I used one pattern to create a - a click measure
a fill - a clear or blank measure
b - a 1 1/2 beat drum intro
b fill - a 2 1/2 beat drum intro
that way I basically used only one use pattern to do 4 different things.
I'm not sure how creating an entire song would help your song sound "less canned" than by recording straight to the VS?? I record to Cakewalk and I think it's easier than creating a song from patterns. But, to each his own.
mutt