drum machine for recording...

  • Thread starter Thread starter RoOkiE85
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amonte said:
Simman, you sold me. Those drums sound GREAT!

Does DFH allow you send drums to seperate channels? In other words, can you isolate the snare to one track so that you can add eq/compression/etc. through VST plugins?
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Yes you can. :D

Since I don't mix "in the box" and use all rack hardware, here is a brief exlpanation of the process I use.

DFH C&V uses a sequencer. Why they didn't make this a stand alone product (similar to DFH2), I can't understand; especially, since it is capable of supporting "live" gigs.

Nonetheless, I use DFH C&V in Sonar Producer 4 and route the individual drums out of a Delta 1010. This gives me 8 outputs that get tracked into an HD-24. Since I only have 8 outs, I also record the MIDI out of the TD-8 so I can play back and record the "room" (ambience) mics.

10 drum tracks into my HD-24

Delta 1010 outs to HD-24
Ch1 - Kick
Ch2 - Snare top
Ch3 - Snare bottom
Ch4 - hihats
Ch5 & 6 Toms
Ch 7 & 8 Overheads
MIDI play back & record Ch 9 & 10 ambience

Once everthing is tracked, the respective tracks are sent into my mixer (Ghost) to be mixed with the rest of the instruments. Since the DFH samples themselves have no processing on them, you may need to EQ, compress, and put effects on the drums during the normal mixing process.

The best part is this all works fairly seemlessly and produces outstanding results. :D
 
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so, i understand that the dfhs is a software, right??? and it is made by toontracks, right???
 
So DFH2 has its own sequencer, but the Custom & Vintage product doesn't? That is kind of lame...but, perhaps Toontrack will release a C&V2 version, and there will be a price drop for the original volume...dare to dream...

How are you using the sequencer in Sonar? Are you using an e-kit, putting notes/velocites in using a piano roll, or playing the parts on a keyboard?
 
I guess it depends on what you are looking for in a drum machine. For the dance stuff there are plenty of good VA's out there (xBase, Machine Drum, Korg ER-1) but for more live sounding drums a sampler is the way to go (Akai MPC is kinda the king for this). I have used BFD(VSTi) alot recently and it has a solid collection (pretty much everything out there Tama, DW, Ludwig etc) and the humanizing feature works really well so you don't have that super tight sequenced sounding drum track
 
amonte said:
So DFH2 has its own sequencer, but the Custom & Vintage product doesn't? That is kind of lame...but, perhaps Toontrack will release a C&V2 version, and there will be a price drop for the original volume...dare to dream...

How are you using the sequencer in Sonar? Are you using an e-kit, putting notes/velocites in using a piano roll, or playing the parts on a keyboard?
Click to expand...

Yah it's lame. DFH2 uses an interface written by native instruments and man does it ever suck (especally the hi hat control). The interface for DFHS & C&V were written directly by the toontrack guys. It's kind of funny that they would not include a "stand alone" interface since they seem to be tuning into the e-drum community and offer templates/maps for all different drum brains.

I have long since given up on live gigs but, I do hope at some point they develop a stand alone application for guys that are still out there and want to use the samples.
 
RoOkiE85 said:
what about the BOSS DR-880 or the BOSS DR-770???? whats the difference between them anyways??
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I looked at them before deciding I liked the DR-3 better, and on top of that, it was way cheaper. I based my decision on playing around with them at the music store.

While I haven't been overly enamored with the preprogrammed patterns on the DR-3, the thing is totally user programmable...I've programmed my own patterns. You can also define drum kits, combine patterns into songs and stuff like that. each "patch" can have 6 different drum patterns (8 including intro and ending), in addition to 3 different fill patterns. The patterns are triggered from the buttons.

The dr-3 also has bass built-in as well.

The menus can be a little awkward, but if you're patient, it'll do a lot.

One thing the dr-3 can't do is write out - it's got a MIDI in but not an out...so there's no way to create a program to save patterns. I don't know if the 880 or 770 has that capability. Something to consider.
 
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