, you could learn from that.
this is EZ drummer in Reaper, but it's almost the same thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvEk7-tSlhQ

Since you have superior drummer, you should have couple of drum mix presets, use them to make the drums really cut through the mix :)

Ableton live 9 actually has a very cool feature where you can convert audio into midi, so if you beatbox it in a microphone, Ableton analyzes the audio and converts it into midi through a audio to midi drums algorithm. (amazing eh?)

Should get you started :)

Thank you Spazi, that's actually very helpful! Sounds like the velocity is why I've had trouble hearing the drums when I click them in the piano roll (they are very feint).
 
One of the biggest....

Click the SD2.0 groove/beat window; drag into Reaper. This is a major step (probably the biggest step) that isn't publicly broadcast in most tutorials. It's how you get the "drum beat" IN TO your workflow.
 
One of the biggest....

Click the SD2.0 groove/beat window; drag into Reaper. This is a major step (probably the biggest step) that isn't publicly broadcast in most tutorials. It's how you get the "drum beat" IN TO your workflow.

Haha yeah that took me a while to figure out, I felt pretty stupid when it hit me.
 
There are some other tutorial videos at Ask Video.

Superior Drummer Course: Superior Drummer: Killer Drums by Toby Pitman : AskVideo

Also books on drum programming, how beats are played by drummers and how they translate into programming etc.

Amazon.com: drum programming: Books

Thanks for those! I did some digging on the AskVideo site and found both Superior Drummer 2.0 AND Reaper tutorials, so I went ahead and got those. Also picked up the book for good measure. Thanks!
 
I'm more than happy to make a trip half way around the world to work through it all for a few days with anyone that wants to learn (yes, amazing as that sounds, I've done it before
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Groove3 has some training. I am just aware of it. I haven't actually purchased or have gone through it although I am considering it.

Superior Drummer Explained - Training Videos This one covers Superior Drummer and there are supplementation training that is DAW specific (they have Reaper).

Groove3 also has the Kenny Gioia Reaper training which I have also thought about getting but haven't yet.
 
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