recording electronic drums

[peteuk90]

Hi,
I have been in and out bands for (damn! I feel old) a decade or so!! Now my friends and I have decided playing live is not an option! So recording is what we would like to do. I have a great little bit of software called "Magix" Music Studio7 and it sems pretty easy to follow. To record, bass, guitars, vox, keys etc seems staright forward. (now this is the bit where I need someone's help) Drums? We have decided to get an electronic kit, mainly due to the volume level (living in a residential area, acoustic drums are limited if ever viable)

As with guitars, mics etc is the only way to record an electroic kit, is to "mix" the output sound on the kit itself, thus meaning one channel on the PC? We would obviously love to mix each individual drum. Can this be done? If so.. how? Would my our PC need 8(?) inputs at the back?

Please someone help... a drum machine isn't an option.. our drummer isn't ready for retirement yet!

Any help or advice is seriously appreciated.

Thanks in anticipation.

[TimOBrien]

Far better to record the drumset via MIDI.

One cable going into the computer and when it gets there you can manipulate the tracks as much as you want and even replace the sounds for each hit with a number of sampler programs.

It gives you much more options and control rather than just recording the audio signal.

[the_riverbed]

Hi all,

I have a similar question.. I recently got my -edrums, when i say recently i mean recently, less than a week. I created my own drums, using very helpfull tips found on the net. I also purchased an alesis d4 module. What I wanted to know, is that since i got the gist of creating home made pads and the module does not support more than 8 inputs, how can i connect other pads to the drum kit..It would be great for great special sounds, effects, latin and so on..

I was told what i need is a midi interface or a midi trigger (?)...But i dont know anything about midi technology. Is there anyone who can explain to me what will i need? Hardware and software? If you knew any specific items would be fantastic..

Thanks a lot..

[Cyrokk]

I know nothing about midi.

However, assuming that when you say "electronic kit" you mean a programmable drum machine, you should have a function called SMPTE. With this feature, you will not need a multiple in/out soundcard to record each piece of the kit. All that is required is a single input and single output.

After you program your tracks on the drum machine, you connect your drum machine to track 1 through the SMPTE output of the drum machine. You record the SMPTE output to track 1 while playing the drum machine.

Afterwards, you connect the output of the SMPTE you recorded on track 1 to the SMPTE input on the drum machine. This syncs up the performance of the drum machine and you can record each instrument individually without losing having to try and sync everything up.

[mikeh]

First - I agree it a preferable to record the MIDI performance and then use that to trigger the drum brain. This allows you to delay committing to any specific drum sounds until later in the mix. The number of analog outs on the module detemines how flexible your mixing abilities - some modules only have 2 outs, some have four and some have 8.

Regarding trigger inputs - if the module only has 8 inputs, then the only out way to trigger more sound would be through MIDI. There are MIDI converters (I know Roland makes one) that will accept four pads and then send the data out via MIDI.

Or as an option, you can hook up a multi pad (such as a Roland SPD 6 or SPD 20 - or a Drum Kat, or I beleive Hart also makes a multi pad unit) to the MIDI in of the drum module to trigger additional sounds.

[the_riverbed]

thanks for your replies. Actually i was thinking of the roland pads but they are really pricey.. I ll have my eyes open on ebay for that..

Another question..i have created a home made percussion multi pad board, nothing more than 6 individual triggered pads, and their outputs..I am thinking on connecting them on a midi interface to the computer, and individually assign sounds on each pad...Just hope it s possible

Anyway, thanks again for your replies..

[mikeh]

I don't remember the model number, but the Roland interface, which accepts I believe 4 trigger inputs and coverts the signals to MDID is relatively low cost (around $200 I think).

This unit had just come out in about 2001 - perhaps Hart or Pintech have now come out with something like it.