Adding "feel" to digital drums?

[Agtronic]

Hey guys, I don't know why I haven't joined this forum sooner! Great board you guys have here.

Anyways, I've been playing now for over 10 years, both guitar and drums, and I've acceled pretty well in both. Over all these years, I've always tried to make recordings of my ideas and such, but always had very poor results, especially with regards to drums.

I purchased a Roland TD-8 in an effort to eliminate trying to learn how to record real drums. At first, I was very impressed with them, but now that I've gotten used to the sound, I find them to be incredibly "flat" sounding. They sound digital.

What do you guys do in order to get realistic sound with your electric / digital drums?

I suspect adding some kind of reverb and maybe some compression would really help make them come alive, but I haven't tried that yet.

I just heard a sample from the link Stealthtech posted [MP3 LINK] and there is no way in hell I'm getting that kind of "ambiant" sound with my TD-8. I think the cymbals on my TD-8 sound so damn shitty, there must be something I can do?

If I can't get these drums to sound good, I'm going to sell them and get some mics, and take the time to properly mic my Pearl instead.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!

Oh! I forgot to add I'm using the latest Cubase, and I have no fear of investing in plugins if need be!

 

[Stealthtech]

I did the same thing a few years back. I purchased an electronic kit to avoid having to mic my other set. And as you said, at first it was really nice to use an analog stereo output straight to my card with the correct stereo spread and the power of midi to edit. But as time went on I realized it wasn't what I wanted. Last year I got the CD set from discrete drums and NYC drumworks {24bit audio samples of real drums} BIG DIFFERENCE !
I still use my electronic kit and midi to do my drum tracks but now I will only use the samples for the final recording using my EXS24 virtual instrument sampler in Logic.
I have found that cymbals seem to be limited on these CD's.
Im hoping someone will create a CD sampler with nothing but cymbals, crashes, rides, hats, etc.. of all the major manufactures brands. Perhaps there is one already and I haven't stumbled on it yet. In fact I think I'll start a new thread to see if anyone knows of one.
The great thing is, these drum samples are the only way I go now...wouldn't have it any other way.
At one time I thought about renting various kits from the Mars store and recording my own samples and creating a nice little collection...it would have been worth the money.

 

[mikeh]

I can't remember if the TD8 has this - but the TD10 has ambiance (ie: room mic settings) which allows you to set the amount of snare, toms, etc. that come through the "room mics" to add ambiance to the direct outs.

Certainly reverb can also help add some "space" to the sound of the e-drums. A "trick" that I learned many years ago involved running a drum machine through speakers into a room and use stereo mic'ing of the room to add room ambiance to the e-drum sounds (although if the room sounds bad, this may be more problem than solution).

I'm a fan of e-drums for recording (it eliminates the need for a lot of mics, a big room, etc. etc) but e-drums aren't accoustic drums (anymore than a simulator can make an electric guitar sound like a well mic'd accoustic, etc). It is simply the tradoff that must be considered.

There are some decent sample libraries (which obviously add costs to an already expensive e-kit). However, I don't know if we will ever see good cymbal samples - there are way to many overtones, harmonics, and decay factors to capture a good sample.

 

[Analytical Man]

What i like to do is put triggerson real acoustic drums,with dampened heads. I then use mics for the over heads to capture the cymbals, and some of the nuances of the real drums. I mix them with the triggered drums,and if done correctly will sounds very crisp,full,and real. Real cymbals are the only way to go. But sampled drums can sound great. Good Luck!