The Everything "EZDrummer" and "Superior Drums" thread.
- Thread starter Chili
- Start date
minerman
Tonetard
I didn't think you'd be switching over Greg, but if you wanna add/remove hits/etc, it's a lot easier if you have the drum maps. In Reaper, double click the midi file, & when the editor comes up, all the names of the different articulations/hits will be there on the left side of the screen/editor...
There's usually no way a pre-made beat ever fits/works for a song, so it'd be pretty simple just to edit the midi a little to make it fit whatever you're working on.........
Since I'm not a drummer, don't have access to a drummer or kit, it's really the only way for me to have drums in my stuff, so like the difference in the speakers/cabs, to each his own....
Here's a link to download a bunch of 'em, should be more than enough for you, when you unzip 'em, put 'em in a folder (IE: I put mine in "My Documents", in a folder called "Drum Maps") & when you double click the midi, Reaper will ask where the map(s) are, & will remember where there at automatically....
REAPER Note Maps for Toontrack drum libraries
Just tryin' to help man......
And Jimmy's right, much better click track than using the metronome in Reaper....
There's usually no way a pre-made beat ever fits/works for a song, so it'd be pretty simple just to edit the midi a little to make it fit whatever you're working on.........
Since I'm not a drummer, don't have access to a drummer or kit, it's really the only way for me to have drums in my stuff, so like the difference in the speakers/cabs, to each his own....
Here's a link to download a bunch of 'em, should be more than enough for you, when you unzip 'em, put 'em in a folder (IE: I put mine in "My Documents", in a folder called "Drum Maps") & when you double click the midi, Reaper will ask where the map(s) are, & will remember where there at automatically....
REAPER Note Maps for Toontrack drum libraries
Just tryin' to help man......
And Jimmy's right, much better click track than using the metronome in Reaper....
Ok cool. Thanks for that. I DL'd it. Although I have no idea what a "drum map" is. What are they for?
jimmys69
MOODerator
Lol. I already do. Totally hate it. I "created" a drum track today for a Social Distortion cover. Simple song, mid tempo, basic shit.....took like 2 fucking hours. I could have tracked it for real in 5 minutes and gotten way better results.
minerman
Tonetard
Here's a screenshot of the midi editor in Reaper, using the first EZ Pop/Rock groove/beat I came to. I outlined the hits/articulations on the left so you'd see what I'm talking about......Without loading a drum map, the names will be blank, making you guess what hits are where. Lots of ways to edit/move/change each hit, IE: kick is usually midi note 36, you could change all those to 38 (snare) if you wanted......
To use the maps, double click the midi file in the timeline (which opens the midi editor), then click "File", "Customize Note Names", "Load Note Names From File", & select whichever map you wanna use (I always just use the default maps from the link I posted, there are different maps though, just depends on how you wanna do it.....)......
And yeah, it sucks editing a vsti drum track like this, but some of us have no other option dude. Consider yourself really fortunate to be able to play & record drums like you do at home (which you do very, very well btw.....)...
To use the maps, double click the midi file in the timeline (which opens the midi editor), then click "File", "Customize Note Names", "Load Note Names From File", & select whichever map you wanna use (I always just use the default maps from the link I posted, there are different maps though, just depends on how you wanna do it.....)......
And yeah, it sucks editing a vsti drum track like this, but some of us have no other option dude. Consider yourself really fortunate to be able to play & record drums like you do at home (which you do very, very well btw.....)...
minerman
Tonetard
Lol. I already do. Totally hate it. I "created" a drum track today for a Social Distortion cover. Simple song, mid tempo, basic shit.....took like 2 fucking hours. I could have tracked it for real in 5 minutes and gotten way better results.
Thanks dude. Yeah I got it figured out. I see the names on the piano keys - like rack tom and crash etc. I can see where that would make things easier. My way was to drag the cursor down the piano roll banging out sounds until I found the one I wanted. Lol.
I respect the time and dedication you guys put into trying to create a good fake drum track. I will help you in any way I can, if I can. But for me, fuck this shit in da butt. Way too tedious and time consuming. It was worth trying for 30 bucks, and I'll use it for demos, but fuck this shit for real. Fuck it to death. Fucking fuck. This is like my worst nightmare.
minerman
Tonetard
It is a pain in the ass man, I think I've personally came a long way from when I first started (on a Zoom HD8, the drum sounds were horrible, & programming those were even worse than using the daw.....), but yeah, it takes a long time to get 'em to sound halfway right, & usually even then, they don't sound real. I have even bought Jamstix 3 (which is ok, but it's complicated as hell, & I only use it for fills really, it's pretty good for generating decent fills), but it's still a pain in the ass to be honest.....
Maybe you could just do some drums for a song or two here/there man, maybe a collab type thing??? Just wondering, as you always have kick ass drums in your songs....I have a bunch of shit I've been working on forever, but as usual, the drum programming takes a lot of time, & everything else on top of that......
Don't mean to laugh dude, but I think it's funny how quick you found out what a pain in the ass using drum vsti's really are...
Maybe you could just do some drums for a song or two here/there man, maybe a collab type thing??? Just wondering, as you always have kick ass drums in your songs....I have a bunch of shit I've been working on forever, but as usual, the drum programming takes a lot of time, & everything else on top of that......
Don't mean to laugh dude, but I think it's funny how quick you found out what a pain in the ass using drum vsti's really are...
Nah, it is funny. It's a total pain in the ass. I don't know how long it takes you experienced guys, but it took me 2 hours to do a simple drum track that doesn't sound worth a fuck at all. I tried to "humanize" hits and have a little variety in the damn thing, and it still sounds like shit on a shit cracker. I'm just using the stock kit though. I'm sure with better sound samples and more experience it could be much better.
Take a listen....here's what I did. I wanted to see what I could do with all fake stuff - fake drums, fake guitars and bass. I used ez drummer and guitar rig. Not one mic, and it sounds like it! What a horrendous disaster. 
Take a listen....here's what I did. I wanted to see what I could do with all fake stuff - fake drums, fake guitars and bass. I used ez drummer and guitar rig. Not one mic, and it sounds like it! What a horrendous disaster.
minerman
Tonetard
Well Greg,
It's not all that bad (compared to a lot of my stuff), just not what I expect from you, especially the drums. You might go into the midi editor & vary the hits, each cymbal (don't put 'em all at 127 velocity btw, but you knew that), & work on the fills a little more. Again, it's not terrible (compared to some of my trainwrecks I've had...), but with a little work, could pass dude......
I've read countless times, that a real drummer will vary his tempo, without even knowing it. IE: the chorus for a song might be a little faster (just a smidge), then slow back down for a verse (like trying to make the chorus sound "big")....might mess with tempo changes in the timeline, but it's a pain, no matter how you go about it......
I have been using Jamstix 3 for this, as it allows you to speed up/slow down each part, by + or - about 50 milliseconds. I know it's not a real drummer (and never will be), but it seems to help with the fakeness of all the parts running together at the exact same tempo......
I'll render part of a song I'm working on, & see what you think about my drum programming.....of course, with you being a drummer, it'll suck, but maybe you could tell me what it needs to make it sound better/more real....
It's not all that bad (compared to a lot of my stuff), just not what I expect from you, especially the drums. You might go into the midi editor & vary the hits, each cymbal (don't put 'em all at 127 velocity btw, but you knew that), & work on the fills a little more. Again, it's not terrible (compared to some of my trainwrecks I've had
...), but with a little work, could pass dude......I've read countless times, that a real drummer will vary his tempo, without even knowing it. IE: the chorus for a song might be a little faster (just a smidge), then slow back down for a verse (like trying to make the chorus sound "big")....might mess with tempo changes in the timeline, but it's a pain, no matter how you go about it......
I have been using Jamstix 3 for this, as it allows you to speed up/slow down each part, by + or - about 50 milliseconds. I know it's not a real drummer (and never will be), but it seems to help with the fakeness of all the parts running together at the exact same tempo......
I'll render part of a song I'm working on, & see what you think about my drum programming.....of course, with you being a drummer, it'll suck, but maybe you could tell me what it needs to make it sound better/more real....
Chili
Site Moderator
Fuck this shit!
It's cool you even considered it.
Like I said before, I actually like going in and edit the drum tracks. I spend hours on one song. I'm weird like that, I guess.
Chili
Site Moderator
! What a horrendous disaster.
Well no wonder you don't like it...
it's..
it's..
it's slow.
Doesn't sound bad, the drums I mean.
Lol, yeah, it is super slow.
I dunno. I could go in and tweak stuff more I guess, but I really lost interest real fast. I don't even like that song. That might have something to do with my lack of interest. It was just an exercise. A test run. It was work! Like I said, ez drummer will do the job for trying out riffs and song ideas and I'm excited about that, but I'm not gonna use it for a finished song. No way. It's way, way too labor intensive.
I dunno. I could go in and tweak stuff more I guess, but I really lost interest real fast. I don't even like that song. That might have something to do with my lack of interest. It was just an exercise. A test run. It was work! Like I said, ez drummer will do the job for trying out riffs and song ideas and I'm excited about that, but I'm not gonna use it for a finished song. No way. It's way, way too labor intensive.
minerman
Tonetard
Here's the song I was talking about, each part gets just a little faster tempo wise (maybe 3-5 milliseconds).....I already know it's pretty shitty to begin with, but it's still something I'm working on......
This is the Ibanez>SD-1>Tweaker into the new V30 cab>'57........
Drums are Jamstix 3 sending midi through Abbey Road Modern Drums.....bass is an ampsim too (& sucks btw, I need to re-track it, this is an old song I started over a year ago, so the bass is cut/copied/pasted in parts to fit for now), so the only real things on this are the guitar tracks.....I have vocals written, just haven't gotten off my ass to get this finished.....pretty sloppy really, but might give you an idea of what I'm trying to do drum wise.....the mix is shit too, just got everything kinda leveled, no automation of any kind at all, just the tracks playing....and one more thing, I know some of the fills are wongo, still working on 'em.....
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=12014475
This is the Ibanez>SD-1>Tweaker into the new V30 cab>'57........
Drums are Jamstix 3 sending midi through Abbey Road Modern Drums.....bass is an ampsim too (& sucks btw, I need to re-track it, this is an old song I started over a year ago, so the bass is cut/copied/pasted in parts to fit for now), so the only real things on this are the guitar tracks.....I have vocals written, just haven't gotten off my ass to get this finished.....pretty sloppy really, but might give you an idea of what I'm trying to do drum wise.....the mix is shit too, just got everything kinda leveled, no automation of any kind at all, just the tracks playing....and one more thing, I know some of the fills are wongo, still working on 'em.....
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=12014475
That sounds pretty good. Some of the fills are kind of wongo, but overall it's not a bad drum track at all. Sounds like it could be a real drummer. As you get into mixing it more, I'd say pan the toms around the kit more. They seem a little centered. The cymbal crashes seem wider than the toms, when in reality, they should be about the same if you're going for a natural sound.
Guitars sound great. That V30 is working for you.
Guitars sound great. That V30 is working for you.