Fake drums are sounding very real

  • Thread starter Thread starter Supercreep
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I don't know if I already posted on this thread, but anyway....

I use Fruity Loops. It was ninety-nine bucks and it works. I just program the drums in. There is one drawback:

They don't sound very realistic. But they get the job done for cheap demos (I just record at home on the computer using cheap software).


I'm going to upgrade soon to EZ Drummer or DFHS.



I don't want to have to do a lot of learning, but some of the guys at GC told me that if I know Fruity Loops well, and understand sequencing, that I should be able to learn new software easily.


There's also Reason 3.0. You can program drums AND any other instrument like strings and piano.


I always wondered how piano would sound with punk.

If you want to program all teh individual hits, and make drums sound more realistic, DFHS is geared towards that.....Ez-Drummer is way easier, and has so many different patterns already worked out, you could use that if you want the quickness, and it sounds extremely good. My only thought on it is, it can overshadow the rest of the stuff pretty easily. Using these programs, my drums always sound way better than the rest of the stuff...but I can put together drums in about an hour. All just kind of depends, and since I got an acoustic kit this year, I want to play more now.....
 
For me making music is a craft that is accompanied by a sense of accomplishment and and most of all fun. I hate programming midi and I feel like a big cheater using canned drum sounds. I have never felt as fulfilled and complete musically as since I learned to play drums. Now I do it all, no cut and pasting, no looping, no autotune, no fake crap. Just good old fashioned rock and roll....multitracked in single takes by yours truly. The way I see it is if you want to do what sounds the very best I am sure there will be a video game coming out shortly which will let you have the exact sounds of any artist and even song structure suggestions, hell you will probably be able to get a computer to write lyrics for you based on a style eventually. Technology is fun for playing musician. If you want to actually be a musician it takes a little more work. I don't want anyone to be able to punch my sound up on their little program, I want magic that can't be duplicated. That may be a pipe dream, an illusion but it's fun chasing that imaginary goal. I know for sure that I think of stuff playing natural that I would never think to program into a song. Feel and weirdness are musical magic.
 
For me making music is a craft that is accompanied by a sense of accomplishment and and most of all fun. I hate programming midi and I feel like a big cheater using canned drum sounds. I have never felt as fulfilled and complete musically as since I learned to play drums. Now I do it all, no cut and pasting, no looping, no autotune, no fake crap. Just good old fashioned rock and roll....multitracked in single takes by yours truly. The way I see it is if you want to do what sounds the very best I am sure there will be a video game coming out shortly which will let you have the exact sounds of any artist and even song structure suggestions, hell you will probably be able to get a computer to write lyrics for you based on a style eventually. Technology is fun for playing musician. If you want to actually be a musician it takes a little more work. I don't want anyone to be able to punch my sound up on their little program, I want magic that can't be duplicated. That may be a pipe dream, an illusion but it's fun chasing that imaginary goal. I know for sure that I think of stuff playing natural that I would never think to program into a song. Feel and weirdness are musical magic.



Fascinating. Fake drums are sure sounding real, though.
 
Fascinating. Fake drums are sure sounding real, though.
Sure. I was just stating that in my opinion that's not a good enough reason for ME to use them. I agree they sound great. They sound like drums, perfectly recorded drums, that's what they are. I won't be using samples or loops anytime soon just because it's less fun for ME.

Not arguing, just adding my thoughts. Is that ok?
 
you could always use an E-drum kit to trigger DFHS, that way you can get the feel of playing real drums, plus good sound.



or maybe that's already been suggested...i dunno.
 
I just want to use EZ Drummer for demos, songwriting, etc. I don't want to get rid of my drummer.
 
What kind of host program is necessary for EZ Drummer or DFHS?

I have Fruity Loops, and that's about it for sequencing software.

Any suggestions?

Oh, and I like to make a track for each drum. I lay down the bass drum, then the snare on a second track, then the symbols, then the toms, and finally the cowbell (when absolutely necessary) and other fun stuff.


Then, I go back and add/subtract hits. Then I mix it down to an MP3, and then import it (in stereo, of course), into Guitar Tracks.

I throw a noise gate on everything so that there isn't a breath of sound on any track that isn't supposed to be there, and then I start with my guitar.

I follow with bass, and then add vocals.


I'm very happy now with my guitar and bass sound.


But my drums SUCK.
 
I use Sonar for my software drums, but I think it might be supported by Reaper also.
 
I cant figure out this EZ Drummer thing. I can't even get the program to open for me. It's installed but I can't figure out shit.
 
I have a variety... Sonar, Photoshop, Cool Edit Pro.

I think I would have the best luck with Sonar.
 
Weird question for ya guys:

I want the sound of the DKFH software, with the imperfection of my actual drum timing. If I was to mic all of my drums individually, could I trigger the DKFH sounds by setting a relatively high threshold on the trigger? I don't want to fork the dough for the triggers, but I also don't want to purchase the DKFH software unless I know it'll do what I want it to. Any ideas? Thanks guys,

-Joel
 
Weird question for ya guys:

I want the sound of the DKFH software, with the imperfection of my actual drum timing. If I was to mic all of my drums individually, could I trigger the DKFH sounds by setting a relatively high threshold on the trigger? I don't want to fork the dough for the triggers, but I also don't want to purchase the DKFH software unless I know it'll do what I want it to. Any ideas? Thanks guys,

-Joel
You can trigger DKFHS either with triggers, or by converting your audio recording performance to MIDI using a VST plugin or other built in feature in a DAW application. I actually recommend the 2nd method for 2 reasons: 1. Much cheaper, 2. You have finer control over the end result. With triggers, if they don't capture the dynamics the way you want it you have to do it all over again.

Edit: ok you're the same dude who started the other thread, should have figured.
 
I use Fruity Loops to make rock drums. It takes a lot of tweaking and time but in the end you can get a very good result.
Check out this cover I made of Would by Alice in Chains. Drums are all Fruity Loops.
 
I'm moving to a slightly more upscale neighborhood where 100+db of drums is a no-no.


So tell us again why you are moving to this slightly more upscale neighborhood?

Sorry, but the studio wins over the neighborhood anytime with me.




Tim
 
Can i tell a story?

This whole "Real" Drums "Fake" drums thing has got me a little confused?

it does not matter what "Drum software program" is being use so long as it maps the trigger information to the actual sample?

now how is anyone’s 24bit recorded instance of say… a snare "real" and the 24bit Recorded instance of the snare sample that was recorded then(when the sample was made) "fake"?

here's my story (I’m not mentioning names) i was doing some "drum tech" with a Drummer that has recorded with some of the biggest name artist in the world and he was showing me some things he spent a lot of time setting the mics and etc the OH the Room mic etc.

then we tracked a beat and were in the control room when i had an awakening moment.

he was talking about separation and gating and he said "or instead of gating you could just cut each instance of the sample to where you want it"... then he thought a little more and said “actually what everyone does is cut the instance and then re-copy it along the track to save time.

to which i said "but isn't that just exactly the same as using a sample?" and he said "yeah pretty much" and said "so what about variance in the velocity" and he said "well you can get software to do all that now anyhow."

too which i said nothing.. let me tell you this is a guy that says if it's not analogue and in a studio costing at least $5000 per piece of gear it's not Real gear ... but these comments and the irony of setting up the drum mics to copy paste a single instance or variances of them was completely lost on him.

so get any drum Program (as long as it meets a few now basic minimum requirements) as long as your Samples were 24bit Professionally recorded who cares?

Want best of both worlds? get Drum software that you can include your own "real" drum samples that you recorded. set up one day record all the samples in different ways and velocities and then incorporate them into your drum software.

now you have your own drumkit in the software.
 
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