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I am having problems with drums. I am not a drummer. I want a good program for creating drums or something that has good samples. What do you guys use if you don't have access to a drummer?

(I have bfd, logic pro, and a drum sample CD but not crazy about any of the sounds)

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anonymous Wed, 07/16/2008 - 03:58

I have heard lots of recommendations of the following, but have not used them:
Toontrack EZDrummer - Lots of assembled kits, and drop in MIDI files
Rayzoon Jamstix - virtual drummer. Makes up parts based on physics and how drummers think. I have heard this pairs well with BFD.

But what I ended up doing is buying an electronic drum set and learning to play. (I have been playing music since I can remember) For low budget easy stuff that needs a drummer I just play, for higher budget I use a friend of mine, or higher a session drummer.

-Steve

RemyRAD Wed, 07/16/2008 - 08:44

I like to record real drummers instead of playing with toys.

If I want samples? I have over 20 years worth of multitrack recordings that can be utilized as samples.

Perhaps you should put an advertisement in your local entertainment newspaper? Wanted: drummer.

Alesis SR16 makes for a good drummer if you know how to program it? They don't get attitude and don't ask for more beer

Ms. Remy Ann David

anonymous Wed, 07/16/2008 - 09:16

Live drums are the way to go for just about everything except electronic music, but that is probably debatable as well. I'm partial to Noble and Cooley, and old school Gretch myself.

Greener wrote: I use Mapex samples for the drums.
Zildjian and Sabian cymbal loops.
But my favorite piece is the sequencer.
A Greenermatic Fuzzy Logic 9000.
It has some time shift issues depending on C2H5OH input levels, this is more than made up for by the Gradient Time Funk Oscillator chipset.

:lol:

So you're saying your drum machine looks something like this:

RemyRAD Wed, 07/16/2008 - 11:42

Let's first be clear. I don't use any samples. If I wanted to use a sample? I would utilize a sample of a drum I recorded.

Otherwise, I'll use all SM57's along with a pair of SM 81's for overheads. If I want to go beyond that, I'll use MD421's on bass drum & snare drum, and/or all of the tom's. I frequently like to use AKG 414's for overheads or even U87's.

Equalization varies but is usually quite minimal. Sometimes limiters and downward expander gates are utilized on individual drums to tighten them up since I rely mostly on the overheads. Sometimes I'll limit and gate the bass drum & snare drum. But I almost always invert the phase of the bass drum.

My drums are killers sounding so, I'm not interested in anything anybody else might suggest. Try it. You'll like it.

Big drums. Fat drums. Rock you down.
Ms. Remy Ann David

Glide Wed, 07/16/2008 - 20:00

http://www.drumsondemand.com

Real Drums; easy to use.

Technical Information
Drums on Demand stereo loops (Vol. 1, 2, 4, etc.) were mixed down from multitrack recordings -- Pro Tools TDM Mix-3 with Apogee Converters and Lucid Master Clock. Various combinations of the following were used during the session recordings. For other Volume 3 and multitrack information see those pages.

Drums: Tama 5-piece with Zildjian and Paiste hats, Sabian and Paiste rides, Zildjian and Sabian crashes. Snares included Premiere 6" Maple, Arbiter 7" Maple, Ludwig 7" Bronze, Remo Piccolo, Custom 6" Maple, Ludwig 6" Chrome -- and others on Vol. 3.

Microphones Kick: AKG D112, Sennheiser E602, Sound Deluxe U195.Snare Top: Shure SM57, Microtech Gefell UM72. Snare Bottom: Shure SM57, Shure SM81. Hats: Audio Technica AT4031, AKG C451B. Toms: EV PL76s. Cymbals/Overhead Pairs: Coles 4038, AKG C414EB, A-T 4050. Stereo Room: Crown Stereo Ambient Sampling System, Neumann TLM103s

Analog Console: Large format Neotek Series III C. Outboard preamps/equalizers: Universal Audio 2-610, Universal Audio 2108, Vintech Audio 473, Millennia Media HV3, D.W. Fearn VT2, Demeter VTMP 2B, Sytek MPX4A, NightPro PRE-Q, NightPro 3D. Compressors: TubeTech LCA2B, Urei 1176LN, Urei LA2A, Empirical Labs EL7, Manley Variable-Mu. Hardware Reverb: Lexicon 480L. Major TDM Plug-Ins: McDSP FilterBank and compression, Focusrite Red Series, WAVs Rennasance EQ and compression and many more.

pr0gr4m Thu, 07/17/2008 - 13:20

When not recording real drums, I use BFD, Battery and all sorts of drum machines and samples I've collected over the years.

BFD drums generally need a little mixing. They aren't necessarly "final product" drums. There are tons of parameters available in BFD for altering the sounds of the individual drums and the kits as a whole. Work with those to get the best sound possible. Once you've got good sounds there mix the drums as if they were any other live drum kit. You should be able to get some good sounding drums with that.

I've read that DFH drums have more of a finish product sound. I've toyed with it but never really used it so I can't really say what the difference between BFD and DFH would be.