Drum track solutions?

[seamus]

Hi all,

I would post this in the drum section, but I'm still a Newbie and know nothing of what methods would be best. I do not require any dance, techno, hip hop, or otherwise. Those sorts of tracks would be of no use to me, I need traditional sounds and rhythms.

I would primarily be interested in rock beats and such. Standard times plus some odd times and variations would be great. Is there a software solution I should look at here? or is this best handled by some hardware device? The tracks don't need to emulate real drums, just something decent enough to back what else I'll have going on.

I'm basically in need of an affordable (or free) solution that would provide drum tracks for mixing in guitar, bass, etc. My main motivation for recording is as a writing tool, not looking to make demos or anything. For me the drum tracks are merely a rhythmic necessity, and if I thought I could record without them, I would.

As usual, any feedback is most appreciated.

 

[Queue]

Acid (from Sonic Foundry, I've used) and FruityLoops (from Cakewalk, I haven't used) are both loop-based programs that you can use to generate rhythm tracks using samples. Look at SonicFoundry's website in the loop libraries, they sell something called "RADS" Loop CDs that have nothing but drum samples...in pre-formed beats.

Some guitar and bass multifunction pedals throw in some basic drum rhythms, and they are good for what you seem to be trying to do.

There are many "drum machines" but I cannot comment on those, as I have no personal experience with those, other than one excruciatingly long learning curve trying to program one my brother had...

'Course you could get a $10 electronic metronome with a headphone jack on it....

Queue

 

[seamus]

I stopped by the site, that seems like it might be a good solution.

Looks like ACID is $60 and the RADS library is $50.

 

[PapillonIrl]

If you get the demo of Fuity Loops 3, and fork out for the full version of Beatslicer ( about $25 I think ), you can download dreal drum samples ( real drummers, not synthesised ) from alot of different places. Do a search from metacrawler.com or google.com for 'real AND drum samples'.

When you have downloaded some, try >FILE>IMPORT to import the .WAV file, tell fruity loops how many bars this beat conists of ( usually one, but not always ). Then FILE>EXPORT>BEAT TO SLICE, and then export it back to Fruity Loops ( I can remember the exact command, but it's simple enough ). When you have the beat looping in FL, you can FILE>EXPORT>EXPORT TO .WAV and save it as WHATEVER.WAV. Then you can insert it your multi tracking software, and loop it as many times as you want. Alot of sites offer fills as well as the basic drum beat, so combined with the functions of Fruity Loops, you can create fairly complex, real sounding drums.

Do get the full version of Beat Slicer though, because the quality of the samples is resuced considerably with the demo ver.


pAp.