Midi Drums in reaper

mcmac74

Active member
Hi

Just wondering how many drum kit vst's reaper comes preloaded with and how easy they are to programme for a non drummer?...Aside from my old Boss drum machine, my only experience of sequencing drums is in the bandlab android app..cant seem to attach a screen shot but basically...kit components down the left of screen and and several grids for each bar to build your beats. Is it similar in reaper and most DAWS?

Regards
Mark
 
There are a number of free drum vsts you can download, or you can .

In most DAWs (including Reaper) you can find a piano roll grid into which you can add notes. For a synth these notes would correspond to different pitches. For a drum vst, these notes would correspond to different elements of a drum kit.

Here is a tutorial on how to program drums in Reaper

YouTube
 
Reaper doesn't come with any drums - the idea is that you add your own according to your taste. I find MT Power Drumkit to be a very useful freebie - although you have to click on a button to get it to work unless you donate something to the project. It comes with a selection of programmed beats and one very usable set of sounds.
 
Here's a more current way of programming drums in Reaper, but it depends on you already having some drum sounds that you can call upon.

YouTube
 
There are a number of free drum vsts you can download, or you can .

In most DAWs (including Reaper) you can find a piano roll grid into which you can add notes. For a synth these notes would correspond to different pitches. For a drum vst, these notes would correspond to different elements of a drum kit.

Here is a tutorial on how to program drums in Reaper

YouTube

Here's a more current way of programming drums in Reaper, but it depends on you already having some drum sounds that you can call upon.

YouTube

I checked out both videos and neither methods would work for me... not intuitive enough as I'd like to see the parts of the kit as I sequence...Having individual drum sounds in my library is not something I'd ever do and quite happy to run with ready made kits! ....I'm wondering if it's possible to export my drum patterns as midi rather than a wav file from bandlab and how easy it would be to edit once in reaper?...if I download a drum vst to reaper, will it still require adding the individual drum sounds from a keyboard that is not marked with component parts of the kit?
 
You should be able to export your drum patterns from Bandlab as a midi file. I don't know how Bandlab works. But Reaper will import a midi file ok.

I have a number of drum Vsts that I use in Reaper and none explicitly show different kit elements in the midi editor.
 
You should be able to export your drum patterns from Bandlab as a midi file. I don't know how Bandlab works. But Reaper will import a midi file ok.

I have a number of drum Vsts that I use in Reaper and none explicitly show different kit elements in the midi editor.

Yep...I exported the midi file from bandlab no probs...not yet figured out how to stick it on a track in reaper as only had five minutes spare and I just seemed to be adding a midi event rather than a file...will do some googling later!

Cheers ?
 
Thanks...I dont mind googling but its lovely having answers on a plate! ?

So, the midi track is in there but I couldn't hear anything on playback...There's clearly a mono output which shows as red in the mixer...I inserted a guitar track wav. File which plays back fine in stereo in green...I'm assuming ( given my day old learning of midi ) nothing can be heard because the midi is just a set of instructions and as the drum kit I wrote the midi file on is not in reaper, the programme has no instrument to play out the instructions on?...why then is there an output signal?

I've also exported the midi drum track from band lab as a wav. File and this plays fine. I'm guessing there's no real issue with writing my drum track and importing to reaper as wav other than the limitations on editing it once in reaper....?
 
Its really easy to work with Midi files in Reaper. I have started playing with MT PowerDrum. Just load it as a VST effect on the drum, and it will play. Edit is as easy as clicking on the file.

I'm just learning how to easy it is myself. This is a start of a song that I've been putting together. Set the BPM for the project, load (or build) the midi file, and load up MT. Editing is as easy as moving or adding blocks. If you don't like MT's drum sounds, you can load whatever drum plugin you like. I haven't tried yet but I'm guessing I could feed it out to my Alesis SR18 and record the output. I haven't tried that yet.

Rreaper Midi Edit.jpg

See if that works for you.
 
Its really easy to work with Midi files in Reaper. I have started playing with MT PowerDrum. Just load it as a VST effect on the drum, and it will play. Edit is as easy as clicking on the file.

I'm just learning how to easy it is myself. This is a start of a song that I've been putting together. Set the BPM for the project, load (or build) the midi file, and load up MT. Editing is as easy as moving or adding blocks. If you don't like MT's drum sounds, you can load whatever drum plugin you like. I haven't tried yet but I'm guessing I could feed it out to my Alesis SR18 and record the output. I haven't tried that yet.

View attachment 105109

See if that works for you.

Rich...I may need to go in steps on that one when I'm at the PC and got that VST downloaded...I'd be at loss how to start a drum track without some googling as only put reaper on my PC this morning ?
 
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So, the midi track is in there but I couldn't hear anything on playback...There's clearly a mono output which shows as red in the mixer...I inserted a guitar track wav. File which plays back fine in stereo in green...I'm assuming ( given my day old learning of midi ) nothing can be heard because the midi is just a set of instructions and as the drum kit I wrote the midi file on is not in reaper, the programme has no instrument to play out the instructions on?...why then is there an output signal?

I've also exported the midi drum track from band lab as a wav. File and this plays fine. I'm guessing there's no real issue with writing my drum track and importing to reaper as wav other than the limitations on editing it once in reaper....?

You've successfully imported a midi file of your drum track, and it plays fine. You don't hear a sound because there is , as you've noted, nothing to play the sound. This is where you need a drum vst to insert as an FX on the the track.

You see an output signal (the red) because Reaper is telling you that the midi track is playing, even if there is nothing there to generate sound.
 
Rich...I may need to go in steps on that one when I'm at the PC and got that VST downloaded...I'd be at loss how to start a drum track without some googling as only put reaper on my PC this morning ��

Look at the screen shot that I posted. See the list of "grooves" on the right box (MT PowerDrumKit)? You can drag those over to a track in Reaper. If you look closely at the drum track you'll see an identifier, something like Groove 08 8th half open. That's the groove that I used. You can set how many bars you want from that section, so you can use 3 bars with a fill, or 4 bars. Very easy.
 
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