DR-5 new owner...I have some questions, please

[Julia]

Hi...I just bought a DR-5 drum machine, and I surely could use some help optimizing my use of it. I was hoping that it would have fills programmed into the rhythm patterns, but it doesn't seem to. So I was hoping someone could please help me to learn how to actually make this thing sound like a drummer...complete with fills and all. I've read the manual, but it doesn't even speak of "fills". Gee...even my stinkin Yamaha PSR-47 enables one to use fills within the pre-programmed rhythm patterns.

All in all, what I'd really love to do is optimize my use of this DR-5 as a drummer and percussionist. I've listened to some mp3's from some folks who are fellow members of this site, and they really sound awesome. I want my stuff to be awesome as well.

Any thoughts, suggestions on how I can optimize my use of this great machine...I would most graciously accept, and gratefully appreciate.

Thanks.

Julia

[Diragor]

Adding fills is just a matter of stitching one extra pattern into the sequence. If you look at the pre-programmed patterns that come loaded on the machine you'll notice they come mostly in sets of 3 (if I remember correctly), with two of the patterns being basic rhythm patterns and another being a fill. So when you're composing the song you stick in say 3 repeats of the basic rhythm patterns, switch to the fill, then back to the rhythm pattern (or on to the chorus, whatever).

I've heard a complaint from somebody else about this before. The DR5 can produce some great stuff, I love mine, but it's certainly not an "instant drummer" kind of machine. You have to do all the work with rolls, fills, etc. when creating your own patterns. Sounds like you're talking about the presets though, in which case you just need to forget the word "fill". A fill is just another pattern to the DR5.

[Julia]

Hi, Diragor...thanks so much for taking the time to respond to my question.

I'm still working toward learning how to program this thing. And I've learned too late that it's not an "instant drummer"...being a percussionist/drummer myself, I really hope I'll be able to learn the technical aspects of programming this machine to act like an AWESOME percussionist/drummer! I can drum well, but I'm not exactly...well...technically savvy.

I'm VERY glad to hear that you love your DR-5. Any hints/tips/suggestions you might have to make learning how to use the DR-5 for optimal usage easier, I surely would appreciate so much.

Thanks again.

Have a wonderful night.

Julia

[Diragor]

I don't have any helpful tips off the top of my head, it's been years since I really did anything with my DR-5. I filled the pattern memory and haven't touched it since. I'm going to start using it again though - I bought Logic Audio for live instrument recording but it's supposed to have some awesome sequencing features. I'll hook up my DR-5 and Alesis D4 and get back into that techno/industrial stuff a little.

[Julia]

Does this render your DR-5 useless? As I see it, one can create 200 new (user defined) patterns and 30 new kits or so. Once you've used up that memory, can't you simply erase some and keep right on going?

By the way...the only thing I'm finding that I really don't like about this machine is the immense amount of time it takes just to write out the drum/percussion parts for a song. Any short-cuts?

[Diragor]

It's still useful as a drum sound module triggered by an external sequencer. The number of patterns isn't the limit I hit - it holds a certain number of notes, counting all the patterns combined. You can delete patterns or even clear the whole memory, but I didn't want to do that until I have my finished stuff recorded on a high-quality medium. Now I have the PC recording rig to do it, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

Are you programming the patterns note-by-note? I thought it was pretty quick and easy doing loop recording in realtime.

[Julia]

Hi! Thanks for the reply. I appreciate it very much.

Yes, I'm doing it note-by-note. Sigh. VERY time consuming.

Of course, there are hardly enough hours in the day to record music in the first place. I love it, but time really runs away with me. I could sit for 2 days working on a song and never notice the time passing. That's bliss, but the rest of the world doesn't understand Nobody understands me. Everybody wants me to come out and play, and I want to just sit on an island with my BR-8, my DR-5, my guitars, my keyboard, my computer, and myself. Okay, and some Reese's peanut butter cups.

But that's a whole other issue. In response to your question, however...I am putting these patterns down note for note and finding it really time-consuming. Also, I've heard some really nice demos which were created using the DR-5, and the drums sound like there was a real drummer in the studio. I guess that takes some heavy-duty tweaking, but I'd sure like to get that ability down as well.

I appreciate your continued thoughts/ideas/suggestions immensely.

Have a great day...and thanks again.

Julia

[Diragor]

I went the opposite direction - I was doing heavy industrial stuff at the time and decided that if I was going to use a drum machine I was going to take advantage of it. It doesn't sound much like a real drummer most of the time. In most of the songs I have 2 or 3 different snare and kick sounds going on, all kinds of layers rhythms and synth parts on other DR5 tracks, the Alesis D4 being triggered with even more sounds, etc. The only semi-finished tune I have in mp3 is here: http://aisle4.pair.com/personal/music/RoughMix.mp3 . I'm going to go back and finish all those old songs and record them so I can clear the memory and do some more with it. Plus, I've never fully realized those tunes to their full potential, it'll be nice to polish 'em up.

I think you came to the right place to find people who understand the desire to hole up and write music for days on end . Lord knows I do - you should see the studio that's taken over my living room .

[Julia]

Thanks...I'm on my way to listen to your mp3...glad you passed it along.

As for your studio taking over your living room, I can go you one better than that. There are days when I wish my kids would live down the street, and I could visit them when my song is finished! Kinda kidding, but...as much as I adore them, when I'm into recording something...well...let's just say I really don't miss them all that much while they're at school.

[monty]

Oh no!

[Tweedville]

Julia..........I've had my DR-5 for almost 5 years now,and although it took a little while to learn,it has been well worth it! I have done an entire CD using it,as well as many demos.It's the best writing scratchpad,and if you need keyboard parts to pad the mix,it is good for that.As far as fills,I've been able to write and program all my own patterns,instead of all the "tired" patterns that many drum machines offer.Hang in there,and you will see that it is well worthy it! Good luck!

[Julia]

Hi, Tweedville...

Thanks very much for your words of encouragement. I'll continue working at it...but meanwhile, it's really nice to hear that there's a musician out there who has been using the unit seriously and satisfactorily for 5 years! Good news for me. Thanks.

Should you have any tips/suggestions/ideas to share, I'd certainly appreciate anything you'd be willing to send my way. Just for instance, how about thoughts around the idea of programming a song in which the does a "ritardando" or "accelerando"...or even at the conclusion of a song, if the song slows, and the rhythm's tempo must slow as well...or drop out completely, but not entirely obviously.

Any thoughts along these lines? I would appreciate any ideas and tips you might have. ANd thanks once again for the encouraging words. I really appreciate you taking the time to post them.

Julia

[peeler]

Cool... Looks like there are several experienced DR-5 users out here!!! I have a cheapo CASIO keyboard that I want to use to control my DR-5 via MIDI. I want to double check on my connections... How should the MIDI cable(s) be connected between the two devices??? I've had trouble finding the correct MIDI "channel"... Has anyone else done this? The DR-5 manual really wasn't much help... Can someone walk a VERY unexperienced DR-5 user through this process? What settings need to be changed on the DR-5? Thanks in advance for any help!

[Scooter B]

Hi Tweedville,

I have a question on gettng reasonably good quality sound from my DR-5 on four track demos. Although the sound on headphones while programming is decent the recorded sounds are VERY mechanical and cheap sounding.

While looking for other tidbits of wisdom on this sight I may have found one awnser relating to a unified dislike of the Alesis 3060's. Unfortunately I believed the ads describing this unit as "a studio standard". While I had not found the unit particularly usefull (except for the noise gate) I assumed I just didn't know how to use its potential.

Since you were satisfied enough to use it for a CD project I would love to here any recomended tweaks to make it sound less artificial.

Scooter B (Newbie)

Originally posted by Tweedville
Julia..........I've had my DR-5 for almost 5 years now,and although it took a little while to learn,it has been well worth it! I have done an entire CD using it,as well as many demos.It's the best writing scratchpad,and if you need keyboard parts to pad the mix,it is good for that.As far as fills,I've been able to write and program all my own patterns,instead of all the "tired" patterns that many drum machines offer.Hang in there,and you will see that it is well worthy it! Good luck!

[peeler]

Has no one ever done this? I'm desperate... I can't get these two to play together. Please help. Thanks!

Originally posted by peeler
Cool... Looks like there are several experienced DR-5 users out here!!! I have a cheapo CASIO keyboard that I want to use to control my DR-5 via MIDI. I want to double check on my connections... How should the MIDI cable(s) be connected between the two devices??? I've had trouble finding the correct MIDI "channel"... Has anyone else done this? The DR-5 manual really wasn't much help... Can someone walk a VERY unexperienced DR-5 user through this process? What settings need to be changed on the DR-5? Thanks in advance for any help!

[zophim x]

julia..., i picked up a book at my local guitar center called "200 drum machine patterns' by rene-pierre bardet (a hal leonard publication)for about $10.00 us. it's pretty easy to follow and has some basic ideas for fills, breaks and patterns. i used to get some ideas and then modify the parts a bit to make it my own.
also, when programming fills i usally throw accents in odd places with in the fill to kind of emulate the feel and inconsistancy of a real drummer. hope this helps...

[Diragor]

peeler - I've done some MIDI control stuff to and from the DR5 before, but it's been such a long time I don't remember much. I'd have to look at it again. Soon I'm going to be recording some old stuff off of it so I can wipe the memory, and I'll take a look at that stuff and post about it.

[peeler]

Thanks Diragor, I gave up on it... Any direction you can give me is VERY much appreciated!!!

[muzeman]

Peeler,
I had a DR5 and a casio keyboard.I'll try to help,but it's all from memory.
To sync them up you put both on midi channel 10,the DR5 to play the drum track,and copy any kit to a user kit and name it midi.
Then push the keys on the keyboard until it plays a drum sound on the DR5.This is your starting point.
Then you go to the midi menue on the DR5 and look at the midi note #.This is where you program the two together.This note number means thats the midi note # of that key on your keyboard.If you count down from there the keys on the casio(including the black ones)to the first key,you have the first midi note #on the keyboard.
Then go back to the Dr5,hit the first pad on the bottom,go to the midi note # screen and put the number for your first key there.You have to do this for all the pads on the DR5,just increase the note # by one for each pad.This takes a while but you only have to do it once.
When your done you can put any drum sound you want on any pad by hitting shift and pad on the DR5 and scrolling through the different drums.Just use your user midi drum kit and they should be synced.
If you can't get the casio to play any drums,just try each pattern until you get at least one drum sound to play,copy the kit,find the note# and start from there.
I hope this helps,let me know how you make out.
Good luck,
Pete

[peeler]

muzeman - this is exactly the kind of info I was looking for. I'll have a chance to try this out this weekend.

Thanks again, and I'll let you know how I come out. hopefully i won't be back w/ questions.