Recording stereo drum machine

  • Thread starter Thread starter Marc Miano
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Marc Miano

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Hey everyone,

Hey all you Cakewalk users, any help would be appreciated.

I just need to know if there is a way to record a stereo drum machine on two seperate tracks. I'm using Cakewalk Guitar Studio. I go directly to the input on the computer. I tried using a Y from the drum machine and arming two tracks but one track comes out and the other is blank, no sound.

I looked around at different posts but didnt see exactly what I needed. I'm just using the cheap soundcard that came with my Gateway. It sounds fine for what I want, it would just sound so much better if I could get stereo drums. Is it a soundcard problem or Cakewalk?

Thanks

Marc
 
Marc,

If you are using a stero drum machine, then I am assuming that the Y connector has two inputs for the drum machine and the connection for the computer is a jack similar to what is mounted on a headphone. This should work. Some possible problems are:

The single connector on the connector is not functional or is not a stereo jack.

The soundcard input is not stereo. For instance, if you are plugging it into a "microphone" jack it may not be a stereo jack. You need to have stero inputs on your soundcard to get this to work. Check your owners manual for the soundcard.
 
i'd get hammerhead or something and create stereo kits before i'd record a drum machine...especially if you are running cakewalk...if you use software (some of which is cheap or free), you won't have to worry about sound card quality so much...i think drum machines are great, but if you are using a PC , they are obsolete.
 
Alright,

Thanks guys,

Thats what I thought. I'll probably check into some software.
 
i've had really good luck with ACID. i program an entire song then export it one track at a time into cakewalk and then everything has its own track.
 
Is Acid drum loops or can you program the beats yourself? I know a prerecorded loop would never work for me. I need full control.

Are there any cheap software drum machines as versatile as my Alesis?

I couldnt find Hammerhead, how do you get there?

Alright, enough questions!
 
well, it's both. the prerecorder loops don't work fo rme either, but luckily most of the loop discs com with one shots. i just take the one shots and create my own kit and go from there. you can get acid 2.0 on ebay for $40-$50. not sure about retail though.
 
mikeyc222 said:
......prerecorder loops don't work fo rme either, but luckily most of the loop discs com with one shots. i just take the one shots and create my own kit and go from there. ......
Click to expand...

Like using one shots as loops in Acid and building beats from there? I tried that once...But it got a little tedious.

Marc,
here's a link for Hammerhead:

http://www.threechords.com/hammerhead/

The Alesis SR-16 is a nice machine...I had a Boss and wished I'd gone for the Alesis back in the day....I'm not that familiar with the Alesis but I imagine you can do pretty much anything with a software drum machine that you can do with the Alesis. Fruity Loops is another nice program for drums . It will give you more control than Hammerhead, but Hammerhead is very usable ...plus it's free. I should add that Hammerhead isn't stereo, though you could use it to creat stereo tracks.. With either Hammerhead or Fruity Loops you can make your own drum loops and load them into Cakewalk...If you happen to like sequencing on the Alesis you can also record the midi data into Fruity Loops and create drum beats that way...You can then export the audio for use in your Cakewalk program. ...If you want ultimate control ,you might consider getting a sequencer than can utilize drum machine plug ins...Fruity Loops and Hammerhead are standalone applications...but there are a number of drum plug ins that can be used in sequencers...these will also allow you to record midi data from a drum machine or other midi controller.....If I'm not mistaken , you can't use this type of plug in in Guitar Studio, though you can in Cakewalk's Sonar , and I think also their Plasma. I imagine that this functionality will be incorporated into all of the Cakewalk sequencers eventually...perhaps in the next version of Guitar Studio, if hasn't been already...
 
well, it can get that way...but i'm not a drummer so i don't try and write super realistic sounding loops. i make a loop with a few fills then every time that part of the song repeats...i just copy and paste. i can do a whole song in an afternoon. that's not too long for me cause i try not to rush any recordings i do but i don't know what your schedule is like.
 
yes, that is always an option...that is one way to do it...however, a midi sequencer would give you more control....but of course control doesn't always matter....
 
and the fact that i know absolutely nothing about midi kinda limits my choices a little :)
 
I dont know the first thing about midi. I'm a guitar, bass and drums kinda guy, well probably four guitars. But anyway, I checked out Hammerhead and I dont think thats what I want. Its geared toward electronic, techno etc... I need a John Bohnam classic rock drum sound.

If anybody wants to check out some of my stuff, its at

www.mp3.com/marcmiano
 
Marc Miano said:
I dont know the first thing about midi. I'm a guitar, bass and drums kinda guy, well probably four guitars. But anyway, I checked out Hammerhead and I dont think thats what I want. Its geared toward electronic, techno etc... I need a John Bohnam classic rock drum sound.
Click to expand...

you could sample Bonzo's drum and use them to replace the stock sounds in hammerhead....or you could do something similar with acid, which would at least give you stereo.

any drum machine is a midi device...it is no different from using some type of sequencing interface to control a sound module. drum machines just happen to have both in one piece of hardware.

i've been playing around with a plug in called 'Battery' from Native Instruments....some kits sound pretty 'realistic' or 'studio'....i've used a Roland SPD-6 to create some drum beats and sequences...doing it likes this means you don't have to worry about the midi so much...it's almost like using a drum machine , but it's 24 bit and you can edit the sounds and , if you want to get into midi, the sequencing also......

of course if you want to really rock, nothing beats a real drummer and a good band.
 
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