uncle sixer
Member
I am just getting my home digital studio up and running with REAPER on a laptop. I have started using MT Power DrumKit 2 to get moving on some drum parts. It is working pretty well so far. I like that I can use the rhythm/fill library to start building things... then I can go into the MIDI track in reaper and tweak the parts (open/close hi hat, change kick drum pattern, etc).
For one song I am doing, I separated the cymbals, hihat, and toms to one track, bass to another track, and snare to a third track. Then I EQed each track a little as if they were from a mic-ed drum set (using reaper eq presets, actually). I also humanized the cymbals and toms about 10% and the bass and snare 5%. Overall, the drum tracks sound pretty good for a first try. I was wondering if anyone else separates the different drums from a (MIDI) groove? I figured if I add reverb I would want them separated.
Anything else I can do for getting a good, realistic sound out of free software? Is this overkill? I have heard that the drum samples are already about as good as possible (with no added effects) and I have been told that they are a starting point and meant to be manipulated/processed.
Am I going to end up buying EZ Drummer anyway? How much better is that? Is it harder to use?
Thanks for any advice.
For one song I am doing, I separated the cymbals, hihat, and toms to one track, bass to another track, and snare to a third track. Then I EQed each track a little as if they were from a mic-ed drum set (using reaper eq presets, actually). I also humanized the cymbals and toms about 10% and the bass and snare 5%. Overall, the drum tracks sound pretty good for a first try. I was wondering if anyone else separates the different drums from a (MIDI) groove? I figured if I add reverb I would want them separated.
Anything else I can do for getting a good, realistic sound out of free software? Is this overkill? I have heard that the drum samples are already about as good as possible (with no added effects) and I have been told that they are a starting point and meant to be manipulated/processed.
Am I going to end up buying EZ Drummer anyway? How much better is that? Is it harder to use?
Thanks for any advice.