Drum Machines

31 Aug 2006, 11:56

i have used Native Instrument's BATTERY and Steinberg's LM4 vst plugins

both are pretty cool and very flexible - allow you to load in banks of sampled sounds, which effectively gives you access to the sound of any machine you can get the wavs for

robertzombie · 31 Aug 2006, 12:17

How do I make a drum pattern using audio editing software then? Do I need to repeat the .wav files over and over and then add cymbals and repeat them where i want them to be?

It all sounds very time consuming

Izzy HaveMercy · 31 Aug 2006, 12:43

robertzombie wrote:How do I make a drum pattern using audio editing software then? Do I need to repeat the .wav files over and over and then add cymbals and repeat them where i want them to be?

It all sounds very time consuming

You can do it like that, but that is very time-consuming. I do it that way, because the drum-samples I use with FGG are not always on the same beat and are more used as an effect or an enhancement, like cymbals, gons, timpani or woodblocks and the like.

For a drum pattern, use MIDI. Giving you a course in MIDI would take too long, Google a while, search for MIDI and HOW TO USE

To make it short, MIDI allows you to works with little 'blocks' which you can edit and 'draw' very fast when you have a standard drum pattern in mind.
Then you 'connect' each row of blocks to a MIDI channel on you plugin, and the block you drew will 'play' in the instrument you chose in the plugin.

This is veeeeeryy simply put, you can 'trigger' all kinds of stuff with MIDI like aftertouch, velocity, panning, modulator, etc etc...

IZ.

robertzombie · 31 Aug 2006, 13:02

With Midi do I need to tell it how long I want each note to last for and stuff like that?

Do I need a special Midi program?

nowayjose · 31 Aug 2006, 13:26

I've tried hydrogen http://www.hydrogen-music.org/ some time ago and it was quite nice; it's certainly nothing professional and apparently not finished yet but then again, it's free software and seems to work quite well. It's available for Unix/Linux, Windows and Mac. Comes with a number of drum machine samples (Boss, Roland, and diverse) and you can make new drumkits with samples.

robertzombie · 31 Aug 2006, 13:45

Thanks, I'll give it a go

methadrine · 15 Jul 2007, 18:00

Didn't want to start a new thread when this one still was available so I'll post my questions here instead:

Anyone own an DR-880? I'm considering getting one, since it got input for guitar and USB for the computer so I don't have to mess with MIDI as I would have to do on an SR-16 (which I'm also considering getting if the DR-880 doesn't do what I expect it do to..) but the question is, can the DR-880 output drums with the "sisters sound"? ..or is it just "modern" and boring sounds? Also, could it handle pre-programmed bass since I don't want any friggin' real bass in my little project..

Zuma · 15 Jul 2007, 18:21

robertzombie wrote:Thanks, I'll give it a go

as an afterthought to this , pick up a few issues - http://www.soundonsound.com/

Not a plug, have learned a lot from some of the articles....

Maisey · 15 Jul 2007, 19:41

Still using Acoustica Beatcraft

Its great, and I'm getting pretty good at it, even if I say so myself.

6FeetOver · 15 Jul 2007, 20:24

I play around with Reason, now and then...but I never like the stuff I make. Meh.

robertzombie · 17 Jul 2007, 18:26

Maisey wrote:Still using Acoustica Beatcraft

Its great, and I'm getting pretty good at it, even if I say so myself.

Yep, Beatcraft is great

.
The only downside is that some of the drum sounds are louder in (e.g.) the right speaker and quieter in the other.
Is there any way to level out the sound so it's equal in both speakers?

Maisey · 17 Jul 2007, 19:58

Record it using something like Audacity and use "pan", unless beatcraft already has a fan function... I don't recall.

http://rapidshare.com/files/43474930/Blitz.wav.html

above is some repetitive techno my girlfriend and I made using only Beatcraft

robertzombie · 17 Jul 2007, 20:00

ah yes! Beatcraft does have "Pan" in the advanced bit

.

*Downloading your drum thingy now*

robertzombie · 17 Jul 2007, 21:16

And here is an attempt at the Burn drums:
http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?a ... 8A5DAB143B

... now then, if only I could figure out the song on the keyboard.

Maisey · 17 Jul 2007, 22:26

Will download and listen shortly.

That track took an afternoon to make, and my girlfriend had never used a drum machine before, but I think it shows how versitile a toy beatcraft is.

Izzy HaveMercy · 17 Jul 2007, 22:39

robertzombie wrote:And here is an attempt at the Burn drums:
http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?a ... 8A5DAB143B

... now then, if only I could figure out the song on the keyboard.

Need some help with them Arabic Harmonies then?

I made a ringtone and a silly D'n'B version of the bloody thing, som I had to figger it all out

IZ.

robertzombie · 17 Jul 2007, 23:02

Care to share the knowledge?

Izzy HaveMercy · 17 Jul 2007, 23:03

I will one of these days

IZ.

Planet Dave · 18 Jul 2007, 11:18

You could have my old one Rob, but half the buttons dont work, and it has a tendency to act 'spontaneously' - ie make whatever noise it wants to.

eotunun · 18 Jul 2007, 11:25

Planet Dave wrote:You could have my old one Rob, but half the buttons dont work, and it has a tendency to act 'spontaneously' - ie make whatever noise it wants to.

Blimey, Dave! You have a real drummer there!

18 Jul 2007, 11:45

been playing around with garageband recently - it comes free with max os x and is kinda like logic pro lite (not to be confused with logic express...)

i havent tried recording real instruments into it yet, but the default VST instruments & drum banks it comes with are really quite something, and very configurable

and its probably one of the easiest DAWs i've ever used

Planet Dave · 18 Jul 2007, 12:07

eotunun wrote:
Planet Dave wrote:You could have my old one Rob, but half the buttons dont work, and it has a tendency to act 'spontaneously' - ie make whatever noise it wants to.
Blimey, Dave! You have a real drummer there!

I know, without the hissy fits or tendency to combust (actually i'm not so sure about the last one)

alice · 18 Jul 2007, 16:15

If you like cheapish sounds (like I do), go for this : http://machines.hyperreal.org/
I use Ableton live, made my own little beasts with Impulse, using samples, some from this site, some sampled from real 808's, 909's, DMX's etc....
Have fun. And turn the snare up to the max !!!

Dark · 18 Jul 2007, 18:14

Planet Dave wrote:You could have my old one Rob, but half the buttons dont work, and it has a tendency to act 'spontaneously' - ie make whatever noise it wants to.

If he doesn't want it...

Izzy HaveMercy · 18 Jul 2007, 18:42

robertzombie wrote:Care to share the knowledge?

Note: I always assume that every note is an eight note (eight in one beat). When a quarter note is played , I put a "-" behind the note to lengthen it with one eight note. Hence, a quarter note of F is "F-". A half note is "F---", a full note is "F-------" Simple comme bonjour

The notes between brackets are second lines flowing into a longer previous note.

Strophe:

F- A F B A G# F E F D E- E F E F- A F B A G# F E (G# A B A G# F E)
F- A F B A G# F E F D E- E F E F- A F B A G# E--------

Chorus:

E-- D- E- D E-- D- E- D C-- C-- C- G-- F-- F- (x2)

Cheers,

IZ.