I'm wanting to create my OWN drum parts ...

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byrie

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Hi there

I'm wanting to create my own drum parts - i.e. I'm not interested at all in using pre-programmed beats or samples, but instead am simply wanting to write my own drum parts, note by note (or beat by beat), preferably by assigning each drum component (kick, snare, hi-hat, etc) to a separate channel which I can EQ/adjust volume accordingly.

I'm using SONAR 8 which comes with Session Drummer 2, however this seems to be more focussed towards using MIDI samples rather than creating own parts from scratch.

What should i be using - I've done quite a bit of research but can't seem to get any definitive answers. Should i just be using the Drum Map functionality within Sonar? Or with programs like EZDrummer or BFD - do these have the functionality that I'm after??

Any help would be awesome, thanks!
 
byrie said:
What should i be using -
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Dude, you've posted this in at least 3 different forums on this site.
 
RAMI said:
Dude, you've posted this in at least 3 different forums on this site.
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Apologies if that's not etiquette, but neither are some of the replies I've got in other forums, namely the Drums and Percussion forum - hence why I've posted in more than one forum. I'm simply after some helpful advice. If I'm not going to get it from one forum, I'll try multiple.
 
byrie said:
I'm using SONAR 8 which comes with Session Drummer 2, however this seems to be more focussed towards using MIDI samples rather than creating own parts from scratch.
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You've got your terminology confused. MIDI is exactly what you want to use. It is loops you want to avoid. Check your Sonar manual for MIDI tutorials.
 
Yeah you want to use midi. You just don't want to drop in pre done midi loops. You want to hand pencil them in.

Keep in mind, midi is only as good as the sampler your running it though.
 
RAMI said:
Dude, you've posted this in at least 3 different forums on this site.
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I merged the replies from the other thread to here and deleted the rest.

In the future, please choose only one forum to ask your questions and post there.

About your question:

You still need midi, just use an midi editor to write your own drum patterns. I use ezdrummer and do a lot of editing with it. I will start with a canned pattern, then change it up, cut and paste, make changes again.... etc. it's a lot of fun. I would think starting from scratch would be a little tedious.

I heard someone recently compare Sonar's Session Drummer to EZdrummer and said there was no comparison. EZD sounded much better than SD. ymmv.....
 
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Also keep in mind that even the best sample library will not sound remotely realistic if you just click notes on to a grid. Try tapping it out on a keyboard. If you can't do that and you have to click notes on to a grid, be sure to go in and tweek timing and velocity values of each individual note to seem human.
 
I use reaper, and I manually paste individual hits into the tracks. I also have multiple samples of each hit so that I can switch between them and get a slightly more human sound.
 
good post

Chili said:
I merged the replies from the other thread to here and deleted the rest.

In the future, please choose only one forum to ask your questions and post there.

About your question:

You still need midi, just use an midi editor to write your own drum patterns. I use ezdrummer and do a lot of editing with it. I will start with a canned pattern, then change it up, cut and paste, make changes again.... etc. it's a lot of fun. I would think starting from scratch would be a little tedious.

I heard someone recently compare Sonar's Session Drummer to EZdrummer and said there was no comparison. EZD sounded much better than SD. ymmv.....
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and nice job consolidating all the threads. is EZdrummer a standalone
program? can I use it in one computer and import my drum stuff into the
bigger computer? thanks for any help in this. I have cubase and it has
enough silly plugins I already don't like or use :D

I do like cubase. just feel the plugins are fairly pointless. lots of stupid
guitar amp modelers etc... I have enough crappy real amps. don't need
virtual crappy amps :)

anyway, is EZ standalone? or a plugin? I guess I could try looking for it
somewhere. thanks if you get this post. cheers!
 
billy3000 said:
and nice job consolidating all the threads. is EZdrummer a standalone
program? can I use it in one computer and import my drum stuff into the
bigger computer? thanks for any help in this. I have cubase and it has
enough silly plugins I already don't like or use :D

I do like cubase. just feel the plugins are fairly pointless. lots of stupid
guitar amp modelers etc... I have enough crappy real amps. don't need
virtual crappy amps :)

anyway, is EZ standalone? or a plugin? I guess I could try looking for it
somewhere. thanks if you get this post. cheers!
Click to expand...

EZDrummer is a plug-in, but they do have a free(?) program called Solo which will allow you to run ezd as a standalone. http://www.toontrack.com/news.asp?id=100

I think some of the plug-ins that come with Cubase are pretty good. But I've got a pretty old version, so don't know what there is now. Fortunately, you can just turn the plugs you don't like off in the plug-in manager.

Cheers and thanks,
 
Well, either get a drumkit and learn how to use it.

Or use Acoustica Beatcraft. Great program for doing exactly what you want to do with a great user interface. Stand-alone, as well.
 
Thanks Chili and Yammie!

Yammie072 said:
Well, either get a drumkit and learn how to use it.

Or use Acoustica Beatcraft. Great program for doing exactly what you want to do with a great user interface. Stand-alone, as well.
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much obliged :)
 
I use a tablature software called Guitar Pro, in which you can map everything from guitars, synths, drums etc. to midi, then export as midi files. It takes time, but i recommend it!
 
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byrie said:
I'm wanting to create my own drum parts - i.e. I'm not interested at all in using pre-programmed beats or samples, but instead am simply wanting to write my own drum parts...
Click to expand...

Any music computer program, I use Cubase, and a MIDI keyboard would be a good way to go. Just play the parts with your fingers on a MIDI keyboard.

The reason I like Cubase over all others in this respect is because it has Logical Edit which is a great way of editing the parts afterwards.

Lots of songs have been made this way. I've had, and still have, MIDI drum input devices, like a Kat controller, and prefer playing the parts on my MIDI keyboard to that.
 
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