I'm trying to decide on the best approach to making drum tracks for my music. It seems most programs require external hardware like drum machines or MIDI controllers. I just want a program that allows me to drop drum hits note by note, measure by measure. I used to use a program called Drumsite (Drumsite - drum machine) that did exactly this but I was hoping there is another option as navigation around Drumsite can be a little rough. I downloaded a demo version of Battery 3 (which seems to be regarded as the ultimate drum program) but I'm totally lost with it and it looks to me that you can't create full, custom drum tracks the way I want to. I'm not computer savvy so if you could, dumb down the technical terms for me. Thanks for any help.
How Can I Make Drum Tracks?
- Thread starter RTWmaniac
- Start date
Quicksilver
New member
Since you mention that you've download a demo of Battery 3, it would be possible for you to use Battery as a VSTi inside your main DAW software.
You'll be able to use the MIDI editor within the software to manually add/remove/modify MIDI information - or in your case, drum notes.
You'll be able to use the MIDI editor within the software to manually add/remove/modify MIDI information - or in your case, drum notes.
TetraFish
Well-known member
You don't mention what DAW your using but if you're willing to spend a few bucks I would recommend EZ Drummer if you're DAW is compatible.
It comes with "Groves" that you can just drag and drop into your songs and then edit them form there. It's easy to use, has lots of drum patterns and has a wide variety of add on packs. You can also split the output to eight discrete channels and mix them, add inserts etc.
It comes with "Groves" that you can just drag and drop into your songs and then edit them form there. It's easy to use, has lots of drum patterns and has a wide variety of add on packs. You can also split the output to eight discrete channels and mix them, add inserts etc.
Armistice
Son of Yoda
I'm using Addictive Drums via Reaper and placing each drum or cymbal hit with my funky drumming mouse via the Reaper MIDI editor.
Takes a while, but you get a good result. No MIDI controllers, pads, keyboards. Don't even use the piano key view... just do it straight onto the grid.... Equally you could use EZ Drummer or any other sample library in the same way...
Takes a while, but you get a good result. No MIDI controllers, pads, keyboards. Don't even use the piano key view... just do it straight onto the grid.... Equally you could use EZ Drummer or any other sample library in the same way...
Murdersgalore
New member
IF you want total control (and don't mind a little tedium) you could try a tracker such as modplug (now known as OpenMPT) or Renoise. There's a bit of a learning curve though.
This seems like the route I want to go, although I'm not sure what exactly a VSTi is or does. I use Adobe Audition 3.0. How do I use Battery "inside" Audition? And I can program my own, custom drum tracks this way?
Murdersgalore
New member
Audition can't use VSTI's so you are SOL there. A VSTI is a virtual instrument plugin. You can drop them into a DAW's slot like a VST plugin but they can be triggered by MIDI commands.
ChickenStomp
New member
I would definitely recommend EZ Drummer. I have been using it and it is extremely versatile and easy to use. You can set the volume of each mic on the drum kit, pan the mics, choose from different drum sounds for each piece of the kit, and change the velocity of each individual hit. Not to mention all the expansion packs you can get
Armistice
Son of Yoda
Yo OP.....
Drum sample libraries aren't necessarily executable programs in their own right - they are asccessed as a VSTi from inside another program. Read this for an explanation
As a free test - download Reaper, and download Addictive Drums demo...
Once you have Reaper, you tell it where the Addicitive Drums .dll file is (numerous posts here and on web generally as to how to do this...), Insert a new MIDI item as a track... double click it and start thumping...
This will give you a taste of how it all works - you can then choose to use other programs if you wish but at least you'll understand how it all works.
Once you have a set up like this it's relatively easy to do exactly what you're trying to do... and that is exactly what I'm doing now. Each and every hit is placed in position by me... using a mouse
Drum sample libraries aren't necessarily executable programs in their own right - they are asccessed as a VSTi from inside another program. Read this for an explanation
As a free test - download Reaper, and download Addictive Drums demo...
Once you have Reaper, you tell it where the Addicitive Drums .dll file is (numerous posts here and on web generally as to how to do this...), Insert a new MIDI item as a track... double click it and start thumping...
This will give you a taste of how it all works - you can then choose to use other programs if you wish but at least you'll understand how it all works.
Once you have a set up like this it's relatively easy to do exactly what you're trying to do... and that is exactly what I'm doing now. Each and every hit is placed in position by me... using a mouse
If you still want something that acts as a standalone, I have used a few free software options that are pretty good. One disclaimer: the following is all for Windows (since that's what I use). It may or may not be available for other platforms.
The most "straightforward" I think I've come across is DrumTrack by supercoldmilk:
DrumTrack
It's not the most powerful thing on the market, and to be honest I have only used pre-1.0 versions, but it does the basics quite nicely. There's a little bit of a learning curve, but I'm pretty sure it handles the basics (the basics being velocity/volume, tempo, time signature) pretty well.
Keep in mind that it's not 100% functional yet (though again, the 1.0+ alphas might have all the parts in place). However, when I tried it it did allow you to add your own samples to make custom kits.
The one I've come back to after moving away from it (it was buggy) is Hydrogen, which is also available for Linux (and I think OSX):
Hydrogen - advanced drum machine for GNU/Linux
However, the Windows port of it is technically a non-official experimental release:
Hydrogen Forum > Hydrogen on Windows > hydrogen0.9.5_free_setup ( new windows installer )
Hydrogen actually has a few features over DrumTrack, like automatic humanization (for timing and swing as well as velocity). Adding custom kits is a little more complicated, but they're also a bit more powerful (for example, you can set up velocity-dependent layers for each instrument). It's also a more popular program, so some searching should find you some pre-made kits by others.
I don't do a lot of drum programming in general, but when I do, I've had good success with these.
If you're using a DAW that can hoste them, there's also some cool free VSTi plugins (again, Windows-only is possible) that I like:
GTG DP3
GTG DrumSampler I
FrettedSynth SoftDrum (versions exist using samples or Soundfonts)
VirtuaDrum by Angular Momentum
I actually know that most of those aren't available anymore, but you might be able to find them hosted by a third-party freeware plugin site. However, many of those will let you load up your own samples, but they all will come with at least 1 standard set to work with.
The most "straightforward" I think I've come across is DrumTrack by supercoldmilk:
DrumTrack
It's not the most powerful thing on the market, and to be honest I have only used pre-1.0 versions, but it does the basics quite nicely. There's a little bit of a learning curve, but I'm pretty sure it handles the basics (the basics being velocity/volume, tempo, time signature) pretty well.
Keep in mind that it's not 100% functional yet (though again, the 1.0+ alphas might have all the parts in place). However, when I tried it it did allow you to add your own samples to make custom kits.
The one I've come back to after moving away from it (it was buggy) is Hydrogen, which is also available for Linux (and I think OSX):
Hydrogen - advanced drum machine for GNU/Linux
However, the Windows port of it is technically a non-official experimental release:
Hydrogen Forum > Hydrogen on Windows > hydrogen0.9.5_free_setup ( new windows installer )
Hydrogen actually has a few features over DrumTrack, like automatic humanization (for timing and swing as well as velocity). Adding custom kits is a little more complicated, but they're also a bit more powerful (for example, you can set up velocity-dependent layers for each instrument). It's also a more popular program, so some searching should find you some pre-made kits by others.
I don't do a lot of drum programming in general, but when I do, I've had good success with these.
If you're using a DAW that can hoste them, there's also some cool free VSTi plugins (again, Windows-only is possible) that I like:
GTG DP3
GTG DrumSampler I
FrettedSynth SoftDrum (versions exist using samples or Soundfonts)
VirtuaDrum by Angular Momentum
I actually know that most of those aren't available anymore, but you might be able to find them hosted by a third-party freeware plugin site. However, many of those will let you load up your own samples, but they all will come with at least 1 standard set to work with.
I use Soanr PE.