Hi! New here, and could use some advice.

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Busted_Soup

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Hi everyone. I'm not positive I'm in the right place, or even the right board for that matter, but I was hoping I might be pointed in the right direction.

So here's my situation:
I'm a drummer, and was recently in an accident in which my arm/wrist was broken pretty badly so I'm not going to be able to play for a while unfortunately. In the meantime, I was hoping to find some pretty basic software that might help scratch my part-writing itch. I play with a couple groups, one a sort of jazz/rock/psychedelic type deal, and the other more acoustic folk based but that tries to utilize some more interesting percussion instrumentally and rhythmically. Since I can't do much with a kit or aux percussion at the moment, I wanted to find some software where I would be able to import some scratch tracks or something, and experiment over them. I would only need some basic acoustic drum and aux percussion sounds, and they wouldn't need to sound incredible because the point is more to see how they might sound and what I could try when I am able to start actually playing again. Does anyone have any idea what software I could use to achieve this that would preferably be free, or at least pretty cheap? I started looking into the various beat-making software out there, but had a hard time trying to figure out what might be able to do what I was hoping, as I have very little experience in this sort of thing. If this is probably not the best forum to ask about this, could I be pointed in the direction of one that might be better? It seemed most of the beat making forums were geared toward hip-hop or electronic, which are pretty far from what I was hoping to use the software for.

Thanks everyone, I appreciate any help I can get. :)
 
You can download a trial verson of EZDrummer 2 at toontrack.com, but the full version cost is around $150.
 
Drum software doesn't come very cheap, at least not the ones that try to sound real. Steven Slate, EZDrummer and Superior Drummer are all 100$+
 
And you might need an "add pack" or two to get interesting percussion elements other than your basic kit. You'll also need a host program if you don't have one.
 
Thanks guys, I'll definitely be looking into those. As I said though, I really don't need it to sound great or realistic even, that's why I was hoping there would be some sort of free or cheap alternative with just the basics.
 
Busted_Soup said:
Thanks guys, I'll definitely be looking into those. As I said though, I really don't need it to sound great or realistic even, that's why I was hoping there would be some sort of free or cheap alternative with just the basics.
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Again, try free trials that are available i.e. for EZdrummer or Sonoma DrumCore. And EZdrummer is available as a standalone, so you don't need to use it as a plugin on your DAW.

Ultimately, if you have any interest in writing songs on your own, even paid versions are a great investment. But if you just want to find a way to write drum parts while your hands out of commission then do some research and find a free standalone drum VST. Here's a list of drum VSTs, some of which offer free trials, but given what you've told us, I would just use the EZdrummer 2 demo version.

Sorry to hear about the hand, man
 
Not a suggestion on software but...My brother in law was one of the regions best regarded gigging drummers. He had a serious accident which took out his gigging diary for 6 months. He took that time and learned to read and write music, specifically drum parts. He is now one of the most in demand drummers in the country... He did it with one hand on a midi keyboard and then onto a kit as the rehab and physio kicked in...... Just a thought.
 
muttley600 said:
Not a suggestion on software but...My brother in law was one of the regions best regarded gigging drummers. He had a serious accident which took out his gigging diary for 6 months. He took that time and learned to read and write music, specifically drum parts. He is now one of the most in demand drummers in the country... He did it with one hand on a midi keyboard and then onto a kit as the rehab and physio kicked in...... Just a thought.
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That's really fucking impressive, well done
 
Yeah, that's very impressive, inspiring for me haha. Thanks for the suggestions, I'm gonna be giving some of these trial versions a go.
 
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