Getting great drum sounds

firmani99

Inspired
Hey guys I don't know if this is the proper room to post this thread in but here goes.

I have been frustrated with trying to find a good drummer to jam with and record some songs with so I have decided to try and do it myself. What software or hardware are you guys using to get such great recorded drum sounds? Please be as specific as possible because I have absolutely no idea how to do this. Is it terribly hard to figure out? I have never even programmed a drum machine before. Thanks!
 
Programming drums can be as simple or as difficult as you want/need it to be. Most software comes stock with a variety of MIDI grooves that you can just drag and drop into your DAW of choice and use as is. Or you can edit them in the MIDI piano roll. If you're not familiar with working with these tools, there will be a bit of a learning curve, but it's not too bad. My personal choice for software drums is Slate SSD, but I also own Addictive Drums, BFD 2, and Strike. (Mostly for more choices when it comes to kits.) Hope this helps.
 
Thanks for the help! I did some googling and found EZ Drummer 2. Do you have any experience with that? I watched a video with Ola Englund and it seems pretty straight forward. I will check out the others also.
 
My experience is with EZ Drummer and Superior Drummer. Both offer superb out-of-the-box drum sounds. I can't think of a better alternative to EZ Drummer 2 for someone who is just starting out. Very easy to use, with stellar professional sounds.

If you can play, you can get a set of electronic pads to trigger the samples and play these kits "live" as well.
 
I have the Slate drum plug and Superior Drummer from Toontrack.

EZ Drummer from Toontrack is what I would recommend. Toontrack also sells Midi drum packs; Midi tracks played by professional drummers with dynamics etc.

The advantage of the midi is it is fairly easy to edit in a DAW. So you get professionally played parts that can be tailored for your own songs.

To me that is much easier than playing it yourself or editing in the parts one note at a time.
 
I have the Slate drum plug and Superior Drummer from Toontrack.

EZ Drummer from Toontrack is what I would recommend. Toontrack also sells Midi drum packs; Midi tracks played by professional drummers with dynamics etc.

The advantage of the midi is it is fairly easy to edit in a DAW. So you get professionally played parts that can be tailored for your own songs.

To me that is much easier than playing it yourself or editing in the parts one note at a time.

The beauty of it is that you can combine all three methods. I like to play it, then edit the midi data afterward if needed.
 
Oh this is awesome guys! Thanks for the help. It looks like it might be easier that I thought to come up with some tunes. Maybe lol.

I like the idea of being able to make a track and then tweak it, possibly with drum triggers. I actually have a few triggers laying around. What is the best way to get the pads to midi? Is there a device that will take multiple trigger inputs and convert them right to usb?
Thanks Again! I am excited.
 
That brings up another question. I don't have a daw yet. Any suggestions? Anyone using cubase anymore? I have all PC's
 
That brings up another question. I don't have a daw yet. Any suggestions? Anyone using cubase anymore? I have all PC's

I'm using Reaper. Maybe not the most powerful, but for a knob like me, there are tons of very organized tutorials. I like the Kenny Gioia videos on youtube.

For drums I used to use Roland TTS-1 which came bundled with Sonar (which I abandoned). Programmed MIDI tracks for it in Reaper. Pretty bad. But believe it or not, we actually gigged with it, and it got the job done in a live mix.

I've switched to SSD4 (Steven Slate). I literally downloaded it last night (8 hours to download, thanks Time Warner). My first impression is it really sounds the bizness. No full review yet though, as I have yet to incorporate it into a project.
 
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