Elecktric drum recording help.

B

BlackSquire

New member
Hey guys!!

I recently got a Roland TD 4K2 electric drum set for my B day and I was wondering what is the best way to record them.
The Roland TD 4K2 has:
- MIDI out
- L/R jack out
- Phones out
- Mix in
and also has a 'Quick record' feature build on the drum interface but I have not played around with that too much yet.

I have an audio interface, the Tascam US 200 which has
- 2 inputs
- MIDI in/out
- 4 outputs plus Phones.
The software I use is Cubase LE 5 at the moment.

So looking at my options I an either
- MIDI
- L/R record
- Or quick record which I'm not so keen on.

I love the build in presents the Roland has already so if I were to MIDI record would I then lose that? if so can I then get the present back somehow?

If I L/R record how would I go about, I would think it could be rather difficult. But I could set up the kit on the drum interface to have each drum volume mixed to how I like it and then it wouldn't be as big of an issue.

I'm recording Rock music if that could effect anything and no, acoustic drums is not an option .

Thanks so much for your, I'm very new to the recording world.

Oh and one more thing, may be a stupid question but..
Do electric drums need to be EQ'd??

Thanks again!
 
Hey. You've got it sussed for the most part.

I don't know what quick record is, but the two main methods are audio (l+r) or midi which is just data.

If you record audio l+r you get what you hear. A stereo mix of the drums as they sound from the roland synth module.
That synth module receives midi information and uses it to trigger whatever patch you've selected.
The midi information comes from triggers in the drums.


If you record the midi only then you're bypassing the roland patches and just recording a data stream. It's a sequence of commands. A kick might be note c1 with a velocity of 67 or whatever.

That has no sound. It's just information. It becomes sound when you feed it to a synth (like your roland module), or a soft synth in the computer.
Addictive drums is an example.

The advantage of the latter is that you can adjust each drum independent of the rest. You aren't committed to the volumes, velocities etc.
If the kick is too loud you can turn it down.
You have full control of what kind of kit is being played even after you've done the recording.

If you go with the l+r audio option, you are committed to the drum sounds and can only really adjust the overall balance of the kit with eq etc.

Which one you go for is your call. There are advantages to both I guess.

Personally I'd go for midi just because if you make any mistake at all, like hitting the snare rim by mistake or something, you can just move it later.
Do you have any drum software that can receive midi data?

Do electric drums need to be eqd?
That can't be answered. It depends how they sound and what you're mixing them with.
 
Thanks for your help.
I don't have any drum software for Midi date. What would you recommend?
I'm pretty new to the world of drums and recording. Thanks for your help!
 
I might not be the best advisor for that. The only software I've used for this is addictive drums, and while I think it's fantastic, there might be cheaper/better options that someone else here might know about.

Addictive drums (XLN audio) has a demo as far as i remember though.
It only lasts 10 or 30 days. My memory is awful.
At least you could find out if you like it for free.
 
If you don't plan to use drum software like Addictive drums (and as a TD3 user, I strongly suggest you do as the module sounds are not nearly as good as software is these days) then you want to use BOTH midi and audio connections (L/R)

This is unless the Roland ONLY has midi out, in which case your kind of boned. But if there is a midi in and a midi out put on both your Tascam and your Roland then snag yourself some 5 pin midi cables and go out to in for each.

Then grab yourself some either some TRS or instrument cable and go from the L/R outs on your Roland brain into 2 line level inputs on your tascam.

The trick here though is to record the midi from the start onto a midi track, the way you route it is midi input set to the tascam and midi out to the roland. When you play back the midi it will play back the sounds through the drum brain. What is nice about this, is you can edit the midi data before you record it to an audio track using those L/R outs.

If you go software, you can ditch 3 of these cables and just rock and roll that way. The quality is considerably better as well. Addictive drums is a solid choice because it instantly maps to Roland stuff. EZ drummer is also ok, but the ride is a little messed up be default (the bell sound plays on the edge). Also some of the crashes can be (edge and tip will play different crashes in ez).


If you wanted my suggestion, grab yourself a copy of Addictive. Get the update from XLN audio, and use only one midi cable from the midi out on the Roland to the Midi in on the tascam. Use a new instrument track (with addictive drums running on it) in cubase and set the midi input to the tascam. Hit the arm button on the instrument track and have at it.
 
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