Question about programming MIDI drums

[DaveO]

For those of you who program MIDI drums and have the patience to wade through a long post ....

I have a Boss DR-770 and until recently I've done all my programming right on the pads - in step mode no less! I am now trying to get into programming them in MIDI.

I use n-Track as my multitracking software and though it does MIDI, I haven't gotten comfortable using its built-in piano roll editor I started looking at notation packages such as Noteworthy Composer, Cakewalk's Music Creator, and Coda PrintMusic. They all their strengths and weaknesses but so far I haven't found one I felt comfortable with.

I like the notation packages because I can write out the drum track in normal music notation. The problem I found, at least with the ones I demoed, is that I'm forced to group notes in a way that I don't really want to. For example, take a simple 4/4 beat with 8th notes on the hihat, kick on each beat, and snare on the 2 and 4. When I'm editing, my brain says "Use 8th notes for the hihat, 1/4 notes for the kick, and use 1/4 rests and notes for the snare". That screws me up because the software packages expect me to use eigth notes for everything and I'm not thinking that way. I always seem to end up using the wrong note value because I forgot to change it when I need to, or change it when I shouldn't. So I get bogged down correcting mistakes and it just takes forever.

On the other hand, the piano roll type of editor lets me enter notes the way I'm thinking about them. Besides the MIDI editor in n-Track I also tried Fruity Loops, which basically works the same way my mind seems to be working. However, I find this style of editor difficult to read since it's not normal music notation (even though I'm a below-average sight reader).

This is an aside, but I found a feature in Music Creator that I really like and is making me lean that way right now. It's the ability to write out the whole track and then split each note on the staff into a separate MIDI file. That way you can process each individual instrument in the kit to your liking. For example, I can compress the kick and snare differently if needed, EQ the cymbals, add reverb to the snare, etc. I haven't found that anywhere else. Coda comes close, by allowing you to edit MIDI data and also apply real time effects to individual notes (IOW, kick, snare, ride, etc.), but I'd have to step up to Allegro to get some basic functionality and Finale to get what I really want. Those two packages are a lot more money than I was hoping to spend.

So the kinds of things I'm looking for opinions on are:
- How do you all program MIDI drums?
- What other methods have you tried?
- What made you pick your method over others?
- Have you found a better way than the ones I tried?
- Is there a notation package that will let me write the
drum notation the way I'm thinking - without forcing me
to group the notes so they are "musically correct"?


Again, sorry for the long post, but I wanted to put down as much detail about what I found, what I liked, what I disliekd, what I'm looking for, etc.

 

[TexRoadkill]

I'm not familliar with Coda or Allegro but the other programs are all pretty basic. If you want to do real sequencing and have a lot options you need to get a real program like Sonar, Cubase or Logic. Those are professional quality sequencer/audio programs and they have some cheaper 'lite' versions.

 

[knightfly]

Ditto on the pro sequencers - I use Cake/Sonar, and it will let you split each note to a different MIDI channel if you want - it uses what they call "CAL" macros, stands for Cacewalk Application Language" there are several useful ones ready for download at their site, and if you like programming you can do your own.

You mentioned the time your drum tracks are taking. I have two suggestions, the first one is probably 10 times faster than what you're doing, and the second is at least 10 time faster than that.

Do you already have a MIDI keyboard? If so, normal drum note assignments use a lower C for kick drum and usually D for snare. FGAB usually get assigned to toms, F#G#A# are closed, mid and open hihat, all in the lower 1 or two octaves of a 61 key controller. What I used to do was to make several passes thru the song, first pass recording kick and snare, second pass recording tom fills, 3rd pass cymbals, etc, until I had most of what I wanted. No loops, no copies, just play real time clear through the song. If your drum module supports velocity, you will further "humanize" the track with dynamics. Once you get all the passes done, take about twice that long and edit out the notes you couldn't possibly played at the same time, such as snare hits during tom fills, hihat during tom fills, etc - This method will give you a pretty human feeling track, with no worrying about 8th notes, etc - It does assume you know how a set of drums is played, so you'll play things that sound realistic from your keyboard.

The second, more expensive, and 'way faster method - save for a set of good pads and brain, such as a Roland, with a brain that has at least four separate audio outputs, so you can process snare and kick separate from the rest of the stereo mix, and learn to play them like a real drummer. I play drums as well as keys, bass, guitar, horns, etc, and this method is light years ahead of programming. I lay down a drum track in one pass of the song, maybe correct 1 or 2 "fluffs", and I'm done. If I want a "laid back" snare, I just play it that way, no big deal.

I know that last way takes practice and money, but how much time are you spending the way you're doing it now? If you're anything like me, you could almost use that time and get another part-time job and PAY for the E-drum kit.

At the very least, try hooking up your keyboard so you can play drums from it, and try my method #1. Hope this was helpful... Steve